THE LONELY PRINCE
Written by Stuart Ekers

There was once an ugly prince who lived in a far away castle with his father the ageing king, his wicked stepmother, his younger brother and his servants.

His father was very sick and knew that soon he would die and his eldest son would become the new king. The wicked stepmother didn't like the king's eldest son and wished her son the younger brother could be the new king.

So one dark, cold, rainy night, when the king was lying asleep in bed she crept towards the cellar where she had arranged to meet her most loyal servant, Crripbold.

The wicked stepmother gave instructions to Crripbold to dispose of the ugly prince.

Luckily a spider had overheard their conversation and quickly rushed to tell the prince.
The prince was the type of boy who pays attention to little things like spiders and had always been a dreamer.

He used to wonder what it would be like to leave the castle, but he was also very afraid of what might be out there.

If the younger prince was in the same situation as the current heir to the throne and the spider had gone to warn him, then the younger prince would have surely died after ignoring the spider and probably ordering a servant to kill it.

When the prince heard the news he realised he had to leave the castle as quickly as possible.

He first asked the spider if it wanted to be brought outside where there is less danger of being killed by the castle dwellers but the spider politely declined saying he had a family up in the attic.

The prince said goodbye to the spider, picked up some expensive clothes and a bag of gold. While it was still dark he rushed outside into the rain and ran as far and as fast as he could without looking back. He thought he heard voices shouting his name as he left the castle but he kept on running it might even have been the howling wind and the rain that surrounded him.

He ran deep into the dark woods. It seemed to him like he had been running for hours and he had no idea where he was going. Then suddenly there was a bright flash of lightning and an almighty crashing noise everything happened within a split second, he saw the sparks he saw a flame he saw the tree fall down- and then darkness...

Hours later he woke up and was in a bed of a castle he'd never been in before.

There was no one else around so he got up and decided to explore.

It was at this point that he realised he was not in a castle at all but a very small cottage. He saw beams of sunlight coming through the doorway and it was so bright and colourful, something he had never seen before so he left the cottage and found himself in the middle of a busy little village.

Everyone seemed to fit in perfectly with everybody else in the village. They all knew each other and each member of the village was accepted.

The prince was totally enchanted and instantly recognised he didn't belong but then thought this was only due to his previous life at the castle and he would soon get used to it. He was quite nervous about it all since he'd never been in the big world alone before and had never been around people his age.

The people in the village were also very curious about the prince and decided to approach him. The prince was very shy and always got scared about speaking to the people which a lot of the villagers couldn't understand. Despite his ugliness a lot of the females of the village were attracted to him. They had never seen anyone like him before except in storybooks but the thing that attracted them most of all was his money.

The prince was very na•ve and although he was scared of them he never made much effort to escape the girls who wanted to marry him for his wealth. The men in the village didn't like the prince at all because they had never seen anyone like him before except in storybooks and because the women in the village were attracted to him despite his ugliness. They called him names and treated him badly.

A group of boys around the prince's age who didn't like the look of the expensive clothes decided to follow him and shout things at him threatening to beat him. The prince was very scared and tried to get away until he was surrounded. Then a voice came from the crowd asking them to stop.

It was a young girl who told them that the prince was with her. She told them that her husband had found him whilst he was out collecting mushrooms in the forest and he was brought back to their cottage to recover.
The crowd weren't happy but they stopped and left the prince realising they would get their chance later.

The prince thanked the girl as she took him back to the cottage where he met the girl's husband, the one who had found him in the forest.

When the prince told them about how he had to run away from his home they offered to let him live with them. He thanked them but explained to them that he could not stay.

He knew he would never fit in and the people just were not going to accept him. They did not see that they weren't really that different on the inside. All they saw was the outside and their views would never change. So he once again thanked the couple for their hospitality and then made his final farewells.

He then left and was never seen again.

He now lives alone in a small hut on the mountain where it always rains and he has no one to talk to except for his true friends, the animals.

He thinks about whether he could ever fit in, maybe with people like the couple who saved him in the village. He then dismisses this idea, as he knew that although they were nice people they too, saw him as someone different and were too integrated into their society.

Now the prince is lonely, bitter and cries every night but has come to accept his situation. He now realises the only ones that don't care about his money, his ugliness and the only ones prepared to accept him, are the animals.

THE END.

[fairytales]