(fairy tale)

Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a princess named Jane was born. The king and queen couldn’t help but be happy about their child. It seemed that nothing could make them happier. Years passed, the princess grew up, but she did not acquire the beauty that every royalty had. Her hair was shaggy and the servants tried dozens of ways to style it, but all was in vain. Jane’s eyes were squinting in different directions, which made the princess’s already sad appearance even more ridiculous. Her entire skin was studded with freckles, but it didn’t look pretty, as if the princess had a rash. The more the girl grew, the more horrible, in the opinion of the king and queen, she became. From the age of ten, her parents put the unfortunate girl on the highest tower in the castle, and when she turned fifteen she was sent to the most uncharted part of the kingdom, to a small house with only one maid. Talk about the princess and her absence was quickly overtaken by the news that the queen was pregnant again.

Jane did not understand why fate was so cruel to her. She spent all her days in the cabin, and at night she cried bitterly. No one could help her. Even the maids did not communicate with her highness, fearing that she was ill and might infect them with her ugliness.

One evening Jane sat in her room. Opposite to her was a mirror, which she was afraid to look into, so the servants covered it with a dark cloth. The princess hoped that one day it would all go away and she would become as charming as her parents. Taking off the dark cloth, she looked at her reflection, but nothing had changed. Out of anger, she hit the mirror and it shattered into small shards. The princess’ palm was wounded and scarlet blood flowed from her hand; she bit her lip in pain until she noticed that white light started to come out of the shards. It grew brighter and brighter, and as it went out three little men appeared in front of her. Their skin was white as snow, their clothes too, and their hair had a golden cast. What struck the princess the most was that they had small white wings behind their backs.

“Who are you?” she asked immediately, moving away from the little ones.

“We are angels,” the strangers answered in chorus, “We come to those who need our help.”

The princess was still stumped and thought she was dreaming.

“We know your problem, Princess, and we can help you.”

In their kingdom, no one believed in magic and was punished for such things, but a real miracle happened in front of the princess. She nodded her head, still looking around at the angels.

“We will give you angelic beauty, but in return you must do only good deeds, because a beautiful person is not the one who is outside, but the one who is inside.”

One little angel approached the princess and took drops of her blood from her palm, after which a rose grew in his hand, which he sent straight to the castle and a beautiful lush garden was formed there. The mirror that lay broken in the room regained its former appearance, and Jane could see her reflection.

Her dark hair was neatly arranged and had a luster, her eyes became more expressive, all the freckles disappeared from her body, and a rosy blush appeared on her cheeks. It is impossible to say anything about the girl’s figure, which became thin and toned.

When the servants saw the princess, they were speechless and immediately sent a letter to the king and queen, who sent a coachman to fetch her.

Indeed, Jane was fabulously fascinating, like the freshest rose, the servants were no less amazed by the appeal of the young lady.

Years passed, Jane became more and more beautiful; all the gallant men of the world: kings and princes, dukes and knights wanted to take her as a wife. But the former princess, and now the queen, was not ready to share her beauty with someone. For so many years, the girl’s character changed a lot.

One day, a poor shepherd came to the palace. He asked for an audience with her majesty, however, he was refused several times, but soon the princess agreed to accept him. The boy saw the queen, immediately bowed and tried to get closer to her, but she did not allow it. The scent of his clothes irritated Jane too much.

“Your Highness,” the shepherd began, “I have heard about your beauty and I am madly glad that I can see you. I would like you to agree to become my wife…”

Before he could even finish, the queen’s laughter immediately spread throughout the kingdom.

“You’re a shepherd!” Jane shouted, “My hand has been asked by kings who have not received my consent for marriage, and here is an ordinary shepherd! I’m the most gorgeous girl in this world, I’m a queen. And who are you? A poor boy who couldn’t even find tidy clothes to meet me. Your face is sooty and your body stinks of dung. Who do you think you are to ask such a thing of me? Servants!”

But the door slammed shut as if by magic, and in the place of the shepherd, one of the angels appeared. “Eh… Jane, what has become of you? Your beauty has blinded your eyes, you have become so brutal, and your amazing attraction that I saw before has disappeared somewhere. I told you that beauty is not outside, but inside, and it is the most important thing for any human being.

The angel flew away, and the garden of roses which covered the whole kingdom gradually withered away, as did the queen herself, who sank into eternal sleep. She was still splendid outside, but dry inside as all the flowers in the castle…