Long ago, there was a young town girl. Red-head, freckled face and very clumsy.
Her funny behavior, strange walk and long braid that seemed like a tail had given the children of the village a good reason to name her Ahiru (duckling), and since then the name stuck, and no one ever questioned whether it was her true name or not.
And although she had two loving parents and a warm house to eat and sleep in, and two good friend, she was unhappy.
For although she had all those things, she was always teased by the boys living in the same town, for her “overly freckled face” and “curly hair”.
And whenever she would look into the mirror she couldn’t take the bear of herself
As things were, she felt deep within her heart as if she would never find a true love to love her back as she was.
Now, right next to the town there was a small lake the little girl liked to go to. In that lake swam the most magnificent and graceful swans she had ever seen in her life.
Mostly due to the fact that they were the only swans she ever saw.
Yet she believed in her heart there was not a swan in the world like them, and everyday she managed to find time to sneak off to the lake and feast her eyes with their majestic beauty, and always getting disappointed to see her own face in comparison to that beauty, and she would always cry out “Oh, do I ever wish I could become as magnificent as you are!”.
One day, as she came down to the lake she didn’t see one swan, yet at a second glance she saw one on the water paddling right in front of her.
It was the glamorous swan she had ever seen so far- its white color so clean and bright that it seemed like a white aura was surrounding it.
“Ahiru,” it said “I am here to grant you your wish, your one wish you have always dreamed of.”
Ahiru, dazzled by its beauty and speechless by its offer froze in her place and just stared at the swan. ‘really?’ she thought to herself ‘it all must be a dream.’. But it was real. And as in all real fairy tales, a wish never comes free of charge, and the swan continued “Your wish shall be granted and by the time you are thirteen- that is, two years from now, you must find a person that loves you just as much as you love him.”
If she was beautiful and graceful and charming- who wouldn’t fall for her? Surely she would have no problem. The girl nodded.
“By tommorow morning, your wish shall be granted.”
The swan started swimming away into the mist over the lake, just before vanishing from view it turned around “And remember, if you may ever need help for happiness ever again, call me and prepare a gift in return.”
And with that, the swan flew off into the mist, and Ahiru went back to her house.
The following year Ahiru found her wish come true- she was not clumsy anymore, most of her freckles disappeared into her tanned face, and her hair became much tamable. Yet the boys still kept teasing her. Once, a black haired boy even came over to her and told her he liked her, yet seeing some boys from behind holding in their laughter she felt it was a new tease and stormed away. She never saw that boy again. But now, seeing that the boys never change even after her own change, she understood she would just have to find her love somewhere else.
The months that passed by after that year were despairing, and Ahiru felt she would never find her true love in time.
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A month before the contract would be over she desperately went to the lake and called out to the swans swimming there “Give me a hint! Give me a hint of my true love!”
The next day the prince’s soldiers came in to the town and hanged signs of an upcoming ball where all the girls of ages 13 to 16 were to participate in a dance in the kingdom’s palace.
Ahiru got excited immediately, she knew no girl in the kingdom was like her, and set off at early dawn the next morning with all of the town girls to the castle where the candidates shall be chosen at the castle gates one by one.
They were all wearing their best clothing, Ahiru wearing her most beautiful white dress.
All the way she heard wonderful stories of bravery and of the good looks of the prince Mytho from her two friends, and she looked out of the carriage window every five minutes to see if they would be arriving.
They finally arrived at late noon. The palace walls were the most enormous structure Ahiru has ever seen.
In those times, kingdoms were small and there were less than a thousand girls whom were in those ages, and only half of them could arrive.
A long line of girls stood in 20 paralel lines heading to the opening of the palace, where a gate of over 40 feet height stood open with guards.
As she was getting to the beginning of the line Ahiru had to put her hands behind her in order to prevent herself from biting off her fingernails, and tried to keep her composure as well as she could.
Finally, after standing long awaited hours in line, she arrived at the gates.
There, stood a very young lad, about her own age, with black raven hair and green eyes in an armor suit. He took his time looking at her, and when after catching her gaze he took a long time looking into her eyes. there was something very strange in his gaze, making Ahiru flush red and she started to wander if there was something wrong with her eyes or face that made him look so long into them. Although considring the time it took for the girl before her to move on she supposed it must be the same with all the girls.
He then took her name and asked one of the guards to take her to the guest room arranged for hosting the the young ladies.
She was in, and she let out a big sigh for that.
Yet, as she went into the room she a room packed with gorgeous looking girls all dressed in highly designed dresses from silk and embroided with rare stones and gems.