The Prince With Ten Brides - S01 E02

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The Prince With Ten Brides - S01 E02

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 2

The Prince With 10 Brides

The news from the King had spread through the land of Omalin like water flowing over dry ground. Everyone knew that Prince Azu was looking for a wife. Every single person was talking about the big competition that was coming. The King had said that the girls had two weeks to get ready. When you first hear it, two weeks sounds like a very long time. It sounds like many days and many nights. But for the young ladies of Omalin, it did not feel long at all. It felt like a single heartbeat. It felt like a quick blink of the eyes. Time was moving much faster than they wanted it to. They felt like the sun was rushing across the sky every day just to make the deadline come sooner.

The village of Omalin changed very quickly. It used to be a quiet place where people worked slowly and talked to their neighbors. Now, it became a hive of frantic activity. A hive is a place where bees live, and they are always moving and working. That is exactly what the village was like. There was no more resting under the big trees. There was no more sitting and watching the birds. Everyone was in a hurry. Every house was full of noise and work. People were running from one place to another. They were all trying to get things done before the two weeks were over.

If you walked past any small hut in the village, you would hear a very specific sound. It was the sound of sewing needles. Click, click, click. The sound went on all day and all night. The girls and their mothers were sitting on the floor with large piles of cloth. They had gone to the market and bought the brightest colors they could find. Some cloth was as red as a ripe apple. Some was as blue as the deep ocean. Some was as green as the forest leaves. They were sewing beautiful dresses. They wanted to make sure that when they stood before Prince Azu, they would look like the most beautiful women in the whole world. They spent hours fixing every tiny piece of the dress. They did not want to see any loose threads. They did not want any crooked lines. Every stitch had to be perfect.

While some were sewing, others were thinking about their skin. The village began to smell very different. It did not smell like wood smoke and cooking food anymore. Instead, it smelled like very expensive oils. The girls were buying special oils made from flowers and nuts. They would sit in the shade and rub these oils into their arms. They would rub them into their legs and their faces. They wanted their skin to be very soft. They wanted to shine. They thought that if they looked very shiny and smelled very sweet, the Prince would surely choose them. They spent a lot of money on these oils. Some families even used their savings just to buy the best bottles for their daughters.

The normal life of the village almost stopped. Usually, the young women would go to the big stream every morning. They would carry heavy pots on their heads to get water for their families. At the stream, they would talk and laugh and tell stories. But now, the stream was very quiet. Most of the girls stopped going there. They did not want the hot sun to make their skin dark. They did not want the heavy pots to make their shoulders tired. They also stopped going to the farms. Usually, they would help their fathers plant seeds or pull out weeds. But now, they said they were too busy. They were too busy thinking about the palace. They were too busy thinking about the golden crown.

Instead of working, they spent a lot of time looking at themselves. They did not have the kind of mirrors we have today. They used polished metal basins. A basin is like a big bowl. They would take these metal bowls and polish them with sand and cloth. They would rub and rub until the metal was like a mirror. Then, they would sit and stare at their reflections for a long time. They would fix their hair over and over again. They would check to see if their eyes looked bright. They would practice their smiles to see which one looked the most like a Queen. They wanted to be the most beautiful. But they did not want to be beautiful in a natural way. They wanted to be beautiful through force. They wanted to force everyone to look at them. They thought that beauty was something you could build with cloth and oil and pride.

However, things were very different at the edge of the village. In a small hut that sat right next to the big, dark forest, lived a girl named Ada. Ada was not like the other girls who were running around the market. Her hut was very simple and old. It was made of red mud and had a roof made of dried grass. Ada lived there with her grandmother. Her grandmother was very old and very kind. Her hair was as white as a piece of cotton. Her eyes were a bit cloudy because she was old, but she could still see the heart of her granddaughter.

While the other girls were busy staring at their reflections in polished metal, Ada was busy working. She was not worried about the sun making her skin dark. She was not worried about her clothes. She had a lot of work to do. She had to take care of her grandmother. She had to cook their food and keep the hut clean. But most of all, she had to work in their small garden. The garden was where they grew their food. They had yams and greens and peppers. Without the garden, they would be very hungry.

Ada was out in the garden every day. She worked the soil with a small tool. She would bend down and pull out the weeds that tried to steal the water from the plants. Her hands were covered in the honest dust of labor. This was the dust that comes from doing good, hard work. She did not mind the dirt under her fingernails. She did not mind the sweat that ran down her face when the sun was high. She was happy to work. She felt that working was a good thing. It made her feel strong and useful.

Her grandmother would sit on a small wooden stool under a tree near the garden. She would watch Ada work. She saw how much effort Ada put into every plant. She also knew what was happening in the rest of the village. She had heard the noise and smelled the perfumes. She knew about the competition for Prince Azu. She looked at Ada’s simple clothes and her dusty hands. She felt a little bit of worry in her heart. She wanted Ada to have a good life. She wanted her to have a chance to be happy.

One afternoon, the grandmother called Ada over to the shade. Ada wiped her brow with the back of her hand and walked over. She sat on the grass at her grandmother's feet. The old woman looked at her with a worried smile.

Are you not going to prepare, my child? her grandmother asked. Her voice was soft like the wind. Every other girl in Omalin is busy making dresses and buying oils. They are all getting ready for the Prince. The competition is only a few days away. I do not want you to be the only one who does not try. I want you to have a chance to wear the crown too.

Ada looked at her grandmother and smiled back. It was a very calm smile. It was the kind of smile that made people feel safe.

I will go as I am, Grandmother, Ada said. She spoke very clearly. If the Prince is to love me, he must love the girl who knows how to work and how to wait. I do not want to hide who I am. I do not want to wear a dress that is too fancy or use oils that smell like someone else. I am a girl who works in the garden. I am a girl who cares for her family. If that is not enough for a Prince, then maybe I am not the right Queen for him. I believe that true beauty is not just about the face. It is about what is inside. I will wait for destiny to decide.

Ada’s grandmother nodded her head. she understood what Ada was saying. She knew that Ada had a very special spirit. But she also knew that the world could be a very hard place. She hoped that the Prince would be wise enough to see what Ada was offering. She hoped he would look past the dust and the simple clothes.

Little did Ada know that while she was planting seeds of patience, her rivals were doing something else. While Ada was watering her plants and being kind to her grandmother, the other girls were changing. They were becoming very competitive. They were starting to look at each other with angry eyes. They did not want to be friends anymore. They only wanted to win. They were willing to do anything to get what they wanted.

In the village market, the girls were not just buying fabric. They were also talking in whispers. Some of them were planting seeds of a much darker kind. They were not planting vegetables to feed people. They were planting seeds of jealousy and seeds of hate. They were planning ways to make sure the other girls did not win. Some of them were telling lies about their neighbors. They wanted to make everyone else look bad so that they would look good. The desperation to be the Queen was turning their hearts into stone.

Some girls were even looking for secret ways to win. They were looking for people who knew about old, dark secrets. They wanted charms to make themselves look more beautiful than they really were. They wanted to cast spells to make the Prince look only at them. They were not thinking about being a good Queen. They were only thinking about the power and the gold. The shadow of the competition was growing longer and darker every single day. The peace of Omalin was almost gone.

Ada stayed at her hut. She did not hear the whispers. She did not see the angry looks in the market. she just kept working. She kept being kind. She kept being herself. She thought that everyone was just excited for the dance. She did not know that a great storm of trouble was coming. She did not know that her simple way of life was going to be tested very soon. The two weeks were almost over. The time for the Prince to choose was nearly here. The village was full of beautiful dresses and sweet smells, but underneath it all, there was a lot of darkness.

Ada sat outside her hut. She looked at the stars. The sky was very big and very quiet. She wondered what the Prince was thinking. She wondered if he was nervous. She hoped he was a good man who would listen to his heart. She went to bed and slept a very peaceful sleep. She did not have any dark plans. She only had her hope and her patience.

But in the center of the village, many girls were not sleeping. They were still working on their plans. They were still whispering in the dark. They were ready to fight for the crown. They were ready to be mean to anyone who got in their way. The seeds they had planted were starting to grow. They were not pretty flowers. They were thorns and weeds of a very dark kind.

The competition day is fast approaching. The whole kingdom was waiting. The Prince was waiting. The girls were ready with their beautiful clothes and their dark secrets. What would happen when the music started? What would happen when the first girl began to dance? The story of the Prince with ten brides was about to become very intense. No one knew who would win, and no one knew what price they would have to pay to wear the crown.

Why do you think Ada is the only girl who is not worried about her clothes or her skin?

Do you think the Prince will like a girl who has dusty hands from working in a garden?

What do you think the other girls mean when they plant seeds of a darker kind?

If you were Ada, would you start to get worried that you do not have a fancy dress?

Wasn't that an interesting look into the lives of the girls of Omalin? Ada is being very brave, but the other girls are becoming very dangerous. What will happen during the big dance? Will the dark plans of the rivals work?