Storytelling Week 4: The Magic Diamond

It was another boring day in the palace as the Princess wandered around her home in search for entertainment. She painted with the royal painter, she cooked with the chef, and finally she asked the royal seamstress to teach her to sew out of desperation for something to do. Nothing could bring her joy. She contemplated what else there is do, but still had come up with nothing.

After being bored for so long she was struck with an idea. She decided to get into some mischief. The Princess started by playing simple tricks on the palace workers like hiding behind corners and jumping out scaring them. The palace magician had been following her on her trip through the castle. Once he saw what she had been doing, he started casting spells on the workers so they couldn't move or he made objects fall behind them. The Princess thought she had magical powers. She was so overwhelmed with excitement from the new discovery she tripped and fell but was caught by something unexpected.

The magician had cast a spell on the Princess that froze her on the spot which stopped her from hitting the ground entirely. The Princess saw the magician cast the spell. That act revealed that he, not the Princess was the one doing all the work. The Princess became sad with this news. Now, the magician felt remorse because the Princess had tears welling in her eyes from the realization of not being able to do magic. The magician came up with a plan to cheer her up. He enchanted a small diamond on a necklace. When the Princess has the necklace on she will be able to do magic. This gift sent the Princess into an excited frenzy. "However, if you do more evil than good you'll turn into an old hag!" said the magician.

The Princess with great excitement once again took off with her necklace helping. She started to use the magic by helping the palace staff do their jobs just happy to have magic. The Princess looked out the window while she dusted with the royal housekeeper. She longed to go outside because she doesn't get to leave the palace often. She dropped her duster and headed for the front door to her new adventure. She knew what to expect for the most part but was stopped when she noticed a handsome young boy doing labor in a field not far from the palace. The Princess had a big character flaw; she was incredibly shy. She couldn't talk to him without turning bright red and running away. So she stood at a distance staying hidden using her magic necklace to make the load the young boy was carrying lighter. While staring at the boy she heard a noise that caught her attention. She noticed all the evil happening outside the palace. Mean people were stealing, fighting each other, and she saw others getting bullied and picked on. She came up with a plan. She started using her magic powers to seek revenge on their wrong doings. She would cause those stealing to trip so they were caught. A pot on a high building fell on the two people who were fighting because the Princess saw causing the pot to fall as the best idea to stop the fighter without getting involved. For those being picked on, she made a fountain spray the bullies with water which made them run away.

The next day she went out of the palace to see what her magic workings had done, but of course she wanted to see the young boy again. At first she saw all things going well. The young boy looked handsome as ever, and the crime had gone down. She finally built up the courage to speak to the boy. She had never been allowed to date and saw this as her chance to find true love. She called to the boy, "Good day!" but suddenly,"SMACK" the Princess fell to the ground. A thief was running away from the house he had just stolen a box of jewelry from and smacked right into her. She became so angry that she used her magic to have a rock smash him in the head. That was the final evil doing she was able to do because the next moment her magic necklace broke and she turned into a hag. Even though the Princess was helping others by stopping the acts of the bad people, she wasn't helping anyone do anything positive. She needed the balance of doing good and evil acts. Yes, what she was doing was good for one party but she needed to do good for both parties too.

The Princess was shocked the change had actually happened. She took off toward her home with hopes of having the spell reversed. She was looking back from where she came while running back to the palace when she smacked right into the handsome boy. He apologized profusely and assisted her up. Ashamed, she hid her face from the boy and scrambled from his grasp. The King banished the Princess from the palace. She hid in a tower too ashamed to show her face. She called to the magician for help but he did warn her what would happen. "I will return you back to your normal state in two years. Until the time has passed you must live with how you are!" said the magician. The Princess wept during her time locked away in a tower. There wasn't much for her to do while she waited. The only thing that made her wait less boring was her one and only window. She could look over the land below her. She noticed that she could see the handsome boy from her tower. She watched him to pass the time until the magician came back for her. A month had passed in the Princess's waiting. The waiting game continues for the Princess hag.




A princess tower. Source

 

Author's Note: I chose to use the story The Green Jewel. In the original story, the prince is bored but runs into the palace scribe. I wanted the magician in my story to be similar to the scribe in the original story. To entertain the prince the scribe gives the prince the idea to go out on the lake with a group of women in a boat. The women were to row the boat and while doing this one of the women loses her prized necklace in the water. The scribe parts the water so she able to retrieve her necklace. The necklace and the magic gave me the idea to make the diamond necklace the princess in my story receives be enchanted with magic powers. I also wanted keep the main character
royalty and in the same emotional state that the original story had. The original story didn't have a very good ending. The girl got her necklace back and that was the end. I knew going into my story I wanted it to not end on such a good note but I also wanted my story to have a cliffhanger.

Bibliography: The Green Jewel, Egyptian Myth and Legend, Donald Mackenzie, 1907.