Once
upon a time in small country called Zania lived a very charming young
Prince Daniel.
On
his twenty third birthday, Daniel wanted to ask his parents to allow
him
to
travel around the world without servants or bodyguards. Secretly,
Daniel was
dreaming
about finding some unique and unknown place and writing a book about
it.
In Zania, nothing was unknown anymore and Daniel believed that maybe
far, far
away,
he would find something new and that had never been seen before. For
months,
Daniel was preparing everything for his adventure and was very
excited at
the
thought of leaving the palace alone, for the first time.
Just
days before the big birthday party, his father, King Jerry called
Daniel
to
his bedchamber.
“My
son,” King Jerry said slowly “you are going to be twenty- three
years
old
next week. Now you have to do something very important for me and
your
country”.
“What
is it?” Daniel asked. He hoped it would be something important and
not difficult.
“You
must be married right after your birthday”.
“What
must I do? Is it a joke?” Daniel asked.
“Daniel”,
the king raised voice a bit. “I am very serious right now. You
must
get married next week”.
“I
don’t think that”.
“Daniel,
you have to do it for me and your country. This is our secret
tradition
all princes and princesses must follow”.
The
king sat on a chair and continued speaking.
“See
how great and powerful our country. We have great nature and great
army.
Our people are happy and they love their kings and queens, because
we
give them such a wonderful life. But, of course we need the money to
take
care of it all thank you to our richest families, who share their
wealth
with
us”.
“You
have money too, why do I have to marry a woman I don’t know”.
“I
have the highest power in our country. But the highest power is not
the
money
I need every day for my people. This is why, for so many
generations,
the successor to the throne has had to marry someone from one
of
the richest families”.
Daniel
did not know what to say. He only knew from how serious the king was,
the
coming
marriage was true.
“Daniel,
you will be the next king and thus you must marry the eldest
daughter
of our “Grand Bank” owner, Lady Liana”. The king quickly
finished
his speech.
“Father,
I don’t want to get married”, - Daniel replied again. “I want
to
travel,
I want to see the world. I don’t even want to be a king”.
King
Jerry looked at Daniel and said very strictly:
“ You
are getting married Daniel. I cannot change anything. This is the
Secret
Law. We do not want to start a war here. Now go and get ready to
meet
Liana and her family. Don’t worry, she is gorgeous”, the king
winked
“you
two can travel together anyway”.
“I
am not marrying”, Daniel left the king’s chamber slamming the
door hard.
The
prince was ready to leave the palace immediately.
He
went to his bed room to pack some of his belongings when a strange
woman
appeared not far behind from a small cloud of dust. The woman looked
around
and smiled. She was young, beautiful, dressed like a queen and was
wearing
a small crown on her head. Then the women quietly stepped closer to
the
prince
and blow some of the dust from her hand. Daniel looked back at her
right
away
and smiled. He was hypnotized by her magic dust.
“My
prince, I know everything”, surprisingly, the woman’s voice
sounded
very
old and a bit scary. “You father wants you get married without love
and
be
stack here. How unfair” she whispered. “Only I can help you. Come
with
me,
I will show you something amazing”.
The
woman took Daniel’s hand and brought him to a mirror on the wall.
“Look
very well, this will be you very soon”.
Daniel
looked at the mirror and saw a fat king napping on the throne.
“That’s
you, my prince.”
“No”,
Daniel replied. “I cannot look like that, fat and ugly”
The
woman started to laugh. Then she looked at Daniel’s eyes and said:
“My
prince, only I can help you. I will show you many wonderful places,
unknown
courtiers and the lands full of mysteries. Look again in the mirror,
look
at these beautiful pictures. See, rivers, oceans, deserts.
Thunderstorm
on
a sea, big ships with gold, rain forests far, far away. You can see
all of
this
only if you do what I say. Only what I say my prince”, the woman
was
speaking
more and more quietly almost like she was singing.
Daniel
was amazed by the pictures he saw in the mirror and of course he
agreed to
do
everything.
“This
is the magic jacket. Wear it and in minutes you will be in one of
those
places”.
