Princess Red Roses

“Princess Red Roses” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Nor Aliah Fatinauni Binti Hasmadi, Sekolah Kebangsaan Stalon, Malaysia.

Princess Red Roses

Once upon a time, a cute princess was born. However, the princess was born with disabilities. Although the princess had disabilities, the king and queen still love the princess very much because they waited for so long to have a child.

One afternoon, the king and queen brought the princess with them for a walk in the garden near their castle. The garden was full of roses in red, yellow and white. While walking around the red roses, a fairy with a wand stopped them in their path. The fairy asked whether the princess has disabilities and the king confirmed it. The fairy took the family to a mango tree that was near them. The princess was given rose water to drink and was immediately healed from her disabilities. The fairy granted the name, Princess Red Roses, to the princess. The fairy also told the king and queen that the princess will be married to a prince with the same birthday as the princess. The name of the prince will be Prince Zaidi Kasturi. If the princess does not marry the prince, she will have the disabilities again. The fairy told the princess about the background of the prince. The prince lived in Lime Castle. The king and queen lived happily with their princess.

One day, a squirrel went into the castle. The king saw the squirrel and asked the guard to put the animal into the cage. The king wanted the squirrel as a pet. One year passed and the fairy visited the princess again. The princess was sleeping when the fairy was visiting and the squirrel was beside the princess. The fairy was shocked to see the squirrel that she was searching for a long in the cage. The fairy told the king that the squirrel was Prince Zaidi Kasturi. The king was pity towards the prince for becoming a squirrel. The fairy also told the king that Prince Zaidi was cursed by his stepmother. One year before, his mother passed away due to an accident when she was searching for a special ball left behind by Prince Zaidi’s grandmother.

Prince Zaidi’s step mother cursed Prince Zaidi because his father, King Zafri loved him so much and did not care about the new queen, Queen Zaleha. The queen cursed Prince Zaidi and acted sadly in front of the King saying that the prince was missing. The king was so sad and he offered reward for those who can find his prince. Those who can find him will be married to him when he grows up. The fairy advised the king to treat the squirrel well. The fairy also reminded the queen that the princess will marry the prince. The king asked the fairy how to reverse the curse. The fairy said when the princess reached 19 years old; they have to meet the fairy at the rose garden with the squirrel.

Nineteen years passed, the king and queen wanted to celebrate the princess’ birthday. The king remembered the promise with fairy. The king asked the queen and princess to take the squirrel with them to the rose garden. The fairy came out from the rose and gave the rose water to the squirrel but the squirrel did not drink in. The king was anxious and he asked the fairy whether there was another way. The fairy replied that another way is to ask the princess to bath the squirrel in a pond nearby with rose water.

The princess bathed the prince in the pond with rose water and it transformed into a handsome prince. The next day, the king, the queen and the princess brought the prince to his castle. When they arrived, King Zafri and Queen Zaleha could not believe their eyes. However, King Zafri had forgotten about the promise he made. The princess became mad and said she would curse anyone who did not agree with the marriage. Queen Zaleha did not agree and she was cursed to become a stone.

Eventually, the prince and princess married. They had a big wedding. After one year, they had a beautiful daughter and named her Princess Kasturi. They lived happily ever after.