NOTE: This is NOT a retelling. This is a fairy tale of my own writing. So enjoy! ~Starflower Hunting
Long ago and far away, there lived a young woman in a little woodland village. Nature had made her a true beauty, with long, fair hair, fine as spun gold, and deep blue eyes, clear and cloudless as the summer sky. But this girl, she must have been the most selfish, impudent, greedy, mean-spirited girl alive. And so those summer-sky eyes became piggish and watery, and in eating more than both her poor parents combined, her arms and legs became weak and fleshy. Her good parents fretted and became thinner by the day, the young men of the village lamented over the pretty girl she could have been, the other girls despised her, she was known through, over, and around the village as "pig-girl", and she should have been miserable. Despite that, the good-for-nothing girl was just as happy as a fat pig rolling around in its own stench.
 |
| Image from chrisgeorgephotography.com |
“Get me some bread!” the pig-girl cried. “And some milk and butter while you’re at it!” She smiled smugly, admiring herself in her cracked looking-glass, a rarity in such an isolated village. Her old mother shuffled away, her joints creaking and her expression sorrowful.
“Fairy Queen curse the pig-girl,” the villagers said as the old woman came out to milk the cow. It was their way of sympathizing with the girl’s mother, for a Fairy Queen curse was not to be taken lightly. It wasn't for naught that new mothers told their children, "Quiet, or the Fairy Queen'll get you." But for the first time, that day, the old woman replied.
“Aye, Fairy Queen curse my daughter.”
And the Fairy Queen heard.
 |
| Image from fanpop.com |
The Fairy Queen held her court in a distant fortress, above the crests of the highest mountains and below the dark earth. It was in the vast throne room that the Fairy Queen heard this curse. The fairies stopped their reveling and listened as the unknowing old woman's words echoed through the hall. The queen lifted her delicate head to the skies and paused, taking in the sound and the silence afterwards. Then, in a surprisingly sonorous voice for such a delicate fairy, she spoke to the court.
"Well, well, well. Shall we oblige?"
The fairy court, always ready for a spot of fun against the frail humans, nodded vigorously as one. Their queen's lips twisted into a cruel smile. And this is the part, every time this story's told, when I realize that fairies can be deadly, dangerous, and clever. The Fairy Queen snapped her fingers, and nobody ever believes me when I tell them what happened next.
The pig-girl found herself in the throne room. Confused, hungry, and grumpy, she snapped at the first creature she saw. Unfortunately for her, that happened to be the Fairy Queen herself.
"Where's my milk and bread? I can't starve! You can't let me starve!" she cried indignantly.
The Fairy Queen (I would tell you her name too, but no one knows it) laughed, high, clear, and cold. She turned to her court and gave a knowing smile and turned back to face the girl.
"My, where are your manners? I just so happen to be the Fairy Queen!" she cried suddenly, frightening the daylights out of the pig-girl. The Fairy Queen steeled herself and gave the pig-girl one more chance before she carried out the old woman's request, for disrespect was a thing not tolerated within her court. "I'll say this again. You will not speak to me in that fashion. Now pay a queen the respect she deserves."
The pig-girl remained silent, crossing her arms and pointing her nose up in a way that had always made her mother relent. The brilliance of the fairy court was too much for her small mind to process, dulling her instincts and causing her to ignore the one that said, "Apologize, apologize."
Instead she said haughtily, "The Fairy Queen? Is it not said that the Fairy Queen has a scepter of leviathan bone? Is it not said that she has a face that will curdle new milk, yet make flowers bloom? Show me these things and I may yet believe you." With that she smiled in her own impudent words.
"Silence!"
That's exactly what happened. The Fairy Queen, laying down her scepter, lifted her long white hands and the room grew dark and the sky stormy. With the air of an entity beyond the sun and behind the moon, eyes glowing in fiery rage, she intoned:
Girl, they call thee, girl of swine
Cursed have thou become.
Live up to thy sobriquet,
Spend all thy days
Rolling around in the muck.
Forever thou shalt wander
In the blazing sun
Unless thine eyes can spy
The chest forever closed.
Open it, and bring its contents
Whole in sum to me
Then I may
End thy curse
Lessons all learned.
The light in the throne room faded to normal, the air heavy and humid with magic. The pig-girl found that she could not move. When she tried to speak, all that came out were the snuffles and grunts of a real pig, without a trace of girl. Panicking, she squealed. The fairy court burst out laughing, in such a way as has never been heard by man since.
When next she opened her eyes, the pig-girl found herself in a meadow. A swineherd boy was corralling her into a pigpen, and despite her frantic efforts at escape, he held her firm. Food sloshed into the trough, and the other pigs rushed forth greedily. The pig-girl saw that if she did not push through, she would starve. And though she was frightened and her wits had nearly left her, she could not starve. With her bulk, the pig-girl shoved the others aside and began to lap at the trough. The indignant pigs charged at her, and, whimpering inwardly, the pig-girl admitted defeat.
