In the 16 century AD, there lived a king named Philip Louis - XII. He was so brave and he became the king at the age of 17 when his father died out of illness. He married at the age of 19 and was blessed with a daughter. She, the princess, was the most prettiest girl in that kingdom which made her father, the king, boast of his daughter’s beauty to anyone he met. It made him proud. Apart from family issues, he was an aggressive as well as a wise man who believes much in self-respect. He can never give up himself for anyone and expected everyone to respect him besides their ages. He waged many wars against a number of countries and there was no word ‘failure’ in his life. He was aggressive by birth but not brutal, he made most of the countries his ally rather than annexing it and making its people his slaves. He always thought for the well being of all his people as well as the people of his allied countries. All that he started ended up successfully, literally anything. All his happiness lied in the well being of his daughter. He loved her very much that he gave her all that she wished. Once he even gave his mighty sword which brought him many victories for his daughter to play with, for the petty reason that she demanded it to play with when she was just a 20 month old kid. Days passed, she grew up well with the riches of her father and the beauty she got from birth grew with her too.

Once in the court before the king had arrived, the ministers had gathered and while waiting for the king, they started gossiping and one of the hot topics came out involving the king himself. When he took up the throne, he was so slim and fit and he was at his best when he was of the age 20 but as the days had passed, he started becoming fat and by then he had become very fat that he even bothered walking. While they were talking, the king appeared suddenly and took them by surprise. He told them that he had heard all that they were speaking and the looks he featured showed everyone how angry he was.

After that, he didn’t speak a word and left to his room. This outlandish behavior of his startled the ministers. The next day he came back to the courtroom and announced in front of all ministers that everyone in his kingdom should become fat within 90 days. Everyone there was traumatized and they thought that decision was bizarre. The mighty king also added that those who fail to meet his en-join will be taken to task. This became the worst nightmare of the entire kingdom. Fearing the king, everyone gave up their diet and started putting weight. Finally after 90 days, almost that entire town had become fat. But the worst thing the king experienced was, his own daughter had become fat and looked ugly. He was so sad at this and adding fuel to the fire, he was informed that a man named Edward Rush has not become fat. This made the king enraged and he ordered his soldiers to drag him to the court. As told, they brought that man in front of the king. When asked for the reason of not becoming fat, Edward told that he was so brilliant by birth that even if he eats much, he was not able to become fat. This seemed ridiculous to the king and he thought of testing Edward for his brilliance and announced a deal that, he can go free if he could make his daughter become slim as before. For which Edward readily agreed but demanded that he should see her now. As he demanded, the princess was brought there and after taking a close look at her, he told that she will die exactly on the 100^th day from then. The king was shocked as well as angered and he immediately sentenced him life imprisonment.

On hearing that, the princess worried and she believed that she will die, as Edward was a brilliant man. So she thought of enjoying her last days very happily. She climbed mountains, roamed around the city by walk and all her fantasies became true within 99 days and everyone were worried to face the 100^th day. The much worried day finally came and there remained a silence which the kingdom has never experienced. The day started with a pleasant rain at the dawn and the peacocks in the palace danced with their disturbing voices which woke up the princess. That was the first day the princess got up with tears in her fish shaped eyes. She feared that she will leave everyone that day. Whatever she thought or whatever happened around, the clock never stopped ticking. But everyone in the kingdom wished that the time stood still. Finally 518399 seconds of that day has passed and the final second which if passed, the words of Edward would become erroneous. Though it was a second, it seemed as hours for everyone especially the king. As everyone wished, the last second of that day passed and a new day was born! The King shouted in happiness. He ran up and down that nothing has happened to his daughter. There was no word to explain his happiness.

He called Edward to show that nothing has happened to his daughter. Edward smiled and said he knew that nothing would happen to her. The king interrogated him why he told so. Edward replied back politely, “My Majesty, please take a look at your daughter. Isn’t she slim as before?” The king as well as everyone gathered there including the Princess herself, looked at her and found that she has become slim which everyone had failed to notice as sorrow has blinded them. The king had no words to praise Edward. As a way to thank him, the king offered him to be the chief Minister of his court. By the time, the Princess whispered something into the King’s ears which brought a smile in his face and after giving it a short and deep thinking he asked Edward to marry his daughter if he wished. This appeared as the most precious gift anyone could get in that kingdom ever and so, Edward accepted that politely. Their marriage happened in a way so grand that no one has ever seen. The king apologized for his mistake and provided with funds to make everyone as they were before physically and better than before financially. Everyone praised the king and so they all lived happily ever after!

• Written by Kumaran.
• In category Stories & Tales.
• 15 years ago.

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