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The Princess And The Wolf

THE PRINCESS AND THE WOLF

STORY WRITTEN BY JOYCELINE NATALLY CUDJOE

 

Once upon a time in “Shama kingdom,” there lived a king and a queen who have been searching for the fruit of the womb for the past 25 years. One day, a great miracle happened and the queen’s womb was blessed with a child. After the ninth month, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. The baby was named Princess Akosua, because she was born on Sunday.

Princess Akosua was not allowed to step out of the palace. She was well pampered with rubies, diamond, jewels, gold, pearls, toys and got all the luxuries in the world. When she was seven years old, she began to watch other children playing outside the palace through her window. She had always wanted to mingle with the kids but her parent refrain her from going outside the palace.

Whenever Princess Akosua sleeps, she hears a lovely lullaby, sang with an angelic voice. For the past 8years she had wanted to see the person behind that sweet voice. She always held back by her thought whenever she tried opening her windows at night. Her mother’s voice echoed in her mind, “it is a frantic dream you are having; never open your window at night.”  She made it a point to listen to that baritone voice each and every night before sleeping.

Princess Akosua grew to be a very beautiful lady. She was gifted with hair, and as she was growing, her hair kept increasing. A day to her sixteenth birthday, her heart was touched by that enchanted voice to the extent that she forgot her mom’s words. For the first time, she opened her window at night just to see the person behind the voice.

Her eyes fastened in the woods. She turned her eyes to the north, south, east and west through the window but she didn’t see anyone.  She kept hearing the voice singing,

“My love where are you?

It is your love that has turned me

I thought I will feel your love in June

But the gay night, wolf I could be

My love where are you?

If you could hear this my voice

And you will still make me your choice

I will make you kiss this rosebud in the month of June”

Mouth agape, Princess Akosua stood motionless. “Where could this voice come from?” she wondered. Her eyes wide opened following where the sound was coming from. Still she could not locate the person behind the voice. She bent her head, driven by passion. Her hair stripped loose from her window to the outside till the tip touched the ground but all to no avail. She turned back and wondered; she listened attentively till the voice became faint and she couldn’t hear the voice anymore. Princess Akosua closed her window and lay on her bed. Lost in her thought, she vowed to find the person no matter what would take her.

Her father thought of surprising his daughter on her 16th birthday. He invited all the young men in the town to his palace for her daughter to choose a spouse from them. Kofi Anokye, the boy who spotted Princess Akosua from childhood when he played outside the window of the princess assumed he was the right spouse for beautiful Akosua. His wicked mother had been waiting for this opportunity for a very long time for her son to be groomed to the beautiful Princess.

Princess Akosua thought it was a great opportunity for her to know the person who has been singing for her since childhood. In order to identify the person she thought of a perfect plan. She walked to the throne of her father and whispered into his ears that she would choose the man that has sweet voice and his voice could touch her heart.

His father loved his daughter so much and he never withheld any good thing from her. As she said, her dad ordered the men to sing and the good voice would be chosen by the princess. Being the most handsome among those boys, kofi Anokye thought his looks would woo the princess to choose him without having any second thought.

Twelve guys have already sung, now it reached Kofi Anokye’s turn. His voice was like a beast; very croaky. His scary voice sent the princess running. Kofi Anokye roared in anger, “where are you running to?” He followed the princess. The princess quickly ran to her room and locked the door. She has never heard such horrible voice before. She became very terrified. The party was ruined by the voice. The King never imagined his daughter’s party would be destroyed in such manner. Kofi Anokye begged the king to give him another chance. “I ate something that was not good for my voice,” he swallowed hard. The King was pleased by Kofi’s looks so he gave them chance to work on their voice for a year.

The princess had an awkward feeling.  She never felt terrified like that ever before. The voice appeared, immediately she rose from her bed to listen. The lyrics always melt her heart.

“My love where are you?

It is your love that has turned me

I thought I will feel your love in June

But the gay night, wolf I could be

My love where are you?

If you could hear this my voice

And you will still make me your choice

I will make you kiss this rosebud in the month of June,” the strange voice sang.

This continued for another year again and the princess still couldn’t figure the face behind the voice. She was tormented as she couldn’t locate the person. She thought of a plan to trap the person to present him to her dad during her 17th birthday. She informed the guards to set a trap to catch the person.

The clock chimed, it is the seventeenth birthday of the beautiful princess and all the young men in the village lined up again to sing in a way to impress the princess. The Princess watched them carefully thinking she could see a new face but no! All the faces were the same face that graced her sixteenth birthday. She prayed in her head that God should help her to grab the person who always sings at the back of her window. She strongly believes that the guards would never disappoint her. It had been two weeks since they laid the trap. “No matter what the person must be seen!” she muttered.  For her dad, he wanted his daughter to marry during her eighteenth birthday so he warned her before the party to choose one of the singers irrespective of what happens.

As they did before, the guys began to sing one by one and this time around Kofi Anokye’s voice was better. The king was very contented with Kofi. Smiles ran through their lips as they applauded for Kofi’s performance. The princess knew Kofi had won but his voice was not as angelic as the faceless singer. She became frustrated, yet everyone was cheering Kofi. Now Kofi had to be adorned with royal bracelet, the princess hesitated. Her eyes were gleamed with tears. Her leg banged the feast table, impossible! She sharply shook her head. Her dad wondered what was wrong with his daughter. He stared his daughter with love, urging her to present the bracelet to Kofi. Suddenly the guards barged into the feast room. The princess rose in joy. She knew they came with good news. She was saved by the bell. She waited for few seconds and didn’t see anyone except the guards. She got devastated and hit her butt on her chair. “Oops! All hope is lost. I need to present the bracelet to Kofi,” she sobbed. She stood, limping to present the bracelet.

“Wait,” a voice screamed. She turned her eyes sharply, immediately a big wolf jumped down from a net held by the guards. They all shivered in fear. “Please no one should run. I am human not an animal,” the voice cried. The princess stood motionless, her heart jumped off in her but the voice sounded familiar. The wolf started singing, and all the men and women were touched by the voice. No one has heard such a voice before. The voice was perfect, one in a million. Good to calm nerves, soothing to the ears and sweet. The princess’ eyes sparkled with love. She quickly descended the stairs and got closer to the wolf. Tears dribbled down from her eyes. She was consumed with passion, and no words would turn back her heart. Without hesitation she adorned the wolf with the bracelet and embraced the animal.

Mouth agape! Silence rushed through the hall. Kofi Anokye felt defeated. He remembered how his wicked mother plucked herbs and fried corns in ten big tanks to make him eat everyday for a year. He grew cold, very disrespectful and haughty. He always bragged about his good looks and never thought he would be defeated by an ugly wolf. His legs were shaky, he gnashed his teeth as he walked pass the princess and the wolf. He slammed the door in shame. The rest cheered the princess and the wolf. Although the king was unhappy, but he gulped down his anger, like a drink just to support his daughter. Once the birthday was over, the king pulled his daughter to his room. Princess Akosua realised her absurd decision but she insisted that there could be a story to the wolf’s predicament and something could be done to turn the wolf to human.

The king summoned the wolf, and he narrated his story. “When my mom and her rival gave birth, my father sent the two babies to the shrine to ask of the destiny they bear. The soothsayer said I bear a fortune of being a husband to a beautiful princess from this great kingdom but my kid brother has no good fortune. When our mothers heard of it, the second wife of my father felt jealous that her son bears a bad fortune so she cast an evil spell on me. My father returned me to the soothsayer to reverse the spell. The soothsayer did his magic and all he could say is the only way I would be transformed is when I find my true love and she draws water from the healing stream for me to drink for a year,” the wolf wept.

The King was not enthused by the story although he felt sorry for the wolf but he could not allow his daughter to act as a slave by fetching water from the healing stream for the wolf to drink. He disapproved of the relationship and in anger he told the wolf never to come close to his palace. The princess cried and ran after the wolf but she was stopped by the guards.

The wolf had already fallen for the princess so he didn’t give up on her so did the princess. Every night the princess sneaks out of the palace to draw water from the healing stream for the wolf to drink.

The Princess And The Wolf

She also opens her window and releases her hair for the wolf to climb with it into her room. Kofi Anokye closely monitored the princess and realised that she secretly makes her way out of the palace in the night so he planned to kidnap the princess. The wolf that was coming from the woods spotted what Anokye was doing so he took his royal knife and cut off his hand. The wolf didn’t forgive Kofi for trying to kidnap his love although he knew Kofi was his kid brother.

The Princess And The Wolf
The wolf fighting Kofi Anokye

At that point the wolf was gradually turning into human, he didn’t walk with all four, but he walked with his two legs. The night became the last night of his stature as a wolf after the princess fetched the water for him, he turned back into human. He was tick-tall, handsome and a perfect gentleman. The princess never knew the wolf was handsome like that; he was so handsome than Kofi Anokye. His eyes were like silver, with a shiny silky hair like gold. He was a perfect gentleman, respectful and great to be looked upon.

The Princess And The Wolf
The Princess dancing with the wolf

Once the king saw him, he indeed believed he was a chosen man for his daughter and he apologised for being a standing block in their love affair. He blessed his daughter and the wolf. On the 18th birthday of the princess, the wolf married her and they lived happily ever after.

The End!

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Source; www.spotonnews.net

Joyceline Natally Cudjoe

An Entertainment Columnist, Content Writer, Blogger, Novelist, Poet, and a Publicist. For business or story tip off, contact me on +233 24 646 6866 or email: [email protected]

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