The Princess and the Fisherman

By Kristi Sprinkle

The happy King Le Mi ruled Vinai with a kindness so great that his name resounded throughout the world and soon everyone wanted to live in Le Mi's kingdom.

Le Mi couldn't please everyone, however, especially not his beautiful daughter, Kali. The young men of Vinai were so captivated with her beauty that they stopped working and stared at her when she walked down the streets.

Le Mi, noticing this one day, could not fathom why the whole kingdom stopped working. He was distressed when he discovered that his daughter had caused it. Once a happy man, Le Mi became very sad. He did not know what to do about his daughter walking around Vinai. The kingdom of Vinai, once filled with good cheer, became miserable because Le Mi was very sad. The peasants' tears washed into the river and made it so cloudy the fishermen could not fish.

After many weeks of worry, Le Mi could no longer ignore the grave pall cast over his kingdom. "What am I to do?" Le Mi stood outside his castle and looked out over the kingdom of Vinai that expanded daily. Instead of sunshine, clouds had gathered and the skies grew angry.

Le Mi sought advice. He opened his arms and beseeched the vast sky. "Tell me, clouds, what can I do?"

The sky grew dark and the winds forced the great king to turn his head. When he did, Le Mi saw a bolt of lightning hit very near. The lightning outlined an enormous black tower that stood a short distance from Le Mi's castle on his property.

"Of course! I will put Kali into the tower so that no one may look upon her beauty. Then happiness will return to the kingdom." Le Mi, a king who did not ask others to do what he knew he should do, went in search of Kali.

Once the benevolent king decided on a plan, he was happy again The sun came out and the skies turned blue. The rivers were so clear so that you could see the fish swimming and crabs walking on the sand far below. The kingdom of Vinai cheered. Everyone was happy again. Everyone, that is, except Kali.

"But papa why must I live in the tower? I am not Rapunzel and my hair will never grow long enough to have a young prince climb it."

"My princess, you are so beautiful that everyone stops to stare at you when you walk down the streets of the kingdom."

Kali could not believe it. "Is this a reason to imprison me?"

The king, normally a sensible and kind man, was adamant. "Yes, Kali, it is a very good reason."

Le Mi could not tell his daughter that she could destroy the kingdom of Vinai with her beauty. He could only tell her that he loved her very much.

"One day, Kali, a handsome prince will find you and you will be very happy."

Kali, however, did not understand. She would miss her walks. She loved to see the women in the rice fields and the big oxen plowing the earth. She would miss visiting the shops where breads coated in honey covered the shelves and little children swarmed around their mothers asking for candy.

However, with the promise of a prince arriving one day, Kali lived quietly in the tower.

Every morning, Kali woke with new hope. She would not despair because she was also a very happy person and would wait until it was time to descend the tower.

Not long after being imprisoned, she heard a beautiful sound below the tower. She looked down upon the river and saw a fisherman playing a flute.

Day after day, the fisherman played music that made Kali's wait bearable. Kali liked a particular song the fisherman played and scattered rose pedals that landed in the fisherman's boat. The song was so much like a love song and so beautiful that Kali thought the fisherman must be a prince in disguise.

The song made Kali's days shine and filled her nights with renewed hope that she would be rescued from the tower.

However, when the fisherman discovered that the beautiful rose pedals came from King Le Mi's daughter, he was embarrassed and stopped fishing under the tower. He knew that the most important thing the king of Vinai loved was Kali and a mere fisherman could never measure up to the king's expectations for his daughter.

Kali could not understand why the fisherman disappeared. She missed the songs and soon she grew unhappy.

"What's wrong, Kali?" King Le Mi walked the halls of the tower with his beautiful daughter. These walks kept the king in good spirits.

But Kali could not confess to her father. She burst into tears and could not be consoled for the loss of the music and of the fisherman who might be a prince. Every day her tears came and Kali's beauty declined. She was withering away in the tower.

The king did not know what to do. He wrung his hands but was determined not to let this affect his kingdom. He wanted to understand why his child was so unhappy.

One day, a neighbor who had witnessed the pedals falling from the tower, came to the king.

"A fisherman, sire, came every day, but he has not been there for a while. He played his flute for her..."

The king did not hesitate and told his servants to ask the fisherman to come to the castle right away.

The fisherman, whose face was ugly and scarred, approached the king.

Le Mi welcomed the fisherman. "Please. I bid you come to the tower and play your flute."

Le Mi called to his daughter to come to him. But Kali would not come out of her tower room, even for her father. She no longer cared about anything in the world and was so depressed that she felt there was no reason to get out of bed.

The fisherman began to play his flute and when Kali heard it, she immediately leapt to her feet and dressed. Her heart raced with the thought of the handsome prince that awaited her.

When she met the fisherman, however, Kali's heart sank. She thought that the player of the song of love would be handsome--at least not so ugly. She was polite, but the disappointment showed in her face. When Kali returned to her room in the tower, she wept and wept, unable to fathom why such beauty could come from someone so ugly.

Upon seeing the princess for the first time, however, the fisherman immediately fell in love with her. After their meeting, he was escorted from the tower. The fisherman went back to his boat and tried, but couldn't play his flute. He immediately fell into despair. He had no hope of ever gaining the love of the princess who had instantly charmed him. Soon, the poor fisherman died of hopelessness.

Kali was depressed and realized that a handsome prince would not save her after all. After many months, she was neither happy nor sad and came to forget about the fisherman and the beautiful music.

When the fisherman died, the people of Vinai found a crystal next to his body. Everyone in the kingdom knew the fisherman's story and that the crystal was made from unrequited love for the king's daughter. The peasants put the crystal on the bow of the fisherman's boat.

One day, the king discovered the boat and bought it when he heard the story of the crystal. He had the crystal made into a beautiful teacup. When tea filled the cup, the figure of the fisherman in the boat appeared and the faint sound of his flute could be heard in the distance.

Le Mi thought that his daughter would like the cup. He filled it with tea and gave it to her.

As soon as Kali saw the fisherman and heard the faint flute, however, she was saddened and once again was filled with despair. She knew then that the fisherman had died because of his love for her. She was also distressed that she had let the man's face change her heart when she already knew the beauty of his soul.

Kali's tears fell into the cup and brought peace to the fisherman's soul.

The princess sat by the window of the tower. The curtains blew and a wind rose inside the tower and disappeared through Kali's window. Those around her said her own soul took flight and nothing was left but the lifeless body of the princess, sitting by the window as if she were still listening to the sound of the fisherman's flute.

Beneath the tower where King Le Mi had imprisoned his daughter, everyone can hear the flute playing joyfully and see a second figure sitting next to the fisherman in his boat.