Once upon a time, in a kingdom bathed in eternal sunshine, there lived a princess named Lily. She was known throughout the land not just for her beauty, but for her kind heart and gentle spirit. The people of the Sunny Kingdom adored her, for she always took time to listen to their troubles and help in any way she could.
One day, news reached the princess of a dark sorcerer who had come to dwell in a gloomy part of the land. It was said that he possessed great magic and that all who crossed his path met with misfortune. Because of this, the people begged Princess Lily to send someone to challenge him. However, brave knights returned in fear, and even the royal guards felt a chill at the thought of facing the sorcerer.
But Princess Lily, with her heart of courage and love, decided that she would visit the sorcerer herself. Many of her advisors tried to dissuade her, but she was steadfast in her resolve. So early the next morning, she set off alone, with her loyal little dog, Dotty, by her side.
They journeyed for hours through thick forests and steep valleys, until at last they reached the shadowy land where the sorcerer was said to live. And there, at the foot of a mountain that seemed to scrape the sky, stood a tall, dark tower. Without hesitation, Princess Lily ascended the steps and knocked boldly on the door.
The door creaked open, revealing an old man with a long white beard and a tattered robe. His eyes were like burnt-out coals, but they lit up when he saw Princess Lily.
“Why, my child,” he said, “who would have thought that Princess Lily would come to visit me?”
“You are, of course, the great sorcerer, Irah?” said the princess, remembering the name she had often heard spoken in fear.
“Indeed I am,” answered the old man. “Won’t you step in?”
Lily entered the gloomy room and sat down. There was a fire, though the place felt cold. She introduced herself and told the sorcerer why she had come.
“Irah,” she said, “I am here to plead with you to leave off doing evil, and to visit the Sunny Kingdom where everyone is good and happy. I know you can do great things with your magic; why not use it for good instead of for harm?”
The sorcerer laughed a hollow laugh. “No one has dared talk to me like that for so many years. People tremble at my name, but you, foolish child, come boldly to my home and beg me to be good; and why? No one has shown you how terrible I am. You have not lost a dear friend, or known the heartache I have caused many a loving heart. You are surely mad!”
Princess Lily drew closer to him. “Irah,” she said softly, “I know that nobody is wicked without cause. Tell me what has made you so lonely and often so cruel.”
The old man’s face softened into a sad, wistful look. “Tell you my sorrow? No! Who would care to hear it? Who would forget the blackness of my heart to pity a sullen old man’s grief?”
“I care to listen,” Princess Lily said. “Dotty has heard sadder tales than yours and has never let me forget his friends. Irah, I plead with you for the Penguin. You return once more to love and to the society of your fellow creatures, and I will be your friend indeed.”
The sorcerer made no answer, but sitting in front of the princess, he buried his face in his hands and wept bitterly.
At last he looked up, his eyes shining through his tears. “You have touched the hidden spring of my heart,” he said gently. “You are right; kind and loving creatures may forgive the wrongs I have done. I shall never again practice the wicked arts. Good shall come of what once was evil. You have all the kingdom at your feet, Princess Lily, and whatever I possess shall be added to your treasures.”
And the old man rose and, leaving the room, returned with a giant plat in which lay a mass of jewels and gold—all, he said, that was left from the riches he had amassed in every part of the world.
So he blessed and kissed Princess Lily and took her to the entrance of his gloomy dwelling. When the princess and Dotty had once more set out on their return home, they turned round to say farewell but found the tower a pile of smoking ruins, while the lovely garden of flowers hidden in the realms of emerald forest lay stretched before them, opening out into every part of the kingdom.
As they emerged into the sunlight, the sorcerer stood beside them in the guise of a grey-haired old man, leaning on a staff.
“Farewell, Princess,” he said. “I go to rescue the gloomy hearts of men and women from despair. I shall cease to be Irah the wicked sorcerer and become only Irah the traveller.”
He kissed Dotty, placed round the princess’s neck a lovely collar of rare jewels and a golden chain, thanked her once more and went away, while those in far-off lands not only became his friends but rejoiced and thrived under his magic.
When Princess Lily returned to her loving subjects, the wise king welcomed her with crowned festivities for many a day, and high, low, and rich and poor bade her delight and happiness at her purchased price of kindness.
And many a long year after all her subjects had kissed her hand and expressed their loyalty, Princess Lily died, and beside the sunny land where she had lived and died, blossomed a Fairy Tale of hers with the rare and singular beauty of the soft-eyed ivory doves, the endless variety and colour of the lapis-lazuli tiles, and the fallen tears of those who loved her which turned into diamonds and pearls.
“Once Upon a Time” became a fixed figure of speech, but her “Happy Never-ending” was a short yet pithy life in which all laid down their hearts and sorrowed not only for themselves, but for the lonely sailor, the fated penguin, the lost king, and all those the sorcerer had once cursed.
And looking down from her place in Heaven, right above, her tears fell no more sorely on her innocent white hands, but drew her soft unnoticed white robe and windunder above the world’s crested ship, until at last the great gold sun lulled those in petulant excitement into eternal slumber.