The whole matter is ridiculous. The king is attempting to build loyalties with his people by choosing one of them to be the heir. The princess has no say in the matter I'm sure. Still, no amount of arguing or complaining could release me from this torment, this "competition."
I look around at the other young men around me. This will be a quick decision; most of these men are dirty, ill-mannered, and not incredibly good-looking. They will be released quickly. As will I.
A man in very expensive looking clothing comes in the room where we are all lined up. He looks each man over and either says simply "yes" or "no." The many "no's" stay where they are, while the fewer "yes's" are escorted out of the room, further into the palace.
He finally reaches me near the end and I prepare myself to look ashamed when he rejects me. I had been here almost an hour, and I was so ready to go back home.
Instead, he looks me up and down, and with no expression says "yes" and moves on.
What?! My eyes get wide. This can't be. He obviously made a mistake. I don't want to continue. When I don't move, a guard behind me grabs my arm and practically drags me away.
We come into a new room, this one much more extravagant than the previous one, with gold and tapestries and marble everywhere. I stand here with about twenty other young men, all much more comely than most of the other men who came to the palace. One more comes in behind me, and after a few moments the doors shut.
"Congratulations," the expensive man says as he moves to the front of us. "You are the finalists who will be attempting to win the princess's heart. Each of you will receive a renovation process during which you will be made to look suitable to be in the presence of the princess. After, you will each spend a day with the princess, and in a month, one of you will be our new prince."
Most of the men look excited, smiling at each other and whispering. A few, like myself, look as though they would rather be any place else. Nonetheless, there is nothing we can do, and so we are all led through the palace to the place I am guessing we will receive this "renovation process."
We reach a hall with doors lined on each wall. We are each led to go into one of the rooms. I open mine to find a room five times the size of my own and a man waiting, it would seem for me. Without introducing himself, he says, "Follow me," and leads me to a door on the right, which apparently leads to a washroom. There, a full bath awaits. The man nods at towards the bathtub and says, "After you are done, put those clothes on," gesturing to some clothes hanging on a rack near tub, and then he leaves, closing the door behind him.
I get into the bathtub and quickly wash my body and hair. I've never had a bath this clean before. After I emerge from the washroom, with a clean body and clean clothes, the man sits me down in a chair in the middle of the room, and begins to cut my hair.
Soon, he is done. He looks me over, grins and nods, and then turns and exits the room. I am left alone, unsure of what to do next.
After almost three weeks of doing nothing besides walk around the courtyard and attempting to have conversations with the other men or the servants, it is finally my turn to meet the princess.
The only thing I am looking forward to is being able to go home in a week. I am tired of having to look presentable and having nothing to do.
Two guards lead me out of my room and through the palace. We enter a large room with a grand table and so many chairs. At the end sits a young woman. The guards lead me to the seat across from her.
She is very beautiful, with dark brown hair and big blue eyes. Wise eyes. The princess' eyes.
I stare too long before I finally realize I should bow. "Greetings, Princess."
The princess smiles. "Please sit. I am Princess Xandra. What is your name?"
"I am Estevan, your highness."
She smiles again. "You two may go," she says, addressing the guards. They turn, and as soon as they leave, the princess stops smiling and closes her eyes.
"Is something wrong?" I ask, though I am not sure if I want to know.
Princess Xandra sighs. "You are number twenty of the men that I have met so far. I suppose I am a little exhausted from meeting so many men."
"If you wish, you can just send me home. It will save you the energy of having to get to know me only to reject me."
She smiles a little, this time one that is not forced. "You already assume I am going to reject you? I could choose you. You are an extremely handsome man. You look like a king."
I didn't know whether I should feel flattered or not. "I am no king, your highness. And I am most likely not the one for you."
She smiled a little wider. "You are the first man to have said that. Even the ones who I could tell did not wish to be here tried to say how worthy they are. I am not looking for such arrogance. I am looking for someone who is honest and humble and honorable, and you are not the one who decides if you are those things or not.
"Please Estevan, tell me about yourself. Tell me about the things you love, the things you are passionate about. Allow me to see who you are, and then I will make my choice of whether you are worthy or not."
Author's note: I have always loved the story of Esther and how she was chosen to be queen of Persia. I decided to take the story of Esther and change it so that Esther is a boy, and the king is a princess. It is a lot like the Bachelorette. I found myself very invested in the story and I quickly ran over the word length. So I decided to leave the ending open. Maybe the princess chose Estevan, maybe she didn't. It's for the reader to decide.
Bibliography: This is a retelling of the story of Esther from the Bible. From the unit, Bible Women.
Hey again groupie! I absolutely love Esther too! My Week Two story was Esther, but as a warrior instead. I ended up 360 words over and had to figure out how to cut it down at 3:30 in the morning. I really liked your retelling! It reminded me a lot of The Selection. Estevan's name reminded me of Esteban from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody though. I thought it was really good that the princess got to choose whom she wanted to marry. Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteHaving a pessimistic perspective in the form of Estevan attracted me into caring about his character. And the message of love built on honesty is a nicely delivered one here.
ReplyDeleteThe open ending does feel like a satisfactory note, though a small part of me wanted a more defined resolution, but that is irrelevant. If I really must nitpick, I wish the paragraphs had more whitespace between them, but I can't find much else to complain about. A nice writeup.
I liked how honest he was with the princess. He did not pretend to be anyone he was not throughout the whole things which was refreshing. I liked how it had the whole Bachelor feel to do that made it easier to relate to since that does happen now too.
ReplyDeleteI liked this! The main character was interesting because of his attitude; while he wasn't disrespectful, he did make it obvious that he wasn't meant for her and that he just wanted to go home. It was a refreshing perspective and I liked both him and the princess, even though we did not learn much about them. This would be easier to read if there were breaks between paragraphs; other than that, well done!
ReplyDeleteI really love the gender swap here. More often then not, I’ve read stories about women being forced into an arranged marriage and I loved that in your story, it was a man being put in a similar position. I also love that the princess was humble and kind in your story, rather than snobby and thinking she is better than perhaps the “plainest” candidate brought before her. I really think you did a great job on this story and the fact you left the ending open was kind of fun to, so every reader can choose their own ending (in “my” ending, she chooses him in they fall in love. Haha).
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