“Maid Maleen”
There once was a princess named Maid
Maleen who was in love with a prince, but her father wanted to marry her to
someone else. She said she wouldn’t marry anyone else, so he built a tower into
which no sunlight could enter. He put in seven years’ worth of food and drink,
and locked her and her waiting woman in.
Seven years later, when their food and
drink ran out, Maid Maleen and her waiting woman took a butter knife and worked
some of the stones loose. When they finally broke free from the tower, they
found that her father’s castle was in ruins and the surrounding towns had been
destroyed.
The two wandered looking for food and
work, and eventually made it to another castle where they became scullions in
the kitchen.
The Prince of this castle was the one who
had loved Maid Maleen. His father had chosen a very ugly woman to be his bride.
She was in the castle, but so ashamed of her ugliness that she never left her
room and Maid Maleen had to take her her meals.
On the wedding day, the bride was so
worried the people would laugh at her ugliness, that she hatched a plan. She
told Maid Maleen that she had hurt her foot and would not be able to walk to
the church, so she told Maid Maleen to put on her dress and be a stand in
bride. At first Maid Maleen refused, but when the bride said, “Do it, or die,”
she didn’t have a choice.
As the Prince led her through the town,
she sang odd little songs. When the Prince asked her what she was singing, she
always said, “It’s nothing.” At the church door, the Prince took a necklace and
put it around her neck. They were married, and when they returned to the
palace, she went to the bride’s room and took off the dress and jewels, but
kept the necklace.
When the ugly bride went to the Prince
that night, she wore a veil so he couldn’t see her. He asked her what she had
sung at the various points as they walked. The ugly bride went and found Maid
Maleen for all the answers. When she finally lifted her veil, the Prince was
shocked. She explained what she had done, and the Prince wanted to see the
scullery maid.
The ugly bride went out and tried to have
Maid Maleen executed, but she screamed and the Prince came to her rescue. He
saw the necklace and knew her to be his “real” bride. She also told him that
she was Maid Maleen, and they lived happily ever after. The ugly bride was
executed.
#
So Maid Maleen and her waiting woman just
sat in a dark tower for seven years before thinking of trying to escape?
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