On a quiet day in early Spring, just as the first wildflowers and cherry blossoms were beginning to bloom, a curious wind swept in from the south. It came most unexpectedly, climbing mountains and great hills, rolling over plains flat as untouched waters, and howling like a grief-stricken suitor mourning his lost love, before finally crashing against the castle gates and breaking the doors from their hinges. The splintering doors fell to the ground as a curtain of colorful flowers carried by the winds invaded the kingdom, swirling wildly as if caught in a cyclone's grasp, before settling to the ground to reveal a lone rider who the winds of fortune had carried all the way back to his sleeping princess.
"He has returned!" a stunned villager cried out, eliciting incredulous stares and muffled voices of both disdain and disbelief.
The horseman rode slowly through the kingdom, his stare never trained on anything other than the castle's bedroom window within which the princess resided. His silver armor had been bleached by the sun and was now a dazzling white that caused some villagers to retreat in terror, swearing that a ghost had ridden into their midst. But as those who ventured closer dared to look into the face of this unexpected visitor, their disbelief turned to anger at the knight who had abandoned their princess and cursed her to a fate so terrible.
As the knight approached the castle entrance, he was stopped by two guards who drew their swords to impede his progress.
"Halt Robear," one guard said.
The knight said nothing, instead only dismounting from his horse and ignoring the two guards. As he tried to walk past them, one of the guards drew his sword and held its tip to the intruder's neck.
"You would be wise to climb back atop your steed and return to whatever land you have come from," the guard said. "You are no longer welcome in our kingdom, still less in the princess's bedchambers, for what you have done to that poor woman is a most despicable thing. Why then have you returned? Abandon this folly, just as you abandoned her all those years ago."
"I have come to ask for forgiveness," the knight said, his head held high.
"Forgiveness?" the guard asked incredulously. "You think that the princess would ever offer you forgiveness?"
"I ask not for me," the knight replied. "but instead for my kinfolk. For I am not this Robear you speak of...he is my twin brother. My name is Bobby the Contrite."
Whispers from the crowd grew louder as none expected such a revelation. They stared and marveled at his features, his blond hair and blue eyes that looked so very much like the knight who had come to their land all those years ago.
Bobby the Contrite turned to the crowd and spoke thus, "My brother has done a terrible thing to your fair princess...he abandoned her and broke her heart. Robear is prone to fits of wanderlust not befitting a man of such a noble upbringing, or any gentleman for that matter. His tempest pursuit of vainglories has led only to your princess's heartbreak, and whatever it was he hoped to find apart from her love I can assure you he has not. While my brother and I are identical in appearance, it is there that our similarities end, for though he abandoned your princess so callously I have come to set things right. I have come to ask for her forgiveness, as my contrition for Robear's misdeeds knows no bounds."
While the guards seemed unmoved by his declaration, a village elder emerged from behind them and said, "It is more than pleas for forgiveness our princess needs."
"What do you mean?" Bobby asked. "If she needs more than my contrition, then anything else I will give upon her request. Please, just let me speak to the princess, that I might make things right."
The village elder shook his head. "If only it were that simple. Had she the ability, the princess would have already descended from her castle tower to meet you, but I'm afraid that she is instead at the mercy of a terrible spell. A demon put a spell on her that has bound her in perpetual slumber for two long years. She can neither speak nor hear, but instead rests peacefully as she awaits the day that her true love may return to awaken her from eternal sleep."
Bobby's eyes began to water and for several moments he said nothing. Finally he asked, "May I at least see her?"
"Follow me and I will take you to her chambers," the village elder obliged.
At his instructions the guards withdrew their swords and let Bobby pass. He followed the village elder through the castle, up a long and winding staircase until he reached the princess's bedroom.
As Bobby entered the room, his heart began to flutter at the vision before him. Lying there, immovable as a statue poised atop her bed, the princess slept. A thin veil separated her bed from the rest of the room and, pulling back the curtain, Bobby laid his eyes on the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her shapely body rivaled that of even the most alluring goddess while her slender face and olive complexion put every woman throughout the kingdom to shame. Long, black hair rested on her shoulders and cascaded over full breasts that rose and fell with each peaceful breath. Though her eyes were closed, at any moment it seemed as if they might open to reveal the warmth and kindness that were hidden deep within, the very feelings of love that the princess still felt for Robear. Yet for two long years her eyes had remained closed, her love hidden away while she forever slept.
Bobby leaned closer to marvel at the princess's beauty. "What has caused this to happen?"
The village elder sighed. "It is said that when Robear abandoned the princess in Boston her heart was broken, causing her to succumb to the demon's spell and fall asleep."
Bobby turned away, burying his head in his hands as he began to cry. For several moments he wept silently, only revealing his tear-filled eyes to ask, "What can I do to reawaken the princess."
"There is nothing any of us can do I'm afraid," the village elder replied and, turning to leave, began walking out of the bedroom.
"Wait," Bobby said, grabbing the village elder's arm. "Surely there must be something."
The old man thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, perhaps there is. But not for an old man like me, or even the sturdiest men of our kingdom. No, the only person able to reawaken the princess from her slumber would have to be a knight, strong and brave, whose inclination to do good was matched only by his foolishness at attempting the endeavor I imagine."
"What endeavor do you speak of old man? Speak plainly," Bobby demanded.
"Far from our lands, in a secret chamber guarded by the vilest of demons, there is rumored to be a book of spells that contains the words needed to awaken the princess from her sleep."
"A book of spells?" Bobby inquired.
"Yes, to utter the words written within its pages will surely break the spell that binds our princess so tightly. But its acquisition will not be easy, for the demon that possesses this book will not give up its prize willfully. You must slay the demon and pry the book's pages from its hands. Only then will we be able to recite the proper words to our princess and break the spell to which she has succumbed." Though the old man spoke directly to the knight before him, he noticed that Bobby had never taken his eyes off of the princess. He smiled and said, "If you ever want the princess to open her eyes so that you might gaze into them, you must say to her the right words, words that will finally awaken her from this sleep."
"Then that is what I will do," Bobby said, his voice forceful and suddenly filled with purpose. "I will slay this vile demon and awaken the princess from the spell she has fallen under."
He began to leave when the village elder stopped him. "Here my boy, take this." And hovering over the princess's body, the old man untied a ribbon from her hair that he gave to Bobby. "Keep this with you. It will give you something to remember her by on your long and dangerous quest."
Bobby took the ribbon and tied it around his wrist and, thanking the old man for his help, turned finally to the sleeping princess. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and whispered, "I will always come back to you."
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For two years the princess has been asleep, two years that she has been apart from the man she truly loves. And then, out of nowhere, a man so very much like the one she fell in love with all those years ago, yet somehow different, has come back into her life. He is her white knight, the good man whom she has always truly loved...and he has come to save his princess.
I wish that somehow I could go back in time and erase all the terrible things I did to you Ornela, but of course I can't do that. All I can do now is ask for forgiveness and hope that you will let me show you that I have become the man you always wanted me to be.
Do you remember the first time we saw
each other Ornela? I think about that moment all the time. You walked into
that restaurant in Fairfax for our first date and I instantly froze...I was
captivated by the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Two days later when we
walked through the National Mall I knew that there was something special about
you, but I never could have predicted that we would continue seeing each other
for the next three years...or that I would be proclaiming my love for you now,
some five and a half years later. We have a complicated past, and the precise
reason for why our relationship has taken such a circuitous path I do not know,
but I do know one thing...I know that I am in love with you. I know that I want
to spend the rest of my life with you, that I want to marry you and have a
family together. And even now, after everything that you have said to me, I
still believe that you love me and want all of these things too.
I love you Ornela, and if you will let me, I will spend every day for the rest of my life cherishing our love and showing you that you are the most important person in the world to me.
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