Transgendered Fairy Tales
by Kaleigh Way

In the garden of a certain king there was a wonderful tree that bore golden apples. Each year the king waited and watched patiently for the beautiful fruit to ripen, but he never got to taste it. No matter how well he watched and guarded, as soon as the apples began to get ripe, they were stolen. Exasperated at last, he called for his two eldest sons and told them, "Get yourselves ready for a journey. Take whatever servants, gold, and silver that you need, and find out who is stealing my golden apples. If you can, bring the thief to me so I can punish him as he deserves."

His sons were delighted at this proposal, for they had long wished to see the world. They got ready in haste, bade their father farewell, and left. The boys knew it was unlikely that they would find the thief, and were ready for a long, enjoyable vacation.

The youngest prince was very disappointed that he was not also sent, but his father wouldn't hear of his going. He always regarded the boy as the stupid one of the family, but the king was also afraid that something might happen to him. If his older brothers didn't return, the king would be left without an heir.

But the prince begged and nagged and pleaded until the king was tired of hearing him. In the end, he gave the boy some gold and silver — though not as much as he gave his brothers. He didn't appoint any servants to accompany the lad, and he gave him the worst and oldest horse in the stable. The prince was so happy to be on his way that he didn't think to ask for anything better. The people of the town laughed and jeered as he rode off on his ridiculous steed.

After his initial excitement had passed, the prince soon realized what an awful horse he'd been given. It was clear that his father hoped he'd come home sooner if he was ill-equipped, but the lad was determined to make good, and trusted in his fate.

His path led him into a wood, and soon he saw a skinny wolf who stood quite still as he approached. The prince asked the wolf if he was hungry, and when the wolf replied that he was, the prince got down from his sorry horse and said, "This horse is little good to me, but if it will feed you, please help yourself."

The wolf didn't wait to be asked twice, but set to work and soon nothing was left of the horse but his bones. The wolf now looked better, stronger, sleeker, and the prince said, "Now, my friend, since you've made a meal of my horse, and since I have such a long way to go, the least you can do is carry me on your back."

"Certainly," the wolf said. "Where is it that you'd like to go?"

"I don't quite know," the boy replied.

"How can that be?" the wolf asked, so the prince told him the story of the golden apples.

The wolf, as it happens, was not a wolf at all, but a mighty magician who loved to roam the world and turn himself into one thing and another. In his travels he'd learned a great deal, and in fact he knew exactly who was taking the apples and where this thief could be found.

"Not far from here there is a king who has a beautiful golden bird in a cage, and this is the creature who steals the golden apples. However, he flies so fast that it's impossible to catch him. You must slip into the king's palace at night and steal the bird in its cage. But be careful not to make a sound as you enter and leave."

The wolf carried the boy to the palace of the golden bird. That night the prince made his way stealthily inside and found the bird in its cage, just as the wolf had told him. In spite of all his caution, he tripped on a doorsill, and shook the bird cage slightly. The bird began to cry out and woke the guards, who seized the prince, beat him, and put him in chains. The next morning they led him before the king, who at once condemned him to death and had him thrown in a dark dungeon until the sentence was carried out.

When the prince did not return, the wolf knew that something had gone wrong. So he turned himself into a richly dressed king with a large train of followers, and as such was received in the palace of the golden bird with every show of honor. He and the king conversed on many subjects, until at last the wolf asked the king if he had many slaves. The king replied that he had more than he knew what to do with, and that he had captured another that very night who had tried to steal his magic bird.

"He must be a daring thief," the wolf replied, "to attempt such a thing. I would like to see this bold rascal."

"By all means," the king replied, and brought the prince before him.

The wolf pretended to be greatly disappointed. "This is the thief?" he asked. "That miserable creature? I hardly think him capable of anything. Hanging is too good for him! If I had to sentence him, I'd give him some impossible task, under pain of death. If he succeeds, so much the better for you. But if he fails, or dies in the attempt, it's no one's loss, and you can have his head cut off anyway."

"What excellent advice!" the king replied. "In fact, I have just the thing. My nearest neighbor, who is also a mighty king, possesses a golden horse that he guards most carefully. The prisoner should steal this horse and bring it to me."

The prince was then let out of the dungeon, but he was not very happy. He had no idea how to set about stealing the horse, and he sat down on the ground disconsolate. He wondered why he'd ever left his father's house and kingdom. But before long, his friend the wolf arrived and said, "Dear prince, why are you so cast down? It's true that you didn't succeed in stealing the bird, but don't let that discourage you! This time you'll be twice as careful. I have no doubt that you'll catch the horse."

The wolf carried the prince to the castle of the golden horse, and gave him many words of encouragement. He told him how to find the horse and how to lead him away, but warned him, "Be careful that you keep the horse quiet, for if he makes a sound, all will be undone."

The prince did his part, and was as cautious as anyone could be and more, but it happened that a gadfly stung the horse on its haunch, and the horse let out a startled whinny that woke the guards. Once again, the prince was seized, beaten, chained, condemned to death, and thrown in prison. Once again the wolf transformed himself into a mighty king and had him freed in the same way as before.

This time, the king appointed him the task of capturing the golden mermaid. This woman had a legendary beauty, and the king was determined to marry her. No one had ever come close enough to touch the maiden, let alone capture her.

Once again, the prince left his prison depressed, and once again his friend the wolf raised his spirits and promised his help.

This time, however, the task was quite different. They had to travel far before they reached the sea where the golden mermaid was found. And the magician, though he knew quite a bit about mermaids in general, knew nothing about the golden mermaid in particular. So he set a trap that would have caught any other mermaid.

"I am going to turn myself into a little boat full of the most beautiful silken merchandise. You must jump boldly into the boat, and steer with my tail for the open sea. Keep going forward until you come upon the golden mermaid. Whatever you do, don't follow her when she calls to you, but instead tell her, The buyer comes to the seller, not the seller to the buyer. After that, you must turn and head for land. She will certainly follow you, for she won't be able to resist the beautiful wares you're carrying."

As soon as the prince promised to follow these instructions faithfully, the wolf changed himself into a pretty ship loaded with the most exquisite silks, in every shade and quality imaginable. The astonished prince stepped into the boat and steered with the wolf's tail for the open sea, where the sun was gilding the blue waves with its golden rays. Soon he saw the golden mermaid swimming near the ship, and she beckoned and called for him to follow her. Heeding the wolf's warning, he told her, "The buyer comes to the seller, not the seller to the buyer," and headed back toward land. The lovely mermaid called for him to stop, but he refused to listen, and never paused until he reached the sandy shore. There he waited for the mermaid, who soon arrived. When she came near, he saw that she was more beautiful than any mortal woman he'd ever beheld. She swam round the ship for some time, admiring the cloths, then swung herself gracefully on board, in order to examine the silks more closely. At that, the prince seized her in his arms, kissed her on the cheeks and lips, and told her she was his forever. At the same moment, the boat turned into a wolf again, which so terrified the mermaid that she clung to the prince for protection.

And yet, the golden mermaid was not so easily taken. What the magician did not know was that the golden mermaid was a fairy of considerable power. Although the prince had taken liberties with her person, it was only because she was frightened. Once she recovered from her surprise and shock, she drew away from his embrace. He was unable to hold her, and her eyes flashed fire.

"How dare you ply your silly tricks on me!" she cried. "Do you take me for a common fish of the sea?" A clap of thunder broke overhead as she spoke, and both prince and wolf realized with terror their great mistake. "What offense have I given, that you come and violate my person in this way?" For several long minutes, the two men listened as the golden mermaid vented her anger with shouts and peals of thunder. They did not dare to run, and feared the worst.

At last, she demanded an explanation. Quaking with fear, the prince told the story of the golden apples, the golden bird, the golden horse... and finally, the golden mermaid.

"I see," she said. "So I am nothing more than the last prize in a golden treasure hunt?" The prince made no reply, for he had none. After a few moments of silent thought, the golden mermaid spoke again. "It would be a shame after so much time and suffering for you to return empty handed. Without a golden mermaid, all the treasures are lost, isn't it so?" The prince agreed, but wondered what she could be thinking.

The golden mermaid raised her open palms. Fairy lights danced around her fingers. "A golden mermaid they must have," she said, "so a golden mermaid you shall be." At that, the prince felt himself lifted from the earth, and his entire body tingled and glowed with a warm, sunny fire. A ripple, then a wave, of breathtaking emotion passed through him, and he shuddered in core-shaking pleasure. When he came to his senses again, he was swimming in the water, a single tail having taken the place of his legs. The golden mermaid stood before him, and held a mirror for him to see. He was in every way the exact image of the beautiful mermaid, though perhaps not quite as beautiful, with a look of astonishment on her face.

"Now you can bring your golden treasure hunt to its conclusion," the golden mermaid jeered, and turning, she swam back out to sea, looking back from time to time laughing, until she disappeared beneath the waves.

The poor prince, now a mermaid, swam about in distress. What to do? What to do? "You're a magician," he told the wolf, "turn me back to what I was!"

"I can't," the wolf replied. "I've tried already, several times, but my magic is nothing compared to hers. I'm afraid that you've met your destiny."

The new mermaid cried out in distress.

"If it's any consolation," the wolf said with a smile, "I can tell you that you're simply breathtaking."

You can understand that this was not exactly what the mermaid princess was waiting to hear, but she did at last calm down. She and the wolf talked over the situation, and realized that there was nothing to be done but carry the game through to its conclusion.

The wolf took the girl on his back and rode to the castle of the golden horse. There he took on the appearance of the prince, and carried the lovely mermaid before the king.

At the sight of the beautiful mermaid, the king was abashed. He never expected the prince to succeed. The wolf, in the guise of the prince, told the king how the mermaid had been taken. His story was not completely accurate, and of course, he left out what the real mermaid had done to the real prince.

In spite of the omissions in the story, the king understood that the prince had been helped by some magic art, and on the spot he gave up all claim to the beautiful mermaid.

"Dear youth," he said to the wolf, "forgive my shameful conduct to you, and as a sign that you pardon me, please accept the golden horse as a present. I acknowledge that your power is far greater than I can understand, for you've succeeded in capturing the golden mermaid, whom no other mortal has ever been able to approach."

The mermaid smiled at this, and the king was utterly enchanted.

As soon as the feast was over, the prince lifted the mermaid onto the golden horse, and swung up behind her. They trotted off toward the palace of the golden bird. By now the two had become good friends, and the mermaid found that she liked her companion much better as a man than a wolf.

Because they took their time in arriving, the news of their adventure had gone before them, and when they arrived at the palace, they found everything festively illuminated and decorated for their reception. When the prince and the mermaid mounted the steps of the palace, the king himself came forward to meet them, and led them to his throne room. At the same moment a servant appeared with the golden bird in its golden cage, and the king begged the prince to accept it with all his love, and to forgive him the indignity he had suffered at his hands. Then the king bent low before the beautiful mermaid, and offering his arm, led her in to dinner, closely followed by the prince.

As soon as the sumptuous meal was over, the prince and the mermaid took leave of the king, and seating themselves on the golden horse, began their journey home. On the way, the wolf-prince said to his companion, "Our present circumstance is as strange as anyone could imagine. And yet, I don't believe that I have ever been happier."

The mermaid replied, "I feel precisely as you do. Although everything has gone topsy-turvy, I would not set it right for all the world."

The news of the prince's adventures had already reached his father's court, and everyone was more than astonished at the success of the prince that everyone had once regarded as stupid. His older brothers, who had spent much and come home with nothing, were furious over their younger brother's good fortune, and decided that they would be best served by killing him. They hid in the woods in a place that the prince had to pass. There they fell on him and beat him to death — or very nearly. They left him lying senseless on the ground, and carried off the golden horse and the golden bird. Nothing they could do would persuade the mermaid to go with them or to move from the spot. She was transfixed with horror at what her brothers had done, and had grown so attached to the wolf-prince that she could do nothing more or less than live or die with him.

She sat and watched for a sleepless night, and in the morning the prince woke a little. Coughing, he asked for water, and after having drunk, he told the mermaid, "All will be well if you do as I say: cover me with all the leaves and flowers you can find in the wood, and then–" but here he died, leaving the instructions incomplete.

The mermaid gathered all the leaves and flowers she could find, and weeping the whole time, covered her friend's body from head to toe, leaving only the face exposed. Then, with her tears she bathed his face, and at last she covered it with kisses.

When she kissed his lips, he drew a deep and sudden breath, and let out a soft moan. The color returned to his face, and lo and behold! the prince lay there sleeping as peacefully as a child. The mermaid let him sleep for a time, but when she gently kissed the wounds her brothers made on his forehead, the prince awoke. You can imagine how delighted he was to find the beautiful mermaid beside him, although he was a little distressed at having been taken in ambush by his supposed brothers.

A traveler in the forest took the two on his cart, and carried them to the king's palace.

The King's joy was great when he embraced his youngest son, for he had long since despaired of his return. He received the beautiful golden mermaid most cordially, and never realized that she was actually his long-lost son.

The prince was made to tell his adventures all over from the beginning. The poor old father grew very sad when he heard of the shameful conduct of his elder sons, and had them called before him. They turned as white as death when they saw their brother, whom they thought they had murdered, standing beside them alive and well, and so startled were they that when the King asked them why they had behaved so wickedly to their brother, they could think of no lie, but confessed at once that they had slain the young prince in order to obtain possession of the golden horse and the golden bird.

Their father's wrath knew no bounds, and he ordered them both to be banished. But when it came to the marriage of his youngest son to the beautiful mermaid, the King could not do enough, and the wedding was celebrated with much pomp and magnificence.

© 2007 by Kaleigh Way