Chapter 1 - Rooster's Crow

Every 100 years, a prince born to the King of the Sun kingdom,and a princess born to the Queen of the Moon kingdom, they were to bemarried on the night of the solstice. In five days of preparation theywould have to wait together on the Kingdom of the Sun. The princessduring those five days was not to show an inch of her skin or a singlestrand of her long pale blue hair to anyone, not even the prince tosee. She was covered head to toe, with the finest silks in the entireuniverse. The patterns on the silk showed the moon the sun and thestars all together, with the elegant flower Rhonda. Since the princesswas covered with so much clothes, it made her look twice as a largethan she really was, but since the princess wore so much layers ofclothing, she had to stay inside were the rooms were nice and cool.
Every night and day the prince would visit the princess. He would tellher what was happening for the princess dare not wish to go out in suchscorching weather. The prince with his bright blond hair would glistenin the moon, she wanted to hold his hands and touch the soft blond hairof his, this making the princess more agitated till the day of thewedding. She knew his beauty was beyond any man on earth, and theprince might not accept her after he has seen the truth behind theseclothes that had created a barrier between them. Her doubt about thewedding, the one dream she had ever since she was a child, her doubtswere of the wedding to crumble before her eyes. And seeing the princewalk away, never turning around when she calls his name from a far. Theprincess tried her hardest to make the prince like her.
Soevery time the prince would come visit her she would openly talk tohim, trusting him with everything about her life. He too told her abouthis life, and how he desired to be with the princess more and more.
“Oh Princess, how I wish to see ones face with in this beautiful moonlight night,” the prince sighed and reached his hands towards theprincess, as she sat behind the paper screens.
“I wish tosee the Prince that lies behind this screen, but we must wait, and holdback our desires. For I fear for the worst if we do not follow ourparents’ orders.” The Princess could see the shadows from the prince’sreached out hand, she too reached hers and the shadows of their handstouched as if their souls were longing for one another. The prince sadas he was; said his goodbye and left the princess to rest as he walkedin the palaces garden.
He wondered all night long, why, why can't he lay his eyes upon the princess face. He loves her more thananything; they both love each other more than anything. What are thereasons behind the princess being hidden behind such clothing’s? Hepondered all about it until morning.
It is now the fourth day,just one more night and the prince could finally see the one he loves;face to face. He became anxious, he couldn’t wait any longer. But heknew that he mustn’t; he did not wish to disobey his father anddisappoint many. As he would; like the past few days, he went to visitthe princess. This time the screen was down and he could see her. Shewas dressed in many shades of elegant red silk with the Rhonda flowerpatterns on the silk. He knew that the princess was not a large womanfrom what she has told him. But he was disappointed when the princessturned around, and he could not even see the face of his beloved. Hefelt as if all his hopes, to see her face were nothing.
Theprincess saw the prince and smiled with such a heartrending smile, forshe knew no matter how much he smiled he would not see it.
“Prince, on the day of the solstice, we will finally lay our eyes uponone another, we will soon see at last, with out barriers. But for nowwe shall wait only a few more hours.” The cheerfulness in the tone ofthe princess voice made the prince smiled, he too was happy.
“Yes, in the light that will shine down upon us from the solstice, wewill finally be united, oh how I am full of great joy!” The princessgot up, surprised by such movements the prince stood up. He did notunderstand, he has never seen the princess walked, not even from theday she arrived. She walked with elegance and with such pride, it wasmesmerizing. He could not take his eyes off her. The princess grabbedthe prince’s hand, he could not feel her skin but he could feel thewarmth of her hand, and how gentle her touch was. His right hand’s palmwas facing up, the princess put a necklace in his had, a necklace witha silver moon pendant. It gave off a magical feel to it as he held thependant in his hand.
She wanted the prince to have a part ofher with him always. No matter what, the necklace represented her lovefor him. And the prince could feel the warmth of the moon in thatnecklace, the love that radiance from the pendant. She slowly walkedback to her seat and watched the prince bow his thanks and walk out ofthe room. As the day lingers, the prince has been walking in the gardenwhere the beautiful cherry blossom trees began to bloom. The princesswas taking her daily nap, and he did not wish to disturb her. The nightwas getting closer, and he still sat staring up in to the sky, withgreat anxiety.
It was and hour before midnight. The princesswas preparing and the prince was waiting. He was prepared way beforethen, for he was so nervous. He was so impatient that he went to thehouse that the princess resided in. He was in front of the house,pacing back and forth, wondering if he should go in. He knew heshouldn’t be; but he wanted to so bad. He decided to have just a littlepeak, thinking that it wouldn’t hurt if he just saw a small littleglance at the princess.
He peered into the room and saw theprincess taking off her head dress that was covering her face and hair.The princess hair fell down with such grace and beauty as the candlelights shined upon her. The princess felt a presence and turned aroundquickly and saw the prince looking at her. When the prince laid hiseyes on her, with an appalled look on his face, he ran as fast as hecould, away from the house. The princess shocked as well began to cry,she cried so hard. She didn’t know what to do, the wedding has nowofficially been dropped and only 25 minutes before the wedding was tobegin.
That night the solstice never appeared, for the weddingand neither did the prince or princess. The King and Queen of the moonand sun figured that the prince has laid his eyes upon the princess.They knew that wedding will no longer be. Everyone searched for theprince, but with no avail, he could not be found. And the princesswould not leave her room because of the prince’s decision to see herbefore the solstice came.
During the day of the solstice thatwas to appear, no one celebrated a wedding or the time of the year whenthe moon and sun became one. The amalgamation of the moon and sunkingdom will never happen anymore. Because the chains have been broken,it can never be fixed.
In the garden behind the bushes, wherethe Rhonda flowers grew, the prince sat staring at the moon pendant. Hebegan to cry, he was over flowed with so many emotions, and he couldnot tell if he was angry or sad. He was so confused, he didn’tunderstand. The princess wasn’t really a princess? He couldn’t get agrip on reality, he felt as if he was floating in a dream. The princeslept in the field of Rhonda flowers till sun set. As he slept theprincess came to that same spot.
The steps of the princesswere as if she was walking on air. Not a single rustle from thefootsteps were heard, and she looked like such a beautiful creature ofthe night. Her clothes flowing gently with the breeze, while themoonlight shined down upon her. She looked so lively as if she reallybelonged to the moon. The princess sat by the prince while he slept.Gently caressing his soft cheek, and slowly moving her hands to touchthe eyelids of the dear prince. But before she touched them, he awokewith a shock.
He stared at her; he couldn’t find the rightwords to say so he just looked at her. For the very first time theirgazes were able to meet. But not how the princess had wished, she hadwished they could have been wedded on the night of the solstice. Hereyes began to fill with tears. The prince reached his hand out towardsher and tenderly wiped her tears away with no hesitation.
“Ithought…I thought you were….” The prince stumbled for the right words,words that would not hurt the princess’s tender heart. But sheunderstood what he was going to say to her.
“If you knew that Iwas not a woman but a man, you would not have loved me. You would haveshunned me, and never looked at me with an ounce of kindness butdisgust.” The princess put her hands upon the hands of the prince. Andsoftly stroked his hands, but the prince did not move his hands fromher.
“You are right, I would have never looked upon you, and myeyes would never have gazed upon you. I am sorry, but I can…I can not…”the princess knew, she knew what he was going to say then and there,and she made a gesture that she understood.
“I was happy atleast, to have gotten to know you. I was happy for those four days.Please do not hate me, for I will never hate you, I will always loveyou.” The princess stood up, looking down on the prince, her gaze wasblurry from the tears but still strong and beautiful as before. Theprince stared up into her face; he couldn’t love a man no matter what,that was what he thought; but this man who is the princess of the moon.Will always be a princess to him. The prince stood up but before hecould straighten out, the princess began to disappear into themoonlight.
The princess said her last goodbye, as the princereached out for her. He just moved with out thinking, he didn’tunderstand why he had reached for her hand but he did. As she her smilefaded he began to be filled with tears. He did not understand. Heshouted for the princess that night at midnight. Hopping that she wouldhear his call, he wanted to say he was sorry but he never could. He cannever see the princess ever again.
Many days had passed afterthat last meeting, and the prince had found many eligible princesses’to marry. But he never married. He realized that he had truly fallendeeply in love with the princess of the moon. He had not fallen for thebeauty of the princess but the princess herself.
So every day atsunrise and at midnight he would stand at the top of his balcony andcry for the princess. Calling for her, yelling out his love towardsher; he waited day and night for the princess to answer. When theprince shouted for the princess he would wake one and all in thepalace. But he did not care. He just wanted the princess to answer. Theprince soon slowly became an animal. He became an animal to call uponthe wakening of the sun and the slumber of the moon. He became theRooster, always crowing at the sunrise and crowing at midnight when thenew day comes.
As the princess heard the news of the man sheloved, she waited and waited for day were she could meet him, but theQueen would not allow her to see the prince. Her desires for himlingered, so she left the Kingdom of the Moon and went to see him.Because she could not love him as a man but a Rooster, she turned herself into a Hen. She would visit him in the form of a Hen and thatwould be the only time they could finally be together. They both knewthat they could not go back to being humans if they wish to keep theirlove as one. For it was not allowed by their parents’, the prince ofthe sun and the princess of the moon can never be allowed to bemarried, so both decided to stay as their previous forms. They lived asthe Rooster and the Hen, for all their life.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment