Forum Game: Fairy Tale Hour (no advertising)

Dear users, dear authors,
fairy tales are always a hit. That’s why we’re creating the very first CP fairy tale here, and it begins with (no surprise):

Once upon a time, long, long ago...

It’s your turn. :-)

a poor fisherman’s wife with a much poorer husband and the poorest of all poodles.

They lived in a humble hut by the sea.

The poor fisherman’s wife wanted nothing more than a child she could love, cherish, and care for, but her husband—who was even poorer—had other worries.

The little he fished out of the sea was barely enough for the two of them. How could he possibly have supported a child as well?

Then the poor fisherman’s wife had an idea and combed the poodle.

Goodness gracious, he suddenly looked like a very fancy poodle!

And suddenly the poodle started talking and said she had been granted three wishes.

“My first wish would be for a spinning wheel,” said the fisherman’s wife.

"Nothing could be easier," said the poodle, wiggling its ears, and lo and behold, a spinning wheel appeared before the fisherman’s wife, who clapped her hands in sheer delight.

(The story takes place a long time ago, which is why it’s full of old-fashioned words.)

She immediately sat down at the spinning wheel and began to spin.

“What a joy,” thought the woman, “such fine yarn I’m spinning here.”

As she sat there spinning the fine yarn, she thought about her second wish. It wasn’t easy at all, because she had so many wishes, and it had to be the right choice for the future of her whole family. But then she made a decision—she wished for ......

...that her poodle should turn into a human child so that she would finally have a child to care for. Once again, the poodle wiggled its ears, and the next moment it lay before her as a screaming baby.

Oh, what great joy there was! She tenderly took the little girl and cradled her in her arms.

When the fisherman returned home from his trip, he furrowed his brow.

“What’s this child doing here?” he asked his wife.

Then the child barked and wiggled its ears, so that the man got scared.

The woman, too, looked at her baby in alarm.

Oh dear, what had happened? The fisherman looked at his wife questioningly. That wasn’t what she’d meant when she made her wish. Now they were at a loss.

"Maybe," said the fisherman's wife, after they had put the barking baby to sleep, "maybe it will grow out of it and learn over time to speak like us humans."

The fisherman had his doubts, but for the sake of peace he did not want to contradict his wife, especially since the little child was sleeping soundly in the dog bed.

And so the years passed, and the child grew into a beautiful girl.

And so it came to pass that the king sent his son, Prince Waldemar, out to get to know the land and its people.

When the fisherman and his wife found out, they both thought to themselves...

“No one must find out about our daughter. When she opens her mouth, all that comes out is a bark. They’ll throw her in jail—and us right along with her.”
And, filled with fear, they locked the beautiful young girl in their basement.

No sooner had the door been locked than the handsome prince, accompanied by his squires, rode up, had his shoes polished, his nose blown, and his hair combed one last time, and then knocked on the front door.

With trembling fingers, the fisherman opened the door.

"Good morning, everyone. I am Prince Waldemar, and I’d like to get to know this land and its people."

“Please come in, dear prince,” said the fisherman. “But unfortunately, we can only offer you a dried stockfish and a jug of water. We’re very poor people, you see, and that’s all we have.”

The prince was overjoyed, because he never got dried cod and water at home.

When he entered the room and approached the table, he was very surprised. On the table lay a tablecloth so delicate and fine that not even his mother had one like it at home. When the fisherman’s wife came in with the meal, the prince asked:

“You have such a beautiful, wonderful blanket. So soft and delicate. But unfortunately, it smells a bit of dog” (because the poor woman couldn’t afford real wool, she had used poodle hair)
“I love dogs,” said the prince, “where is your faithful pet?”

The fisherman’s wife, in her distress, could think of no other way out than to say, “It’s down by the sea; it never comes when you call it.”

Prince Waldemar became very sad because he loved dogs more than anything.

At that moment, a loud howl rang out from the basement. 

The prince pricked up his ears.

“What was that?” he asked angrily. “Is an animal being tortured over there?”

“Oh, no, my prince,” the fisherman’s wife hurried to assure him, “it’s just… just…”
She struggled desperately to find the right words.

“The echo...” she said... “It’s echoing in through a crack from the sea. There’s no dog in the basement,” she hurried to add, glad to have found an explanation.
“Woof woof...” came again from the basement

“Good lady,” replied the prince, “but I know exactly what I heard. You’re hiding something from me. What do you have in your cellar? Show it to me.”

"But that just won't do!" the poor woman had panic in her voice... "The cellar is no place for such a highborn prince as you are. It's dirty and damp there, and all those spiders...."

But the prince wouldn’t have any of it. “Good woman, if I hear an animal in distress, I must investigate. Please step aside. My faithful squire Fridolin and I will now go down the cellar stairs and take a look.”

The fisherman’s wife raised her hands helplessly and stepped aside.

Waldemar drew his sword and sent Fridolin ahead to open the door to the cellar, while the poor fisherman’s wife sank to the floor, unconscious.

Down in the cellar, of course, they didn’t find a dog, but only the beautiful fisherman’s daughter, who was cowering in a corner. When the prince saw the girl, he immediately fell madly in love with her.

“What a beautiful girl,” he thought to himself, “why would anyone lock her up in this dreadful cellar?”

“Would you like to be my queen?” asked the prince. Then the girl opened her mouth and barked.

The prince, somewhat taken aback by these unexpected sounds but undaunted (as befits a prince), took the girl’s hand and ordered his faithful squire, Fridolin, to fetch the magician.

...because a barking queen—that would be taking it too far!
When the magician saw the girl, he shook his head and said:

“That’s a spell more powerful than I could ever cast,” he said, shaking his head. “The girl has to decide—human or dog. And then we’ll need the one who cast the spell. Only he can help.”

Just then, the fisherman’s wife, having recovered from her fainting spell, came down the stairs; she had saved her third wish until today, but now the moment had come to express it.

The fisherman’s wife gathered all her courage to voice her third and final wish.
However, she had to concentrate very hard on her choice of words, because one wrong word, and there was no turning back.
So… I wish that…

.... my daughter can speak in the loveliest voice and never bark again!

Her wish was immediately granted, and her daughter had such a lovely voice that even the prince and his squire were very taken with it, so he decided to marry this enchanting creature.

Soon a wedding was celebrated, and the prince and his bride built their new home in the garden of the fisherman’s cottage, where, according to rumors, the best stockfish far and wide was served on exquisitely woven tablecloths, and they lived happily ever after.