January 14, 2022
This fairytale is unfinished…
Once upon a time, there was a wealthy prince who was the son of a wealthy king and a wealthy queen. The king had been accumulating wealth for many years, aqcuiring it from his neighbors through raids and wars, and from his people through heavy taxation.
One day, Saint Nicholas came to their kingdom, and preached in the streets. The king and the queen were struck by the eloquence of the saint’s words, and their hearts were converted. From then on, they sought to raise their son and their people in the way of Christ and his Church.
When their son came of age to marry, they decided that only the holiest and sweetest of women would be his wife. So they began to search among their dukes and nobles to find a maid who loved God more than she loved anything else on earth.
To find this woman out, they formulated this question and story, “We have struck rock-bottom and are no longer wealthy. We are hated by all of our neighbors. But our son is good and kind, and he will help you in the way to heaven, and he will provide for you and for your children by the sweat of his brow until the day of your death. Will you marry him?”
One by one, the maidens of the land turned down the prince. And then, when the king and queen revealed that it had all been a lie, and there was still wealth to be had in the castle, and still favor to be found in court, many attempted to retract their statement and begged to marry him, but the king and queen knew now the shallowness of their hearts.
So this happened in each household, all among people who claimed to be kind, cultured, and good.
Soon the king and queen exhausted all the daughters of the nobles and dukes in their kingdom. But they decided not to be proud, and turned to the common people of the land. They did the same thing that they had done among the dukes, traveling from house to house, repeating the same question over and over again. And still, each maiden turned them down. Not only that, but they openly scorned the royal family, something the Dukes and their families had not even dared to do. But the king and his queen persisted in their search, believing that any indignity was worth finding a good wife for their son. But in the end, they had searched through their entire kingdom, and no maiden was to be found.
When they conveyed this to the prince, he was deeply saddened, as he desired more than anything to begin his own family, and yearned for a wife of virtue, beauty, and good humor with whom to begin that life.
Now the prince was very choosy with his friends, but he had three, and they were good men, like himself. They were named Frederick, Dietrich, and Franz. When they saw the crestfallen face of their comrade, they clamored over him until he yielded, and confessed the reason for his sorrow.
Frederick immediately stood straight up in indignation, and cried out that the prince had better not give another single thought to those damsels. They were too good for him, and they had proven it.
But the prince said he did not think of them. He thought of the maiden of his dreams, the one he wished to marry. Surely, she was somewhere in the wide world? Surely, there was a good maiden born of God, and living out His Word, who would not scorn to marry him? “I am not much,” he said, “but I am a good man, God-fearing, and in love with my neighbor. I am just, and kind, and a man of my word. Anything I am not, I beg of her forgiveness, and will strive to make myself better. If only I could meet her and tell her! If only I could find a heart to woo.”
Then he left his friends and retired, heavy-hearted, to his chamber.
Franz watched him go, then gestured to the other friends, and they gathered round, their heads pressed together like conspirators.
“Comrades,” he said with a quiet fierceness, “our friend is sad, and has exhausted all the women in this realm. Let us pack bags upon our backs, and set off to the world round-about, and not return until we have found a maiden worthy of our prince.”
His friends agreed with gusto and without hesitation, so much did they love their friend. “Let us go!” they cried with one voice, and by morning, the palace was a quieter and more sedate place.
When the royal family came to breakfast, the king asked the Lord Chamberlain why the palace was so quiet.
“My Lord,” said the Lord Chamberlain, “It has been conferred to me the honor to tell you that the prince’s brethren, Frederick, Dietrich, and Franz, have departed the palace.”
The prince let out an involuntary cry of dismay, but the Lord continued.
“They have set out three ways into the world, and will not return until they each find a maiden worthy to be wooed by the prince.”
He departed, and the family fell silent. Then the prince said, “Well, let us eat. We must only wait patiently. No man can ever earn such friends.”
Three months later, there was a great clatter in the courtyard of the palace. Such a clatter had not been heard in a long-time past, and when it came to the prince’s ears, he leapt up and vaulted to his window. Sure enough, there below were his friends, riding into the palace, each with a maiden behind him.