What a woman wants (Part III)

.......... continued from Part II




The prince decided to take the witch's help, no matter what her price may be, for any price would be small compared to his father's life. The witch gave the answer to the prince, but in return she asked him to marry her. The witch was old and terribly ugly. Her mere sight drove people away from her, but the prince married her anyway and freed his father. When he retired to his chambers in the evening, he was surprised to find a beautiful young maiden waiting for him.

The maiden said that she is none other than the witch, but this is her real appearance. She had to assume the old and ugly form to keep people from taking advantage of her powers. Then she asked the prince to choose  one out of two alternatives. Either she could stay young and beautiful during the day, or during the night. The prince was confused. Whether to have a beautiful wife to show off to the world during the day and an old lady as his wife in the night or an old lady by his side during the day and a beautiful wife in the night. He was unable to decide. So, he asked the witch to choose by herself.

This, made the witch so happy that she gave a magical sword to the prince and decided to give up her other form forever. She told the prince that this is what every woman wants; to take the decisions in her life on her own.  

What a woman wants (Part II)

........continued from Part I


The prince's father was vanquished, though he fought gallantly. He was held in captivity by the powerful king and as the prince went before the king to ask for his father's freedom and apologize for his rude behavior towards the princess, the king challenged the prince to a duel. There was one condition. If the prince won the duel, his father would be freed and he would receive the princess' hand in marriage, but, if he lost, he would be required to answer a question correctly, failing which his father would be put to death. Seeing no other way to ensure his father's freedom, the prince agreed to the king's condition.

The prince was easily defeated at the hands of the king. He had to now answer the king's question. The king asked the prince "What does a woman want?" The young prince was bewildered at the question. He had never thought of it before. He asked for some time to think of the answer. The king granted him seven days.

In search of the answer, the prince went to every philosopher, every wise man, every scholar, every sage and hermit. At last, on the eve of the seventh day, he announced in the kingdom that anybody who gave him the answer to this question would be rewarded with a thousand gold coins. Then, an old witch came to him with the answer, but she was notorious in the kingdom for solving problems at peculiar prices.

What a woman wants (Part I)

   Today as I heard an actor shout " I don't understand , what do girls want after all?" in some movie, I thought of the simple answer to this much asked question and I shall tell it through a story.





 
Once upon a time, there was a very brave king who had a very handsome and intelligent young son. Unfortunately, the young prince was so proud of himself that he was rude to almost everyone. Once in an annual festival, the prince lost a game of chess to a common lass. Outraged and astonished at this defeat, he insulted the poor girl. The girl returned to her home and the incident was forgotten by the people of the kingdom, as it was common for the prince to insult and shout at his inferiors.

One morning suddenly there was an attack on the kingdom. As it turned out, the girl who defeated the prince in the game of chess at the festival some days back, was a princess herself : the cherished daughter of a very powerful king. The princess had heard much praise of the intelligence and beauty of the prince and had come to visit him dressed as a shepherdess. She wanted to see if the prince was really worthy of such accolades. Now the powerful king had attacked this kingdom to avenge the disrespect shown to his dear daughter.