SELIGOR  WELCOMES  YOU  TO  FAIRYLAND.

THEN SHE WELCOMES YOU TO

THE  LAND  OF  RED  DAISIES.

A fairy and a witch fell out about a magic ring, and they came to the young and handsome king of the country and asked him to decide to which of them the ring belonged.      
      The fairy said the witch had stolen it from her, and the witch said that she had bought it from a magician in the Land of Red Daisies.
     The king looked at the ring, and finding no name upon it, he handed it back to the witch, and said:
      "Let me see what enchantment you can work with it." The witch rubbed the ring, and nothing wonderful happened.
   The king then handed the ring to the fairy, and she kissed it and touched his silver throne  with it, and the throne turned to pure gold.
     "Rings belong to those who can use them, " said the king, giving it to the fairy.
     "And asses' heads belong to those who deserves them," said the witch, touching the king with her wand.
   The courtiers gave a cry of horror, the king had become a man with an ass's head. Bur the fairy said to him:
   "Love can cure the effects of hate, marry at once a sweet and trustful wife, and the spell will soon be removed."
      The king then commanded all the young girls in the country to assemble before his palace so that he might choose one of them to be his bride. He looked at each of them in turn, and each of them in turn started back in disgust at the sight of his ass's head, and he sadly dismissed them all.
     As he was coming away he saw something moving behind a tree, and found there a pretty beggar-maid. Being barefooted and clothed in rags, she had been ashamed to stand among the other girls. The king looked at her , and, finding that her eyes were full of pity and love, he exclaimed: "You shall be my queen."

     He appointed ten maids of honour to array her in beautiful robes and glittering jewels  and then he led her to the cathedral, where they were married.
    "Now," he said, "do not seek to know anything about me until tomorrow morning, and then you shall know everything."
   But in the night the young queen touched her husband's head and felt that he had a human face: she got up from the bed and lighted a candle and looked at him. Yes it was true ! The ass's head had disappeared and he was a young and handsome man again. She made a movement of joy, and tipped the candle. A drop of the grease fell upon her husband's hand and he awoke and said:
   "Unhappy girl, tomorrow morning the spell would have been entirely removed. But alas the wicked witch has regained her power over me, and I must go and live with her in the Land of Red Daisies."
   In a moment he was gone; but the young queen felt that she could not live without him, and bravely set out to find the Land of Red Daisies.
  But luck was with her this night for outside the palace she met the fairy.
"Excuse me but could you tell me the way to the Land of Red Daisies?" she asked.
The fairy frowned, "I do believe that is the Land where a witch lives, and unfortunately I have never been there. But here take my magic ring, and I am sure it will help you."
    The fairy vanished and the young queen wondered how the ring might help her. I really do need some money to take with me on my journey," she said, placing the ring on a small stone where she was sat. "Ping!" as she finished the sentence the little stone turned to gold.
 Very soon the young queen had left the land where she had grown up and was travelling far and wide in search of her husband.
She was so fed up, every where she went the answer was always the same.
That was until she came to the edge of a great desert and there at the edge was a small wooden hut.
Knocking on the door, she waited, it was soon answered by a little old woman.
   "Excuse me but can you tell me the way to the Land of Red Daisies, it is very important that I get there as soon as I can."
"I'm afraid I don't know where it is but I do have a pig that vanishes in the night and comes back with precious things, maybe just maybe that is where your land is. The only trouble being that I can't tell you which way it goes for I never know when he's going to leave agin."
  "It is alright." said the young queen. "If you won't mind me sleeping in the sty with your pig, I will wait till he goes and follow him."
     And this she did. She lay down in her beautiful gown on the straw besides the pig. And sure enough in the middle of the night the pig awoke, shook himself and left the sty, with the young queen in pursuit. She followed it through the dessert and into a strange red land. The daisies were red, and the leaves on the trees were red that stood amidst a strange red place.
Carefully she managed to tie the pig to a tree with a piece of material that had torn off her dress and not long after a ragged peasant girl came by and the young girl begged her to change clothes with her. Then making her way to a red palace that she could see in the distance she was offered a job as a maid.
    "you will have to work very hard and help me to get a feast ready," said the cook. "Our mistress is a witch and her daughter is about to marry the king of a country beyond the great desert."
 "That must be my husband," the young queen said to herself, and going up the stairs, she soon located her fated husband in the room where he was sitting. She waited patiently until the middle of the night then she crept back to his room and wakened him. He did not recognise her but he remembered everything when she kissed the magic ring and touched him with it.
The fairies magic worked and silently they made their way away from the Red Palace and back to where the pig was still tied to the tree. The young queen immediately released him and they quickly followed him across the desert and back to the old woman.
"I see you have got what you were looking for." she smiled at the young queen, you try hard not to lose him again," and once more there before them stood the fairy. The young queen and king, gave the good fairy her ring back and they travelled back to their own country where they both lived long and good lives with much happiness and joy.

       

Posted 17:53