Monday, March 19, 2012

The Pooey Princess

Once upon a time there was a rejoicing kingdom. The rejoicing king of the rejoicing kingdom was rejoicing because he had just become the proud papa of a beautiful little girl whom he named Ananda, which is the word for joy in some other language he knew. He knew that this little princess brought hope to his, until then, heirless kingdom, as all that remained was to marry her to a prince, and his kingdom would be preserved. With such excitement running through the nation, the king threw a great banquet for the entire population under his rule.
The crowd for this banquet was enormous with each citizen thrilled to be a part of such a fantastic event. There were wide smiles and hearty laughs found in the souls of nearly each person present. However, there was one in their midst who had mischief on his mind. A mysterious magician from the mountains had snuck into the banquet in disguise with plans of disrupting the party by placing a curse upon the princess. He was hidden amongst the crowd, awaiting just the right moment to strike.
The king had been making his rounds and greeting his guests when he finally turned to go before the crowd to make a grand presentation of his newly born child. As the crowd hushed in eager expectation, the queen entered the room carrying the future sovereign. She handed Ananda to the King, and he held her in his arms so that the people might see her for themselves. The child was gorgeous, and there were ooh’s and ah’s to be heard all over the room as the people looked on with admiration. It was now, while everyone was thus enamored, that the magician made his move. He jumped upon a table and declared in a loud voice:
With my piercing words all your hopes will surely sink,
From this moment forward the sweet princess will stink.
There will be no relief, from below or above,
Until she encounters the pure bliss of true love.

With these words, the magician smiled, wisped his cape around his body, and disappeared into thin air.
A silence overtook the crowd as the shock of what had just happened had rendered them speechless. All eyes turned to the king as he held the princess to see if the magician’s curse would indeed cause her to smell. It immediately became evident that the curse was effective as the color of king’s face was changing from his normal pinkish hue to a more disturbing shade of light purple. He quickly moved toward the nurse to hand her off before he passed out from the overwhelming stench that was filling his nostrils. Yet, to his dismay, the nurse also had to retreat, as the foul odor had quickly permeated the room. The crowd was fleeing the chamber, and while the family initially tried to look after the tiny princess, they too had to leave. The King sat the baby on a cushioned chair and managed to escape the banquet room before the smell caused him to pass out. Less than a minute had passed since the magician had disappeared, yet the banquet hall had already been emptied of all life save the poor lonely princess who was lying helpless in the room.
As lonely as this scene appears for the princess, it would be wrong to conclude that her family did not care for her. The truth is quite the contrary; the reason they left her there was because they were afraid they would drop her if they passed out and passing out was a real danger. The smell was so malodorous and spread so quickly that within a few minutes it had overtaken everyone present. Upon leaving the banquet room, the king quickly sprang into action for the sake of his daughter. He caught his breath, put a clothespin on his nose and reentered the stench laden room to retrieve his daughter. He grabbed her, hurried her to her chamber, and managed to lay her in her crib just before the smell overtook him. Just as he laid her down in her bed, he passed out beside it. The servants then quickly came in and carried him out as the princess slept peacefully in her bed.
When the king awoke, he quickly put a plan into action for the care of the princess. A greater number of servants were brought in, and a large number of clothespins and cotton balls were purchased. After much trial and error, the family learned that if they soaked the clothespins and cotton balls in perfume, they could stand the smell of the princess long enough to be in her presence for ten minutes at a time. The servants would then alternate shifts in order to take care of her needs, and the king and queen would also take their turns in order to make her feel loved. Nevertheless, the princess had many days of hardship in store for her.
There was little amusement for the child in her younger years, but she took comfort in wearing the family jewels. No riches were withheld from her. She wore all kinds of jewelry, set with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. Her favorite piece was a rare red diamond necklace that had been in her family for generations that was worth a fortune. She loved the pretty jewelry in her family, and this brought her some sanctuary. Her jewels were the most important thing in her life. When friends and family had to leave her presence, her jewels stayed. They were the sad princess’s best friends.
The family tried everything to rid her of this jinx. She was washed thoroughly multiple times to no effect. The finest perfumes were brought in from all over the world, but none of them could overtake the smell of the curse. They even brought in priests to try to cleanse her spiritually, but this was all to no avail. They began to comprehend that there was only one way to cure her of the stench. They must address the problem on the magician’s terms-to rid her of the curse, she must encounter “the pure bliss of true love.”
The family’s hopes about the princess finding a prince to marry her grew as the princess grew older. The servants took good care of her, and her physical beauty blossomed like a young rose that had just awakened to bless the dawn of a new spring. By her sixteenth birthday, she had developed into the most beautiful maiden in all the land. She had deep blue eyes that one would get lost in if he happened to make eye contact with her. She had flowing blond hair and a beautiful smile which, despite the difficulty that her curse had caused, communicated a joy that seemed to be worthy of her name. This was combined with the best attire that money could buy and, of course, the princess’s precious jewels.
It is easier to be joyful when one is hopeful, and hopeful she was. While she understood she was cursed, she did not experience it the same way that others did. She did not actually smell herself, so she had failed to understand how difficult it was to be in her presence. She also looked in the mirror and saw how beautiful she was, so she was very optimistic about finding a young prince to bring true love to her and take her burden from her.
A great artist in the kingdom painted an exquisite portrait of her (which he could only do in ten minute intervals), and that portrait was sent to all the surrounding kingdoms with a message informing them that the stunning princess in the portrait was looking to marry.  Many eager young princes looked deep into the blue eyes that stared back at them from the portrait and decided to make a trip to meet the damsel in the painting with unprecedented beauty.
After the first month of the Ananda’s sixteenth birthday, the royal family entertained dozens of potential suitors. Yet time after time, the princes took one whiff of the odor that she was emitting and fled. There was even one prince, who being so enamored with her beauty, attempted for days to endure her presence. He tried the same tricks the servants did: the perfume, the clothespins, the cotton balls. However, he was never able to stand it for much longer than ten minutes. Once he hit the eleven minute mark before he passed out and had to be dragged out of her room. The young man understood that true love was needed to cure her, so he thought that perhaps if he kissed her then the curse would be lifted. Yet, to everyone’s disappointment, his kiss proved to be woefully impotent. Evidently, true love was not to be found in his kiss or in his efforts. Disappointed at being unable to conquer the curse, he left the kingdom.
Ananda’s hope diminished with each failed suitor, and, as often happens when hope fades, her joy began to dwindle away. She sank into a deeper depression with each passing day as she began to ponder the idea of a future without love and dominated by the odor being emitted from her body. She now clearly saw her problem-she couldn’t cure the curse without love, but she couldn’t find love because of the curse.
Eventually the suitors stopped coming. Ananda would look out of her window during the day longing to see a caravan that would renew her hopes, but time and time again she would be disappointed. By the time of her seventeenth birthday she had lost all hope of finding true love.
It is a very dangerous thing to lose hope. Human beings were created in such a way as to expect good things, and their hopes, once disappointed, simply search for new things to place their hope in. However, once the lists of hopes have been exhausted to the point where there is no longer positive expectation, terrible things happen. That human being begins to become less than human. The distinctive beauty that comes with having a soul begins to fade into something that can only be described as death. There is no greater danger for people than to be found in a hopeless state.
Ananda was approaching this point. She saw no way of finding love and curing her curse, so she did something desperate. She decided to flee the castle. She waited until the middle of the night and disguised herself in rags and a hood. Under the rags in which she dressed herself, she hid her most prized possession around her neck, her red diamond necklace, which she wanted as a memento of her family and her former life. She fled the castle and soon found herself in an unfamiliar place, as she had never actually left the security of the castle. She followed the road and quickly found herself in the center of the town. She sat on a bench there and watched just as the sun was climbing into the sky out of the darkness.
With the morning came people, and people have noses. Noses quickly recognize unpleasant odors, and it wasn’t long before Ananda was assumed to be a beggar and asked to leave the center of town. She proceeded further and further away from the town center with people continually asking her to go further away. Eventually she got to a very poor area of town where she found a bench. Exhausted from not having slept the night before, she laid down there without reflection and, in her depression, drifted off to sleep.
She awoke several hours later and examined her surroundings. She was in a slum, and this was a strange experience for her. She had never before left the castle and its beautiful marble floors and painted ceilings. Yet here was a place that seemed to be falling apart. The small shelters she saw looked as if a strong gust of wind would blow them down. It seemed to her that the people who lived in this neighborhood had mistaken their street for a garbage dump, as litter littered the street. But it was on that trash filled road where the princess first experienced something that had had such an impact on her life to that point. She finally understood the concept of “stink.”
That place smelled horrible. The odor was a complicated mix of sewage, sweat, and body odor. What she had not noticed before in her fatigue now hit her like a ton of bricks. The smell was filling her nostrils aggressively, and it made her faint. Yet, in experiencing the stench of that neighborhood, a new resolve was born in her. All of her life people had been fleeing her because of her smell. She would not flee. Determined to conquer what those close to her had not been able to conquer, she sat on that bench intending to savor every rank scent that the slums could muster.
Hours passed. Then the hours turned into a day. Still another day passed. She sat there until she got tired, then she slept. After she slept, she awoke only to continue smelling. Lack of food and water eventually made her weak, but she was unwilling to take care of her own needs. She only wanted to smell in her solitude. The people of the neighborhood, however, had noticed her and had pity on her. They had discussed the strange girl on the bench in their homes, and eventually one lady decided to offer her some food.
“Hey, dere,” she said. “My name’s Rakas, and I couldn’t help but noticin’ that you’ve been sittin’ dere for a long time. Is there somthun wrong wit’ ya?”
“You can’t tell what’s wrong with me?” the princess replied.
“Well, I ‘spect you oughta be mighty hungry and thirsty.”
“No, not that. I mean that I stink. You haven’t noticed?”
Rakas approached her and took a whiff. “Whew! You do stink. But it ain’t no matter, we all stink honey. Far be it for me to be a judgin’ someone for that. It’s been a while since I’ve bathed myself. Besides, this neighborhood isn’t exactly known for smelling like flowers.”
Ananda smiled, feeling as if she had found a kindred spirit. Rakas then spoke again, “I can tell yer hungry. Why doncha come over and have lunch wit’ us?”
Ananda replied that she would like that very much and followed Rakas to her home. The home was a dump, but Ananda was just happy to be somewhere with people who wouldn’t pass out in her presence. She was invited to sit at their table and a bowl of gruel was sat down in front of her.
Ananda was very hungry, but she had never seen food that repulsed her as much as the bowl of gruel. She had only ever eaten the large, extravagant feasts that had been offered to her in the castle, so a meager bowl of gruel looked very unappealing. She began to think that these were some pretty poor hosts when this nasty looking substance was all that was offered.
“Yer lucky that we got a little extri’ gruel today. I see the look in yer eye, but don’t protest. We’re happy to share it with ya.”
After hearing this, Ananda felt a tidal wave of shame flood over her soul. She had never imagined that there were people in her kingdom who lived on such meager rations as this. She tasted the gruel and determined that this dish had earned its appellation. She realized how privileged she had been growing up in the castle and, for the first time, began to understand the responsibility that she had to help. She began to think of ways she could help this family and this neighborhood and discovered that she had enormous means to be able to improve their situation. What she didn’t notice, however, was that for the first time, she was thinking about other people’s misery rather than her own.
She asked Rakas what the needs of her family were. She gave a long list, talking about the difficulty they had in keeping food on the table, the scarcity of good water, and a terrible virus that had been going through the neighborhood that her son had caught. They told her that their neighbor’s girl had recently died from the same virus that their son had, and they were all anxious that they wouldn’t be able to find enough money to provide for his medication.
Ananda asked if others in the neighborhood had similar problems, and Rakas stated that most were worse off than they were. Ananda requested to be introduced to them, and she spent the rest of the day going into the other homes in the neighborhoods and learning about their situations. All her life she had been shielded from poverty, disease, and death, but one day in the slums helped her to understand the true condition of the kingdom. Every family didn’t live in comfort and luxury as she had, and, while she did have a curse, it was a curse that was so trivial that the people in the slums didn’t even notice. She wanted to do something for them, but how could she help?
As this thought passed through her conscience, she felt the cold of the necklace against her skin under her clothes. An immediate bolt of fear shrieked through her body as the knowledge of what ought to happen met her selfish desires in a terrible collision. Her beloved red diamond was worth far more than this entire neighborhood and would be more than enough to ensure that these children didn’t die of disease and that they would have an education. It would allow each family to have clean water and food on the table. It would completely change the lives of the residence of the slums. Yet, it would also mean her giving up the one comfort that had helped her through her miserable existence.
It would mean sacrifice. Sacrifice is one of those ideas that look beautiful from afar only to become more and more repulsive as it is approached personally. The great stories that grip us are those where we see someone make a costly ransom for the sake of a greater, holier good, yet we are far less gripped by the sacrificial opportunities with which we are continually presented. Ananda was here presented with one of those opportunities. The diamond that hung around her neck could save hundreds of people, yet this was the one thing she didn’t think she could give to them.
No one could observe the battle raging in her heart. The poverty-stricken friends that she had just made had no idea who she was or that she was even capable of making such an offering. It was an average day at around 2 in the afternoon. Children were heard laughing as they played in the street. Mothers were hanging up laundry, and fathers were busy trying to find work. Normal life was happening all around Ananda, yet this was the most important moment of her young life. Would she give?
The thought of selling the necklace made her sick, but she quickly ran out of the slums into a wealthy area of town. She immediately went to a jeweler and presented him with the diamond. He was shocked to see such a fine stone and wondered who this girl could be. Yet he was fair and offered her the true value of the diamond which was far more than she had expected. She took the money before she could allow herself to be tempted to be selfish and immediately began her mission to turn around the neighborhood.
Over the next few weeks, the area formally called the slums needed a new name. The men of the neighborhood were immediately hired to clean up the quarter and earned fair wages to make it beautiful. A hospital was constructed and competent doctors were employed there full time. A school began in the community and proper teachers were hired. New industries were brought in, and many new jobs were readily available. Within a few months, the whole place was completely transformed.
Yet the biggest transformation happened in the heart of Princess Ananda. She built a house in the neighborhood and decided to live amongst them. She was no longer sitting around depressed over what would happen to her; rather, she was actively concerning herself with what would happen to the people around her. She was obsessed with their good and spent very little time thinking about herself at all. Her beautiful smile was the trademark of the neighborhood, and it made the people believe in themselves again. Her goodwill was contagious. She longed to see the entire kingdom know the prosperity that this neighborhood was now experiencing. She had learned to live with less and never regretted her decision to leave the castle or to sell the diamond. She did, however, miss her family.
While all of this was happening, the jeweler began to inquire of the origin of the massive red diamond that the strange girl had brought into his shop. As he followed the trail, he eventually came to realize that this diamond had come from the castle and the royal family. As you might imagine, the royal family had become quite frantic with the loss of their daughter. Months had passed, and they had been all over in search for her, yet no one had any information. The King and Queen had nearly lost hope when the jeweler arrived at the castle.
After seeing the necklace, the Sovereigns immediately knew that it must have come from Ananda. They went back with the jeweler to his shop and began to explore the surrounding districts to find news of their daughter. Eventually, they came to a particularly pretty area and were confused because it was a part of their kingdom that they did not remember. They walked inside a park that they had never seen before when they noticed a young lady with golden blond hair, and it was unmistakably their long loss daughter. They called out to her and ran to her, excited but expecting to be overwhelmed by the odor of the curse. Ananda saw her parents and ran to their embrace. To the astonishment of both sides, they realized that she no longer stunk. The curse had been broken! They jumped in joyous laughter and celebrated together before the question entered their minds. How had the curse been broken?
“Who is the young man,” asked the king, “who brought true love to you? I assume you are married.”
“No,” said Ananda. “There has been no romance in my life at all. I have just been busy trying to help these people. You should’ve seen the state of this neighborhood when I arrived.”
Suddenly at this moment, out of nowhere, the magician reappeared. He smiled at the party and then said:
I can see you have learned from all your reeking
That the pure bliss of true love is not self-seeking
Its value is not found in hug or embrace,
Neither ugliness nor stench can thwart this grace.
Love is the law by which all good things are bound,
There is no peace until its bounties are found.
Search not your meaning in the things you receive,
It’s in what you give that purpose is achieved.