This story is part of my collection, A Fairy Tale Christmas, which was originally written in 2007 for my family.

Dedicated to my cousin, Ann.

Once upon a time there was a story that the royal story teller told to the king, which impressed the king so much that the king betrothed him to his daughter the princess.  The princess was very fond of the royal story teller, and she was very happy to be engaged to marry him, as she loved his stories almost as much as she loved him.  For Christmas, once they were engaged, the story teller asked his bride what she would like most for a gift because he so wished to please her.

“Tell me a story,” said the princess.  “That will be your gift to me.  Compose a story for me for my gift.”

On Christmas morning, when the princess looked under the tree, she was disappointed to see that she had several packages from her fiancé, and none of them were a manuscript of the story she asked for.  The gifts he had given her instead were: a diamond ring, a beautiful white gown, a tiny silver spoon, a bottle of scented ointment, a quill, and a bouquet of white roses.

“These are wonderful gifts, my love,” said the princess, “but I asked you for a story, you didn’t have to give me these.”

“Once there was a beautiful princess,” said the story teller with a smile, holding his bride’s hand.  “She was betrothed to a humble story teller, and they loved each other very much.  On the day they were married, he slipped this diamond ring on her finger to symbolize the eternity of their marriage and love for each other, and she wore this gown.  Eventually, they had a child, who they fed with this silver spoon until the child grew up and gave this diamond ring to his bride who also wore this gown.  Once their child was married, the princess and the story teller had grown quite old together, and used this ointment to stave off the pain in their joints.  For Christmas, on their last year together on this Earth, before the angels would come for them, the story teller composed a beautiful story that his bride once asked him to write for her, before they laid these flowers on his grave after a life lived happily ever after with his princess.”