bairnsidhe

Once Upon A Time, when such things happen, in a magical land that had seen stranger things, a girl was born without a heart. The girl with no heart was not born to a cursed royal couple, but to simple craftspeople in a moderately sized village. Her mother was greensmith who worked copper and fixed pots, and her father made and mended clocks. Once, in his youth, the clockmaker had done a kindness for a fairy, and so she came to them with warning of what would happen when his wife gave birth. Distraught at the idea they might lose their child, they made for her a clockwork heart. The clockmaker drafted the plan, and his wife made all the parts, and together they assembled a gleaming copper heart to save their daughter. She was born screaming, pink and perfect, and they named her Corretta. Thanks to hard work and a little bit of friendly magic, her clockwork heart worked.

Sort of.

Once upon a time,

(when stories happen)

A Princess had fallen under a curse.

It wasn’t her fault she was under a curse,

Or her parent’s fault.

Sometimes curses happen

And it’s up to the heroes to deal with them.

The curse prevented the Princess from ever

Finding her True Love.

Which was awkward,

Because usually True Love is what breaks curses.

However, despite the curse of Loveless Life,

The Princess was happy.

She had lessons in ruling

And her horses for riding across her lands

The Princess had many friends among Princesses

From other lands.

(Everyone likes the girl
Who can’t ever steal their Happily Ever After prince)

The Princess also had many good friends among
The palace staff,

Because friends are always

Good things to have, no matter where you find them.

She was friends with the young, lean stable hands who

Understood horses.

And the Huntsman

Who kept big slobbery dogs she liked to cuddle with.

She was also friends with the laughing kitchen staff

Although the cat

Kept chasing after her

Because she gave the best ear scritches ever.

And she had her little brother, born after her curse

Who was not cursed,

And found his true love

When they were both very young and only holding hands.

Her brother did not want to rule the land.

He wanted to get married,

Raise champion roses,

And have some heirs, because his sister did not.

In time, the Princess grew up strong and tall.

And friendships became alliances

And the maids became cooks

And Cat liked her scratching behind his ears.

The Princess became Queen, as is usual,

She was better at that

Than her brother.

The kingdom thrived under the Cursed Queen’s rule.

All did not stay well, and she was cursed again,

Into enchanted sleep.

Her brother arranged

A wake to grieve the living, as their people did.

The stable hands picked out the best horses to carry

Her dove grey bed

The Hounds and Cat

Were curled by her; the other staff all shared stories.

The guests arrived; the Queens, and Duchesses

Czarinas and Chieftains.

Who recalled with fondness

How loving someone cursed to be without love could be.

Her brother's youngest son, her secret favorite,

Went to give

A final parting gift

A single rose-stem bred with love for her.

A bit tipped; he was gifted with plants,

But clumsy with hands.

New inner petals

Of palest green, like her eyes when she smiled.

The outer petals were a cream that would provoke

Debate about hue

Yellow for friendship

Or white for the care she took with others.

The dark green stem had leaves as dark as outer
Petals were light

With veins of grey

Fanning, a bundle of arrows out from the thorns.

The Cursed Queen’s nephew leaned in and carefully placed

A sticky kiss

On her sleeping cheek,

Saying loudly, “Night Night Aunty, love you!”

Then, like a tide goes back out to the sea

To leap and roll

The Cursed Queen

Opened her eyes, and sat up, looking around.

“Well, this looks like a party,” said she. “Can someone
Get me a mint,

I have mourning breath.”

And everyone laughed; at their dear Queen's awful pun.

The Kingdom lived happily ever after. Their Queen

Never needed a King

Because the Love of family

And friends can be as True as any fairy tale.