There was once a great King named Pane. He ruled a Kingdom named Vane. King Pane was a fair and just King. At least, until that day in his noble court when he realized that his favorite maiden and bride-to-be, appropriately named Angel, was not as much in love with him as he was with her. She left the Kingdom of Vane without warning, telling no one where she was going.
The wrath and fury of King Pane had never been felt in the Kingdom of Vane as it was on that typically sunny and warm day. He pressed buttons that made his castle blow up with such greatness, the shattered pieces overturned houses for kilometers upon kilometers. He then ordered that all people be tied to their kitchen doors with tape across their mouths so silence would replace their happiness and laughter.
He then had himself catapulted so far into the sky, that he didn’t come down for three days. It is believed that while he was airborne, he drank wines of forbidden fruits. His anger cooled as he came down.
After landing, he ordered that only construction builders be released from their kitchen doors. All designers and craftsmen were also freed. A new castle would be built. This one far grander than the first and elaborately more exquisite.
The builders, designers, and craftsmen worked stupendously. While his new castle was being built, King Pane visited a faraway land known as Haven. There, he partied with nine hundred and ninety of that king’s wildest party people. He tried, ever so diligently, to understand his maiden Angel. There were many maidens in Haven who tried to ease the pain in King Pane’s heart, but none victorious.
He only hurt more. When he was told that his new castle was completed, he smiled; for a moment, pain was not felt. He quickly and eagerly returned to his kingdom. When he saw his brilliant new home, he only wanted to share it with Angel. He summoned his fastest chariots and most noble guardsmen, gave them orders to find Angel – his bride to be.
The guardsmen searched and they searched harder. The would-be noble woman named Angel was nowhere; she could not be found. Saddened by what they had not produced for their once kind and loving King Pane, the guardsmen returned without her.
Untouched by their sorrow, King Pane imprisoned them. He then ordered that all the land in his kingdom be shaken violently. This would continue until his pain was eased. His wisest scientists were freed from entrapment and made the entire land of Vane quake like thunder. Tall buildings and strong trees tumbled to the ground like dead weeds. People were scared.
Still, King Pane was not happy. He ordered the quaking stopped and people released from their kitchen doors. Tears in his eyes and hurt in his heart, he decided to sleep.
For six long months, the King slept in a cave with a bear he had raised from a cub. During his sleep, many maidens called upon the King. Each had heard of the disappearance of Angel, his once wonderful woman and bride-to-be. Each knew if she awakened him from sleep and won his heart, she would be Queen. The king slept. Even remotely was he unmoved from the state of his deep, deep sleep.
Finally, when he awakened, he stood tall over his kingdom, stretched his arms wide and yawned. He said out loud with a lion like roar, “LET THERE BE PEACE IN MY MIND! ! !” Everyone in the Kingdom heard of this roar and thought the King was better. They started celebrating and cheering for the return of their kind and just King. At first, when he walked throughout his kingdom, he only looked at the most beautiful maidens. Then he allowed special ones to join him in his new castle and even sleep in his royal chambers. Quickly, he dismissed the latest maiden and replaced her with another. Deep inside, he still loved Angel.
On a cool Autumn morning, King Pane received a telegram from a faraway land. It was from Angel. Tears rushed to his eyes and joy flooded his soul. He jumped up and down like a child on the first day of Spring after a long cold lifeless Winter.
After reading the message, the King sat quietly in the corner of his largest bedroom closet. He closed his eyes and thought harder. He was not seen again until the seasons had changed twice. When he came out of his darkness, he responded to his once fair maiden and lovely bride to be.
She had requested that she return to his heart and castle with love.
In his response, he cried and wrote:
“Through all the seasons I have known you, I have loved
you. As often as I have tried to believe that you loved me, I
have been hurt by your neglect of my heart. In my weakness,
I could welcome you back to my desires and good Kingdom.
But you have hurt me to the point where I have no heart.
With all the strength that remains, I must
decline your offer. I would surely die if your future is like
your past.”
With tears from his heart and pain in his eyes, he sent his response to his once beautiful bride-to-be. The King returned to his daily routine of making time progress while trying not to think of his dearest maiden, Angel.
One year after the day his strength from pain made him decline his beautiful bride-to-be, King Pane was walking in his garden and looked across his field. Guards surrounded a massive ball of some kind. As it was brought closer to his majesty, the figure became a rhinoceros of a woman. Only patches of thinning hair grew from her head, with sores covering her body. As she tried to smile, her toothless mouth spit juices from snuff. Some of it fell on the torn rags she wore as clothes. Exchange of only a few words revealed that it was Angel, his once beautiful maiden and bride-to-be.
Despite what she looked like, he knew that love is what he still felt for her. When she opened her mouth and dispelled everything she had become, the King knew she was no longer the person he once adored. She had grown cold, bitter, and worn after serving an evil pseudo-king in the west. She complained that life was evil and unfair. Since things had not gone her way since leaving, she said she was ready to settle down with the boring King Pane.
Without further ado, guardsmen took her away.
King Pane returned to his study. He realized that his Angel, the woman who had caused him such pain, would have caused him greater dismay had she stayed.
He summoned the maiden who had brought him the greatest joy during his time of sorrow. He removed her from the Kingdom and she became his bride. She was happy and loved him the most. This made King Pane happy as they lived in the castle forever and ever thereafter.
No one really knows what happened to Angel, the once beautiful and lovely bride-to-be. Rumors have been heard that she joined a circus and travels Kingdom to Kingdom as a side show, spiting snuff juice through a tiny hole from more than twelve feet.
Other rumors say that she found a mate and lives happily with a warm and loving family, faithful and strong. Of course, King Pane still has anyone who whispers this rumor tarred, feathered, and tied to a kitchen door in the center of the public square. Anyone who knows that person is placed in a giant shaking box on the outer edges of the kingdom and shaken for one week. This rumor is almost never heard in the Kingdom of Vane.
Old people teach their young that they should learn from the bride who almost was, that they should not run away from home so fast. Not only does it hurt the people who love them, but you may not make it home again.
1992©
