Princess with Twenty Skirts Story in English _ Stories for Teenagers _ @EnglishFairyTales

English Aqsa's Stories

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00:00The Princess with Twenty Skirts

00:30The Princess was lovely to look at, and that she knew very well.

00:36So among all of the people of the land who loved to look at her pretty face,

00:41she loved to look at it herself the most.

00:45In those days, there were no mirrors or medals,

00:48so the Princess would head into the woods,

00:51go by the lake, and regale at her gorgeous reflection in the water.

01:01Then so great was her love for nature and the woods

01:05that she would play in the mud all day,

01:08run around with the animals every morning and evening,

01:11so that by the time she returned to the palace,

01:14her hair would be as tangled as a bird's nest.

01:19Oh, my dear Princess, how am I ever to get rid of those tangles in your hair?

01:26I don't know. That is your job.

01:30Please, do come and sit and let me comb your hair.

01:33This might hurt a bit.

01:39Oh, can't you do anything right?

01:42You are such an oruck!

01:50An oruck?

01:53Your Majesty called me akin to a buffalo.

01:57That is so rude, Princess.

02:01Learn to comb my hair well, and then we shall speak of rudeness.

02:06Oruck!

02:09Ah! This water is so hot.

02:11Can't anyone do anything right around here?

02:16As you may have noticed,

02:18the Princess's behavior was nearly not as lovely as her face.

02:24Playing with the creatures of the forest and getting her hair tangled was fine,

02:29but insulting her helpers, many of them much older than her,

02:34that too, when they were trying to do their best for her, was just not done.

02:41The Queen spoke of the Princess's petulance to the King.

02:45The King loved his daughter dearly and could not bear to think of punishing her.

02:50He only assured the Queen.

02:53Well, our daughter is not all bad, my dear.

02:58She shares my love for animals and trees and things of the forest.

03:03See how tenderly she cares for the little calf she found injured in the forest once,

03:09and birds flock to her whenever she is out in the garden.

03:16While the King drew solace from the Princess's kindness to animals,

03:20he was worried about the kind of queen she would make.

03:24So he took the worries in his heart and carried them to his favorite spot in the forest.

03:31The spot where his friend, the Great Oak, had once stood.

03:37It was many, many years ago when the King was but a boy of ten.

03:42He had seen some woodcutters come to chop down the oak.

03:47I shall not let you cut this tree!

03:50Prince, we need the wood!

03:54Then go and find a dead tree, but I shall not let you kill this one,

03:59or else drive your axe through me before the blade touches the tree!

04:04So the woodcutters had no option but to leave the big old oak alone.

04:09The Prince insisted that a royal guard be placed in the forest

04:13so that no one could cut a healthy tree and cut wood only from already dead ones.

04:20No one was allowed to hunt any animal or catch any bird from the forest.

04:26On another day, when the young Prince was playing in the forest…

04:32Where is that sound coming from? Sounds like an animal is in pain!

04:37The young Prince searched everywhere in the shrubs and shoots and bushes,

04:42and found a baby auric.

04:45The auric was in terrible pain, as its leg had been hurt and the wound was deep.

04:51The King took the auric to the palace and tended to it day and night,

04:56until finally it was well enough to bound away into the woods again.

05:02When the young Prince had become older, now a youth of twenty years,

05:06he had visited his old friend, the oak, again, to find the poor tree dying.

05:14My oak! My beloved oak! What has become of you?

05:19Why do you look so withered, my friend?

05:22I must go fetch a doctor, a gardener, whoever might know how to save you.

05:28It is of no use, young Prince, for the time has come for my spirit to leave this world.

05:35You have been kind to me, and you saved my life on several occasions.

05:41Now it is time for me to return the favor.

05:46And for me too!

05:53You! My dear auric! You too look so tired and worn!

05:59The oak and I are brothers.

06:01We had been cursed to live as a tree and as an animal,

06:06and now the duration of the curse is nearing its end.

06:10It is time for us to return to our land in the stars.

06:16But before we go, O noble Prince,

06:20we wish to bless your land with untold prosperity and happiness,

06:25for your kindness surely deserves it.

06:30When I am dead, take one of my horns and fashion a comb out of it

06:35for a daughter you will someday have.

06:40And when I have fallen, cut my bark into staves.

06:45When your daughter turns seventeen, join the staves to make a skirt for her

06:50and make her wear it whenever she misbehaves.

06:55Then one day she will find a purple flower

06:59at the exact spot where my brother now stands as the oak.

07:04Let the women of the land spin from the stalk of the flower.

07:10And before you know it, this dark forest shall become a vibrant field

07:16full of such flowers which your people will spin

07:20into the finest, softest fabric ever discovered by man,

07:25and your kingdom will become one of the most prosperous ones in the world.

07:32Today, so many years later as the king stood in the wood,

07:36he remembered what his old friends the oak and the orc had said.

07:40His worried heart saw a ray of hope,

07:43and thanking them in his mind, the king rushed to the palace.

07:48He had a skirt made of the staves of the oak

07:51and a comb out of the horn of the orc.

07:54Our daughter has once again made the governess cry with her rudeness.

07:59Call her here.

08:01The princess was called for when she arrived.

08:06I hear you have been misbehaving again.

08:10Father, you're all so useless.

08:14Enough!

08:16And now, I will make you pay for this.

08:20You're so useless.

08:23Enough!

08:24Henceforth, you shall comb your hair with this.

08:30And from now on, whenever you are rude, you shall wear this.

08:38Father, but I...

08:40No questions, no discussion.

08:43Wear this now.

08:45And so it came to be.

08:48Whenever the princess was rude or badly behaved,

08:52she was made to wear the wooden skirt.

08:55The princess did not like it at all,

08:58and her behavior soon started to become better.

09:03Every time the princess had her hair combed with the comb made from orc's horn,

09:08the princess's manners improved greatly.

09:12I do so love the feel of this comb.

09:15It is so soft.

09:19But your hair are so tangled, your majesty.

09:22It might hurt.

09:24Yes, it might.

09:26Don't worry, dear governess.

09:27I shall be very still.

09:33Are you all right?

09:36I'm sorry.

09:38So very, very sorry, your majesty.

09:42As long as you are okay, it is fine.

09:44Don't worry.

09:45Anyone can slip like that.

09:49Everyone was amazed at the wonderful change

09:51that had come over the once arrogant, rude, and selfish princess.

09:56Soon her manners were as beautiful as her face.

09:59She no longer needed to wear the wooden skirt

10:02and was the kindest, sweetest person in the kingdom.

10:07One day, as she went into the woods as usual,

10:10she reached the spot where the old oak had once been

10:13and she saw the prettiest, daintiest flower there ever was.

10:18She took the flower to the palace

10:20and showed it to her mother and her aunt who had come visiting.

10:25Mother! Aunt!

10:27See what I have found in the forest today.

10:31What a strange, beautiful flower.

10:35That is no ordinary flower, dear.

10:37This is flax.

10:40Flax? What is that?

10:43Soon, the aunt shows the ladies in the palace how to roast the stalk

10:48and extract the flax from the flower

10:50and spin it into soft, beautiful linen.

10:54Before long, the entire forest had become a huge field of the flax flowers

11:00and everyone in the kingdom was spinning the flax into soft linen.

11:05The tailors made wonderful shirts for the men

11:08and skirts for the ladies.

11:10The princess loved the linen so much that one day…

11:15The skirt feels so soft.

11:18Bring me another.

11:20Look at the flair it gives me.

11:22Bring me one more.

11:25Ah! The more I rub, the more gorgeous it looks.

11:29Get me one more.

11:32The princess wore twenty skirts in all

11:35and walked with such elan in the palace

11:38that all the ladies thought that twenty skirts

11:41was the number of those beautiful skirts to wear.

11:44The fashion spread all around the kingdom

11:47and every girl, every woman and every bride

11:50had to have twenty skirts around her.

11:53And to this day, the fashion which the princess had begun

11:57stays in the land of Holland among the Dutch people.

12:01The fashion that was brought by the princess who wore twenty skirts.

12:06More importantly, we must note that this was the same princess

12:11who had to wear a skirt made out of wood.

12:14And now she could wear soft linen that felt comfortable

12:17even when twenty skirts were wrapped around her.

12:21When we are willing to accept our faults and work on them,

12:25we become light-hearted and joyful.

12:28Then, people feel comfortable around us

12:31and celebrate whatever we do.

12:34Once the princess became polite and loving,

12:37nobody talked of her rudeness anymore

12:40because when we ourselves give up our bad habits,

12:43others naturally forgive us.

12:46That is the true way of the world.

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