Week 7 Story: The Princess and the Hermit

(semi-shiny hermit crab. Source.)

There was once a young princess who lived alone. People from the village would come and visit her, bring her goods, but no one ever stayed for long. The princess preferred a life in solitude because she was not blessed with the beauty of others. In fact, she was the most unpleasant to look at. She decided to lock herself away so that she was not a burden to others.

As the years passed, she became bored, so late at night, when the villagers were fast asleep, the princess took long walks, ending up in a different place each night. One night she stumbled upon an old traveler resting against a sissoo tree. 

"Hello, stranger," she said, "what brings you to my land?" 

The traveler responded, "Oh, dear! I have lost him and my eyes are too poor to look through the tall grass for he is such a small creature." 

Then the princess asked, "Sir, please tell me what have you lost, for I may be able to help you." 

"It's the hermit. I must destroy him before he destroys my family. The creatures shell shines in the moonlight. If you can promise to find him and bring him to me you will be greatly rewarded." Said the old traveler. 

"Well, I suppose I have nothing to lose." Said the princess. "I shall search for you and I will not come back until I have found this devilish hermit." 

So, the princess walked away, searching for the hermit. She turned over rocks, pulled away some grass, but she had no luck. Exhausted, she sat upon a log and rested her feet. 

Suddenly, something began to blind her. She held up her hand to get the glare out of her eyes and there it was! The hermit was crawling along the sand. Carefully, the princess stalked over to the hermit. 

"Excuse me," she said, but the hermit paid to attention to the young girl. So, the princess held her breath and picked the hermit up. 

Angered, the hermit clamped onto the princess' finger. "How dare you wretched beast! What compels you to handle me like you are my owner?! Do you have no common sense?!" 

"Ouch!" Exclaimed the princess. "I was only trying to help the old traveler!" 

*GASP!* "Please tell me you have not made a deal with him?!" said the hermit. 

"Would there be a problem if I had?" asked the princess.

The hermit started to cackle and the princess grew concerned. 

Then the hermit explained, "I will give you the one chance young girl, for you do not know who you are dealing with. You see, the 'old helpless traveler' is nothing but a sorcerer who captures the ignorant and with each soul, he gains an extra life. I will help you, but you must trust that I will give you what he desires; an everlasting life of youth, beauty, and happiness." 

"Please, tell me what I need to do." Said the princess.

The hermit continued, "You will return to the old man and he will ask you to give me back to him. Once you do this, he is going to ask you to lay down and close your eyes so that you can be given your reward. However, instead of giving you what you deserve, you will be swept up by his net, then he will take you to his cavern where your life will be taken and given to him. To avoid this, you shall play dumb and ask him to demonstrate how you should lay down. When he lays down and closes his eyes I will cut the cord that will wrap him up in his own net, where we will leave him there to hang out and dry." 

The princess reluctantly nodded her head and understood that was the only solution. 

So, the princess did as she was told and the old traveler was caught up in his own net. She and the hermit went back to the princess' home where they rested by a fire. 

At this time, the sun began to rise. The old traveler, struggling to get out of his own trap, began to realize his fate. As the rays of the sun beamed over the hanging net, the old traveler began to burn. When all was done, his corpse dropped and hung over the branch; however, the traveler was mistaken by what he thought would be his death and instead was transformed into a goblin, where he would live in his own corpse for centuries to come. 

Just as the old traveler turned into the goblin, the hermit and the princess were visited by a fairy godmother. 

As the fairy godmother hovered over them she said, "You both have saved a million souls, and with that, I shall give you what you desire most."

With the flick of her wand, the princess became beautiful and the hermit became a handsome prince. They were blessed with an everlasting life, which they spent helping those who stumbled upon their land. Later, they had a son who became the king and through his own adventure, becomes king of the fairies after his encounter with the goblin hanging in the wind. 

Author's notes: This story was inspired by Twenty-Two Goblins by Arthur Ryder. I decided to create an origin story. The old traveler in my story ends up turning into the goblin, in Ryder's story, who helps the king, which is the same king in my story. I twisted most of the ideas, but they are similar in the aspects of having a deceptive person who asks the main character to promise them that they will bring back the 'creature'. The hermit is the creature in my story and the old traveler becomes the creature that is retrieved in Ryder's story. The hermit was really a soul that the traveler had captured, but something when wrong when performing his 'soul stealing' spell, which turned the prince into the hermit. The hermit escapes the old traveler and this is where he (traveler) stops at the sissoo tree (from Ryder's story) where he meets the princess.