Pro dicer le veritate, illa non esseva completemente un princessa. Illa anque non habeva le imagine de un princessa. Illa non esseva gracile, delicate, e palide ma robuste con le pelle bronzate. In despecto de isto illa viveva in un castello antique que dominava le valle, e on la appellava princessa desde su infantia.
Un via scarpate e roccose vadeva del village a iste citadella edificate al summitate de un precipitio abrupte. Cata die visitantes ascendeva pro vider le castello.
Le patre del princessa aperiva le portales de ligno e guidava le visitatores trans le cortes interior, le grande salas e le cameras diverse, le prision subterranee, e le turres de guarda, durante que ille narrava le eventos tumultuose que habeva occurrite illac.
Ma durante iste visitas, le princessa vadeva al village. Non placeva a illa visitas a su castello per estranieros. Illa prefereva adjuvar le costuriera con su labor, mulger vaccas con le sponsas del fermeros, e adjuvar le infantes con lor lectiones. Omnes esseva contente de vider la. E si on non la videva un certe die, on demandava a illa le proxime die: "Princessa, ubi esseva tu? Tu nos ha mancate."
Durante le postmeridie illa curreva in retorno a su castello, post le departita del ultime traino del station del village e post que le pulvore altiate per le automobiles del estranieros habeva cadite un altere vice sur le via campestre del village.
Illa passava rapidemente le casa del guardianos del castello, glissava a in su castello trans un porta de ligno decadite, e descendeva a su cocina enorme, cuje muros esseva adornate con plattos e pottos de stanno. Illa faceva rotar le vetule spito ferruginose que poteva rostir omne un porco integre.
Illa poteva facilemente imaginar omne le activitate que il habeva hic quando resonava le ruito de festas in le sala grande. Illa quasi poteva vider le garsones de cocina qui montava rapidemente le scalas con plattos de alimentos fumante, collidente con le servas pulchre qui portava le plattos immunde e con le bottiliero vetule portante con se urceos plen de vino, pausante pro recuperar su halito e inglutir un bon quantitate del vino que ille portava.
Imaginante omne iste activitate, le princessa debeva rider. Tunc illa montava le scala stricte que conduceva al sala de banchetto. Illa se accommodava in un banco de ligno sculpite e examinava le ricamente brodate bandieras que sperava undular de novo.
Le sol ponente inundava le camera con un luce rosee, e il semblava al princessa que le blocos de ligno in le camino aperite iva a comburer.
Un calor agradabile animava le sala; e durante que le princessa reguardava soniosemente le picturas obscur, le cavalieros e castellanas in illos descendeva e formava un cortege regal. Un ex illes offereva le brachio al princessa, e illes se dirigeva con dignitate al festino del postmeridie. Unes pages in uniformes apportava un succession continue de plattos, e le vino rubie circulava circum le tabula.
Illa non poteva dicer quante tempore durava le festino, ma le voce de su patre la eveliava.
"Princessa, io te ha cercate ubique. Nos esseva preoccupate a causa de te," le reprimendava su patre. Ma al mesme tempore ille la imbraciava fortemente, e illa se sentiva tranquille e secur.
Illes tunc reguardava trans le fenestra ultra le valle, ultra le tectos del village, verso le brumas lontan.
"De ubi veni le bruma?" voleva saper le princessa.
"Illo veni del undas del mar que batte le costa, multo lontan de hic," respondeva su patre a illa.
"E que ha il sub le bruma?" voleva illa anque saper.
"Le grande citate, ubi vive milles e milles de personas," respondeva ille.
"Lassa me restar un pauco," supplicava le princessa. Illa esseva agitate per un desiro inexplicabile de vider le grande citate. E le undas distante pareva attraher la con un fortia quasi magnetic.
In solitude un altere vice, le princessa se lassava cader sur su banco. Illa claudeva le oculos e ascoltava le musicos durante que illes invitava omnes a dansar. Le cortege colorate e gaudiose sequeva le portator del standardo. Ma illac le princessa se separava del procession.
Illa passava le vallettos qui custodiava le cavallos, montava le melior cavallo nigre, e galopava trans le portas aperite del castello. Illa galopava sur le via rural pulvorose e passava le village sin stoppar usque illa jam non poteva vider le castello. Illa curreva al latere de un fluvio large, transversava un ponte, e videva in le distantia le luces del citate.
Illa tremeva con excitation durante que illa se precipitava verso le attractiones del citate. Luces brillante inundava le stratas, plenate de gente qui se hastava in omne directiones.
Arrivante al cathedral, le princessa lo contemplava stupefacite. Illo esseva splendide, pensava illa, comparate con le ecclesia modeste del village. Illa meravillava al palatios al latere del avenues, al fontanas magnific con su sculpturas, al parcos con su exuberantia floral. Le gente passava ante illa, juvene e vetule, allegre e grave, ma nemo la notava, nemo prestava attention a illa.
Illa tunc se sentiva multo sol. "Si solmente mi patre esseva hic! Le citate me placerea etiam plus. Felicitate possedite in commun es gaudio duple," pensava illa.
Illa sasiva le redinas e continuava su calvacada, le cavallo vadente in avante como si illo esseva pulsate per le vento. Le ruitos del citate disappareva e grande pratos verde veniva verso illa. Le cavallo saltava sur rivettos, sepes, fossatos, e petras grosse. Unes laros comenciava a accompaniar los in su curso rapide, e subito le princessa discoperiva le superficie infinite del oceano que se extendeva ante illa.
Le spuma del undas flagellava le litore roccose con forte colpos e reflueva, accumulante fortia nove pro batter le costa de novo.
Le princessa esseva tan impressionate per le undas del mar e lor spuma que illa oblidava un momento descender de su cavallo. Ma su stupefaction subsideva, illa saltava al terra, removeva su scarpas, e, pedes nude, illa vadeva de un petra grosse al altere. Le aqua irrovava su gambas durante que illa essayava evitar le undas. Finalmente illa se installava sur un petra grande e ascoltava le musica del mar. La commoveva de maniera estranie le extension del mar sin limites. Illa se sentiva sol e pensava:
"Si solmente mi matre esseva hic, con me, me placerea le mar multo plus fortemente. Le felicitate possedite in commun es gaudio duple," pensava illa un altere vice. In silentio illa scrutava le horizonte, essayante conjecturar lo que il habeva ultra le extension interminabile del mar.
Illa non haberea potite dicer quante tempore illa restava sedite illac. Ma subito illa videva un pisce grande que natava presso le costa. Rapidemente illa vadeva verso le pisce e saltava sur su dorso.
"Porta me al altere latere del oceano," diceva illa al pisce. "Io debe saper lo que il ha al altere latere."
Le pisce la lassava seder se sur su dorso e la portava trans le undas. Illes natava omne le die usque le nocte. Al alba illa videva le sol durante que illo surgeva como un explosion de foco. Al fin del die le princessa lo videva quando illo submergeva in le mar como un ballon orange incandescente. Illa passava presso insulas meraviliose con plagias de sablo blanc caressate per le undas. Illa natava trans scolios de corallo e se trovava circumferite per bancos de pisces de multe colores.
Ben que iste spectaculos la incantava, le pisce non diceva ni un sol parola, e illa se sentiva completemente sol.
"Si mi amicos solmente poteva vider iste spectaculo con me," pensava illa, "me placerea multo lo que me circumfere etiam plus intensemente. Felicitate possedite in commun es gaudio duple. Iste spectaculo es troppo meraviliose pro un sol persona. Illo es como si on habeva un grande festino e nemo con qui posseder lo in commun. "Nata, pisce grande," illa supplicava quasi disculpante se. "Porta me al altere litore. Omne iste beltate es troppo pro un persona completemente sol."
Un grande nostalgia la invadeva de novo. Illa sapeva tamen que illo esseva non per le grande citate al altere latere del mar, ma pro le personas qui la amava e qui a illa importava.
Illa sentiva un pavor tremende. Esque illa esseva ancora importante a su familia e amicos? Esque illes ancora se preoccupava pro illa? Subito illa voleva retornar a casa con un minimo de demora. "Hasta vos," diceva illa al pisce. "Io debe retornar tan promptemente que sia possibile."
Quando illes finalmente arrivava al litore, illa se lassava glissar ab le dorso del pisce, e illa se hastava al terra. Illa cercava le cavallo ma non poteva trovar lo. Illa poteva incontrar solmente un vetule tortuca grande que veniva verso illa lentissimemente.
"Porta me a mi focar tan rapidemente como tu pote," implorava le princessa, levante se sur su grande carapace.
Complacente le princessa, le tortuca extendeva su capite e advantiava lentemente, passo a passo. Quando le princessa jam non poteva continer su impatientia, illa descendeva de su carapace e curreva in avante.
Ma quando finalmente illa debeva facer halto al latere del via a causa de fatiga extreme, le tortuca la attingeva, e le princessa se levava de novo sur su carapace e continuava su viage.
Le dies, le horas, e le minutas nunquam habeva apparite tan longe a illa in le passato. Su impatientia augmentava con cata passo, con cata curva del cammino.
Esque illes la recognoscerea post tante tempore? Stava ben su patres, su amicos? Illa esseva plen de un grande incertitude. A vices illa essayava vider le castello in le distantia. Finalmente, illo appareva.
Illa tunc curreva phreneticamente verso le summitate del collina, ascendente le scalas, sin halito, baniate in sudor. Su patre esseva illac. Le oculos plenate de gratitude, ille se inclinava verso su filia e separava su capillos de su facie.
"Esque tu te senti ben, princessa?" ille demandava sollicitemente a causa de haber la eveliate. "Io veniva pro cercar te. On te attende in le village. Il ha un dansa iste nocte."
Sin un altere parola, le princessa se levantava subito e imbraciava su patre. Postea, felice, illa curreva al village pro vider un altere vice le gente qui la amava.
| To tell the truth, she wasn't a real princess. She didn't even look like a princess. She wasn't delicate, graceful, and pale, but robust with hair the color of bronze. Despite this, she lived in an old castle high over the valley, and she was called "Princess" ever since she was a child.
A steep and rocky road went from the village to this citadel built on the side of a rugged cliff. Every day people hiked up to see the castle.
The princess's father opened the wooden doors of the castle and guided visitors through the interior courts, the great halls and other rooms, the dungeon below, and the guard towers while he told stories about the stormy events that used to take place there.
But during these visits the princess went to the village. She didn't enjoy the visits to her castle by strangers. She preferred instead to help the seamstress with her work, to milk cows with the farmers' wives, and to help the children with their school work. Everyone was happy to see her. And if she did not show up on a certain day, everyone asked her the next time she came, "Where have you been, Princess? We have missed you."
In the afternoons, the princess would run home again after the last train had left the village station and after the dust raised by the departing cars of strangers had settled down on the quiet country road of the village.
She went rapidly by the guard house of the castle, slipped into the castle through a decaying wooden door, and went down to its enormous kitchen, whose walls were lined with pewter plates and pots. She would turn the old rusty spit that could roast an entire pig.
She could easily imagine all the activities that took place here in the midst of all the happy sound of celebration coming in from the great hall. She could almost see the kitchen boys who would rapidly climb the stairs with steaming plates of food and run into the beautiful servant girls who carried down the dirty dishes, as well as the old cellarman carrying jugs full of wine as he paused to catch his breath while drinking a lot of the wine he was carrying.
As she imagined all this activity, the princess broke out laughing. Then she went up the narrow stairs leading to the banquet room. She sat down on a carved wooden bench and examined the richly embroidered flags that were awaiting the chance to wave once again.
The setting sun flooded the room with red-yellow light, and it seemed to the princess that the logs in the fireplace were about to catch fire.
The cozy warmth made the hall come alive; and while the princess in her reverie looked at the dark pictures, the knights and chatelaines they depicted came down and formed a truly regal procession. One of them offered his arm to the princess, and they made their way in great dignity to the evening's feast.
Pages in uniform brought a continuing parade of plates of food, and ruby red wine circulated around the table.
She could not tell how long the eating and drinking lasted, but her father's voice broke her reverie.
"Princess, I have been looking for you everywhere. You had us worried," her father scolded. But at the same time he gave her a big hug, and she felt happy and secure.
They then gazed through the window beyond the valley, beyond the roofs in the village, toward the mists in the distance.
"Where does the fog come from?" the princess wanted to know.
"It comes from the waves that batter the coast far away from here," her father answered.
"And what is there under the fog?" she also wanted to know.
"The big city, where thousands of people live," he answered.
"Let me stay here a little longer," the princess asked. She was filled with an unexplainable longing to see the big city. And the distant waves beckoned to her with an almost magnetic force.
Alone once again, the princess stretched out on her bench. She closed her eyes as the musicians invited everyone to start dancing. The happy and colorful guests followed the standard bearer, but the princess broke away from the procession.
She passed by the grooms taking care of the horses, got on the most beautiful black horse, and galloped through the open doors of the castle. She ran along the edge of a lengthy river, crossed a bridge, and saw in the distance the lights of the city.
She trembled with excitement as she threw herself into the attractions of the city. Brilliant light flooded the streets, filled with people who hurried everywhere.
As she arrived at the cathedral, the princess looked at it in wonder. It was splendid, she thought, compared with the modest church of the village. She marveled at the palaces bordering the avenues, at the magnificent fountains with their sculptures, at the parks with their floral exuberance. The people passed her by, young and old, happy and sad, but nobody noticed her, no one paid her any attention.
She then felt very lonely. "If only my father were here, the city would be so much nicer! Happiness shared," she thought, "is double the joy."
She held onto the reins and continued her ride, her horse running ahead as if pushed by the wind. The noise of the city grew dim, and green fields without end kept coming toward her. Her horse galloped over streams, hedges, ditches, and large stones. Some seagulls started following them as they went quickly by. Suddenly, the princess discovered the unending surface of the ocean spreading out into the distance.
The foamy waves beat heavily against the rocky shore, flowed back, then pounded the shore once again.
The princess was so impressed by the rushing breakers that she forgot for a moment to get off her horse. But her excitement subsided, and she jumped down from her horse, took off her shoes, and went barefoot from one large rock to another. The water sprayed her legs as she tried to avoid the waves. Finally, she sat down on a boulder and listened to the music of the sea. She was strangely moved as it continued endlessly in front of her.
"If only my mother were here with me, the sea would be so much nicer. Happiness together is happiness doubled," she thought once again. She looked toward the horizon in silence as she wondered what there was to see in the endless ocean beyond.
She could not say how long she sat there, but suddenly she saw a big fish swimming near the coast. She quickly ran toward it and jumped on its back.
"Take me to the other side of the sea," she said to the fish. "I have to know what lies on the other side."
The fish let her climb onto its back and carried her through the waves. They swam all day long and into the night. At dawn they saw the sun come up in a surge of fire. At the end of the day the princess saw it as it sank into the sea like an incandescent orange ball. She went by wonderful islands with white sandy beaches that were caressed by the waves. She swam through the coral reefs and found herself surrounded by schools of fish in many colors.
Though these spectacles enchanted her, the fish said absolutely nothing, and she felt utterly alone.
If my friends could see this spectacle with me, she thought, I would be much happier with all that I see around me. Happiness together has double the pleasure. This spectacle is too much for just a single person. It is as if I were at a great feast with no one to share it with. "Keep on swimming, big fish," she said almost as if apologizing. "Take me to the shore beyond. All this beauty is too much for just a single person."
Great feelings of nostalgia came over her again. She knew, however, that they were not for the great city on the other side of the sea but for the people who loved her and for whom she was important.
She was tremendously gripped by fear. Was she still important to her family and friends? Were they still worried about her? Suddenly she wanted to return home as soon as possible. "Hurry up," she said to the fish. "I must return home as soon as I can."
When they finally reached her home shore once again, she slipped off the back of the fish and quickly ran ashore. She looked for her horse but couldn't find it. She could only find a big old tortoise that came toward her slowly.
"Take me home as quickly as you can," the princess begged as she climbed onto his big shell.
Obligingly, the tortoise extended his head and plodded slowly onward. When the princess could no longer contain her impatience, she got off his shell and ran forward.
But when she finally had to stop at the side of the road out of exhaustion, the tortoise came up to her, and the princess climbed onto his shell once again and continued her voyage.
The days, the hours, and the minutes never had seemed this long in the past. Her impatience grew with every step, with each curve in the road.
Would they recognize her after so much time had gone by? Were her parents and friends feeling well? She was filled with great uncertainty. At times she tried to see the castle in the distance. Finally, it came into view.
She then hurried frantically toward the top of the hill and went up the stairs, breathless and soaked with sweat. Her father was there. His eyes filled with gratitude, he bent down toward his daughter and brushed her hair away from her face.
"Are you feeling all right, Princess?" he asked almost apologetically as he worke her up. "I came to get you. Everyone is waiting for you in the village. They are having a dance this evening."
Without another word, the princess quickly got up and embraced her father. Then she happily ran toward the village to see once again the people who loved her. |
