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The Nightingale: Part I
A Fairy Tale Retelling
This is my fairy tale retelling which combines “The Nightingale” with “Cinderella.” I took creative liberties and added my own twist to the story.
In the kingdom of Silverwood, there lived a prince who loved music more than anything else in the world.
Prince Conall was 20 years of age, which was considered “late” to marry. The king was so stern and authoritative as a father that he’d never felt close to him and no matter what he did, he could never please him. He gave up trying to be a proper prince long ago and could be found most daydreaming and singing in the library, near the silver stream behind the castle, or in the royal gardens.
One night, the king said to his wife, “I am concerned about that boy. He’s always dilly-dallying never taking his life seriously. He has expressed no interest in finding a suitable woman who would be fit to become our future queen. I swear he is more bard than prince! And I don’t like that one bit!” He made no effort to hide the disdain in his voice. Bards, in his opinion, were weak men.
The queen felt differently, but she couldn’t voice her opinion in any way that wouldn’t upset the king.
“You could host a ball on behalf of our son. But allow him to set the conditions for selecting a woman he prefers… you…