The Shadow Princess

Once upon a time, in a land far from our own, there lived a princess named Lilith.
She was considered among many as not only kind, caring and generous, but also one who possessed a striking beauty.1

One day however, on her way to town, Lilith crossed paths with a malicious, grotesque witch who, every day, had grown more and more jealous of Lilith’s beauty. Unbeknownst to Lilith, the with cast a spell on her, which would transform every boy she kissed into a nasty, hateful troll.2

And sure enough, after that moment, Lilith met many nice boys who would treat her more like a queen than a princess. But as soon as she kissed them, the curse would come into play, and these boys would become trolls.
For the most part, the trolls would merely belittle her and make her cry into her pillow at night, but occasionally, some would go so far as to deliver her several whopping great whacks with their troll clubs.3

One day, Lilith could not stand it anymore. So she packed all of her things and ran far from the castle.
She ran for days and days, and grew very weary and weak, so she settled down in a forest for a while, slumping herself against a tall, strong oak tree.
Just as her tired eyes were closing, a brilliant purple light appeared before her, and slowly materialized into a fairy.
Lilith’s eyes widened in alarm.
“Do not fear me.” Said the fairy in a soothing voice, “For I am your fairy godmother, Laureli, and have come to make easier your troubles.”4

Calmly, Laureli explained the curse which was placed upon her and, seeing Lilith’s distress, offered a solution:
“I will make you a living, breathing shadow. All will see you, and be able to touch you, but none will see your remarkably beautiful features. It will be as though you are standing in darkness, even in the lightest part of day
“Only when a prince tells you earnestly of your beauty without having ever seen your face, will the witch’s spell be broken.”
Laureli waved her wand, and with a zing and a zong, a counter curse was placed upon Lilith.5

At Laureli’s request, Lilith returned to her castle, and true to Laureli’s word, she was now a somewhat solid shadow.6

For weeks and weeks, Lilith stayed in her room, leaving only to stand on her balcony and stare at the sun, crying to herself-for she feared her face might never be seen again.7

Now, it happened to be that a king from another land wished to do business with Lilith’s father and, having heard of the beauty of Lilith, decided that he would bring his own son, Loki, with him on this trip in hopes he would find something he liked in Lilith and they could join kingdoms.8

Not knowing what to expect, Prince Loki came to Lilith’s kingdom in bad spirits, and saw only the negative in everything he set his eyes on.
He was so sure that even Lilith would be like every other princess, wanting only to marry him and live out their lives like a spoiled queen.
So Loki spent the majority of the trip complaining.
He complained about the way the houses were built.
He complained about the scenery.
He complained about the size of the castle.
Yet, when he met Lilith, he had no idea what to make of her.
She was quiet, thoughtful, kind and quick witted. She kept Loki on his toes, and though he could not see her face, he was strangely drawn to her.
She was not like anyone else he had ever met, and every moment of the day he thought of her.9

He accompanied her on walks around the kingdom, to balls held in his father’s honour, and even just sat in her wing of the castle and had deep conversations with her.10

It happened that one day they were arguing, as Lilith was rather quizzical about the nature of her relationship with Loki. It didn’t make sense, and she made damn sure he knew that also.11

“Why do you spend so much time with me when there are far lovelier princesses out there whose faces you can see??”
“Because I don’t want to spend time with them, I want to spend time with you!”
“But you can’t see me!”
“I can see you! And you’re beautiful!”12

With that, the air in the room crackled, and Lilith was suddenly engulfed in a great red smoke. Fearfully, Loki stepped back, not quite sure what was going on.13

Seconds later, Lilith emerged from the smoke, and her face and all of her features had returned, more beautiful and refined than ever.14

Loki took Lilith in his arms, looked down at her face and whispered,
“see, I told you that you were beautiful.”15

He then kissed her forehead, and this is where our story draws to a close.16

MORAL: beauty is only skin deep. It’s only what’s inside that really counts.17