Sylvia Woodham

Maerchen: Prince of Gold and Greed

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In an unassuming village in one of many kingdoms, there was once a landowner who ran modest farms and had an only daughter and a son. Despite his ties to the rulers of the empire, he was not a wealthy man, but he tried to be fair and often paid workers out of his own pocket so they could feed their families. Though he had one son, his daughter Yulia was his heart's delight, and her world revolved around her love for her father.

 

There was a foreign merchant who would visit often throughout her youth, who came occasionally with a son her age. Yulia found it strange that his son, Franz, was quiet and removed, never wanting to play with her. Despite the cool distance between her father and the merchant, as Yulia got older, she found the merchant pleasant to do business with, when they met often in the market of the town on behalf of her family.

 

While Yulia's father made sure she excelled at her studies of letters, her younger brother Hans struggled to be as adept as his sister. For this reason, she had the privilege to study at a prestigious university on how to care for the land as well as studying with Kant's disciples. Hans stayed close to home to study logistics and take over for their father.

 

One day a black raven appeared in Yulia's window. She wanted to feed him, but was frightened when suddenly he spoke:

 

"Sometime soon, you will be asked to marry Franz,

But you may have to kiss him before princely he becomes."

 

The raven did not touch its food and flew away. Yulia was puzzled by this proclamation, but soon forgot it and returned home.

 

Life grew busy before returning to normal with her family concerns. Hans got into a border dispute with a neighboring landowner, and the local lord was called to settle the argument. Her father had known the Lord since they were young. The boundary between their land and the neighbor's had been in place for many generations before theirs but never documented. Now the neighbor claimed his land was cultivated by Hans. Yulia negotiated a compromise that her family could keep the land, recorded in an official document, but for this must pay a sum of money to the neighbor. The Lord was impressed with Yulia's intellect in the matter, and his son Freidrich was soon visiting the town more often. Her family fell on hard times, because of the debt created by Hans.

 

Yulia continued to be kind with the merchant, who she found to be quite jovial, despite his surly reputation. She inquired after Franz to discover the merchant was quite proud of Franz's accomplishments, also studying with one of the best masters in the realm to learn how to make money. He told her in jest one day he heard he could purchase a local castle for a gold mark, which was not hard to come by in those days.

 

Finding him so amusing, Yulia thought of the strange message of the raven and said, "If you do buy a castle, you should send your son on a white horse." She had heard once from a merchant in a distant land of a bridegroom coming to his wedding on a white horse and thought this was a clever response to the quick wit of the merchant. She considered that perhaps he was suggesting his son could own a castle to make her interested in him, even though he seemed shy.

 

Meanwhile, Hans married the teacher's daughter, Eva, who was entirely unimpressive. Franz had indeed come to town on a white horse. No one but Yulia noticed, who puzzled about this, wondering if it was a response to her jest.

 

The Merchant did not come quite as often, but on one infrequent visit alone, asked her to kiss Franz without any reason. Yulia considered that her family taught her to value education over influence, and was more intrigued by Franz than Friedrich, if she was being presented this choice by the Merchant.

 

She laughed and asked if Franz might like to go with her to the ball the Lord was hosting. The merchant departed quite pleased with this response, but then Yulia did not see or hear from him with any answer about the event.

 

The day of the ball, it took Yulia some time to prepare for the journey to the Lord's estate. She had finished a long day of clearing obstructions from the irrigation aqueducts. She had just had her dress fitted in her apartments when she heard the loud clang of the bell at the gate.

 

She looked down into the court to see Franz speaking with the servant. He seemed to glance her way, but she ducked inside quickly. She was embarrassed that he would see her with her hair in disarray with twigs sticking out of it. Hurriedly, she smoothed her hair before running down to the court. When she jogged out to meet the servant, she found the servant alone, shrugging before chasing after her children who had gotten into the horses' water trough. Yulia pondered how few answers she seemed to be getting when there was any conversation having to do with Franz.

 

Yulia went to the Lord's ball alone and in a sour mood, where Friedrich greeted her warmly before returning to all of the other young ladies who fawned over him. When he saw Yulia talking to an older widower, the young Lord grew jealous and could not help but interrupt to spin her in a way he did not spin any of the other women there that night. Though Yulia had been intrigued by Franz, this seemed more direct action than she was getting from anyone about the Merchant's son.

 

The next time Yulia saw the merchant at the market, he was a great deal more surly, asking why she did not dance with his son at the ball. This confused her, and she informed him Franz had left without explanation before the ball. The merchant became thoughtful and apologized for his son's behavior.

 

Her family received a special invitation from young Lord Friedrich to a private dinner, which they attended. He surprised her with his interest in a variety of topics and intelligence. Her sister in law, Eva, did not. She was more intrigued than she thought she would have been after discovering that he also had more depth, much unlike the taste of her brother.

 

However, the following week, she heard the servants whispering loudly that Lord Friedrich had gone to visit a Baron's daughter to see if a shoe fit. She was disappointed that he would choose a woman based on the size of her feet. When she inquired, the servants said the Merchant had driven Friedrich away from Yulia's country the day before. Friedrich had wasted no time in searching for another woman to fit a shoe.

 

Frustrated by the ruined security prospects for her family who was still in debt, and cognizant that to marry well would improve her father's finances, she set out one morning on her trusty steed to find the Merchant. She rode in the direction from which he had always come, taking the same road. She traversed several kingdoms for weeks before coming to the point where the road ended. She stood at the entrance to a sizable castle. Yulia was in awe and wonder at the magnificence of the place.

 

She followed the drive onto the palace grounds, where she saw there was a mass being held in the family chapel. She wandered into the adjacent large hall hung with curtains covering the walls to wait. She had heard the king was generous and imagined large feasts held for the people to join in their abundance. She danced, hiding behind the curtains, until she came to a corner which opened up into the chapel where she saw the merchant and Franz seated. She startled and ran out of the palace.

 

Her family was in trouble, and the king and Franz were responsible for ensuring Friedrich no longer sought to marry her. She mustered resolve to approach the palace again to seek an audience with the king. It could not hurt to ask, she thought. It was clear this king was beloved by his people, and she hoped this meant he was also generous.

 

When she arrived a second time, she was granted an audience with the king. The merciful merchant stood before her now as a gracious king, and he was delighted to see her. He hugged her with familiarity as if she were his daughter and led her to more private rooms. When she asked if he could help her family with money, he immediately agreed.

 

The king met with a peasant representative next to determine how their taxes could be used to benefit the farmers' success. The farmer made it clear they valued good relations with Czechia and Polska and wished their taxes to be spent maintaining good trade routes with those kingdoms.

 

After their business was done, the king was delighted Franz could join them. Yulia had known Prince Franz most of her life but had never spoken to him, so she introduced herself politely.

 

Franz looked at Yulia and scowled, asking, "Did you ask my father for money?"

 

"Yes," Yulia responded, plainly.

 

"You know I like gold to quench my greed. How could you come taking instead of giving?" He stormed out of the room and left the palace with a dark cloud over his head.

 

The King and Yulia exchanged looks. After all the years she had known him, turned to him and said, "It will be horrible if he takes over the reign here while his only priorities are gold and greed! The people will have no one to represent them the way you do, if he only raises taxes but does not spend them in ways to ensure the farmers' success." She dreaded a world where farmers suffering a fate worse than her own father would allow for his own workers, having seen how well the king cared for the people.

 

Turning to the king's records of his accounts, she saw inconsistencies everywhere between the numbers found in the kingdom and those reported. Each number was only wrong by a few digits, but she said, "The prince will be furious that all of these records are incorrect. You should find an accountant who keeps the records precisely."

 

The king saw her passion to protect his people, and protect them from a future of his son's wrath and invited her to stay.

 

Franz had set out to do business, make money, and love women, and a few years passed quickly before one day a raven visited his window. Franz was shocked and slightly in awe when he found the raven to speak:

 

"Your pride drove you to run away

But instead you have only gone astray.

Has any of this really happiness brought,

Or what misery on yourself have you wrought?

 

When the prince admitted it felt empty, the raven replied:

 

"Prince, to be happy, first you must learn,

Not to only take without giving in return."

 

Franz trudged home to find Yulia at his father's side, and the kingdom in better order. He begged Yulia to forgive him for his unkind words, and they married. Eva was pleased because simple things like weddings made her happy, like many observers who miss the plot.

 

The raven watched the wedding from the chapel steeple with a knowing smile before flying into the sunset to live happily ever after.

 

Sylvia Woodham writes: I am an international business professional living in Germany with my dog and working across several continents and time zones. However, I grew up immersed in folklore and mythology of several cultures and read any and all massive collections of less well known fairy tales I could find as a child. This also represents my own cultural heritage. Short stories of mine are published in The Ansible and Sad Girls Club Literary Blog. Additionally, I have numerous literary influences, some expected and some less obvious.

 

Bienvenue à la Danse, Sylvia.

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