with silver plating, but who tells such things to princesses?)
cross the back gates of the palace and shuffle over to the slums
beyond.
And mind you, she knew what she was doing. She took along a
pair of scissors. (What a cunning one! Where did she ever find
them? Panchafula had warned the slave women to hide all the
scissors!) And boy, how heartlessly she gave away the fruits of
her mother’s labour. Need a blanket? Here, take two arm-lengths
of hair. Need a roof? Have some hair. No food? Sell some royal
hair. Take it, take it, take it all – take all the hair, take the silver
cart, take everything. Just rid me of it.
By morning, the Princess was all light. When there was nothing
more to give away, the crowds dispersed (Perhaps it was not
customary to grab at human flesh in those days). Only she
remained, covered in dust and grit like a dirty chick. Smiling away
like an idiot, sitting splayed out under a tree.
Phew! From here on it is easy. All that remains is for the
Handsome Prince to come, hear all the talk of her generosity, be
suitably impressed, and take her away to his palace for a life of
ease and love. Happy Ending. Simple, isn’t it?
But wait a minute, we are not exactly in fairy-tale mode here, are
we? Suppose we change things a bit, try to do a real-life ending
for a real life story? So what are the possibilities? Suppose the
Handsome Prince does come. Or suppose he doesn’t? Or someone else comes before him ?
Hey, wait. This is going to be interesting. Quick, get a piece of
paper and write down. Or better still, draw a diagram – a flow
chart I think. Write ‘Princess’ at the top of the page. Then draw a
downward pointing arrow, and draw two lines to the left and right.
Right. Now we can think.
See, there are two concrete possibilities. First, the Prince comes
and takes the Princess with him . Second, the Princess gets cold
feet and goes back home. Quite possible, isn’t it? After all, a
princess is a princess in her palace. Outside, it is a different story,
don’t we know?
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