Quest for happiness

My first original story here, tell me if you like it! Oh, and BTEM! (= beware the english mistakes - english isn't my mother tongue)
(Written for school, took me some weeks)

(Sorry, was in the wrong domain at first m_m)

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Quest for happiness

Once upon a time there was a prince who was loved and cherished by everyone around him. No hardship befell him during his youth and after he had grown up the prince fell in love and was happily married. So the seasons changed and years passed until it was time again to honour the ancestors and ruling king with a tremendous feast; from every corner of the kingdom presents for the king and jugglers for the entertainment arrived and many neighbouring kingdoms sent delegates and wishes to the capital. For days the streets were overflowing with happy laughter, delicious smells were lingering between houses and every colour imaginable covered both humans and animals. The prince and his beloved were dancing all night long surrounded by smiles and family and when the prince went to fetch a gulp of fresh air he left his spouse in the arms of his merry brothers and sisters.

Once on the terrace the sounds from inside the ballroom and from the festival in the village underneath the castle weaved themselves into a soft cape of happiness the prince wanted to wrap around himself. And when he looked up at the sky, he had the feeling that even the stars were twinkling brighter and merrier that night. The prince smiled for it seemed that everyone in the kingdom was happy.

But wait, was that a weeping that reached his ears? He looked around and there, in a dark corner sat a small child, knees up to the chest and shoulders trembling with tears.

“Oh child, why are you shedding tears on this night? Is it not a happy time for every being? Come child, come, what reason is there for a sad face? I cannot leave even one of my peasants unhappy.”

“My prince, forgive me for the reason is childish and I am nothing but a child.”
“Aye, but you are a child of my kingdom.”

“Please my prince. Do not concern yourself with this servant’s child and ah! Does my prince not hear his name being called?”

“Neither was my name nor any other’s called. If this servant’s child keeps on trying to distract, what thought can be nearer than my responsibility for its tears?”

“Nothing could be further!” the child cried when this accusation was uttered; and the prince asked again for the reason of such sorrow he saw in the child’s face but nothing than a cry for “Happiness! Happiness!” did he understand when they broke down into sobs and only after minutes of awkward consoling by the prince – who never had to learn this ability – did the child say quietly while still hiccuping: “My prince, I am sorry for the sorrow I caused with my tears but I cannot hold them back, it seems. Please, do not stop my words, my prince, for I will try and explain. I want to be happy and wear a smile like Your Majesty but I do not know how, since I do not know what this happiness is. I am glad for the long life of our Majesty and wish him decades and decades more in this, his kingdom but is this happiness? I enjoy the smiles people greet me with and I like the warmth of my mother’s arms surrounding me but is this happiness? My prince was – it seemed – happily smiling before so perhaps he can answer this humble child’s question: What is this ‘Happy’ everyone is talking about? How does it feel, this happiness? Should I be happy when I wake up in the mornings, should I be happy when I clean the floors?”

The prince was still wearing his smile, when the child came up with situations it could be happy about but when he opened his mouth to explain he found that words were evading him and he could do nothing but stare. Only when the shyly asked words “My prince?” reached his mind did the prince awake from his stupor and he cried hastily: “My child! I find I cannot answer you as easily as I thought I could. But upon my honour, I will find it even if I have to ask everyone in all known and unknown kingdoms.”, and the prince ran forward into the ballroom to ask the first person he would see about the meaning of happiness.

“Happiness, my prince? I am happy when I can eat good food, my prince; when delicious plates full of the tastiest parts of game served with tempting asparagus and the sweetness of fresh fruit dipped in hot chocolate seduce my palate. This is what makes me happy.”, and the prince went and ordered the master of the kitchen to cook and bake every recipe he knew about. And when the chef’s mind was void of all delicious secrets the prince sent for dishes and foreign fruit, recipes and exotic animals from other kingdoms and he was sure that now the child was happy for it laughed and smiled with every dish served. But after a time the child told the prince hesitantly that, although very fond of the food and that they had never eaten so many various dishes in their life, the child felt full of food and guilt for it saw the hungry faces of the servants bringing the food and of the other children standing near the windows to catch a glimpse of the dishes.

“You are right, my child! How can food make us happy? But do not fear, I will find the answer you seek.”, and the prince went to the first person he met. “I am deeply honoured my prince would ask this humble person for his thoughts. Thank you, my prince, thank you. – What makes one happy? My prince that I can answer easily. Everything can make us happy and to get everything one would need money to buy it. And since there is so much of Everything one needs to get all the money and then some more if there is a new Everything.”, and the prince went and increased the taxes and cut the servants’ money in half so that his treasure chambers got fuller and fuller with gold coins. The prince bought the child everything it could wish for but he was anxious that he did not have enough money to get everything there was and so he increased the taxes again and lowered the servants’ money again.

Over time the prince forgot about the child but continued to increase and lower and when the child told him with a shaking voice that these “Everythings” he bought with money did not make the child see the answer but the anger and anguish it caused, the prince did not recognize it and dismissed it without a thought. However, one person heard the words and saw the tears and embraced the sorrow burden child for the prince’s spouse knew the feelings the child was showing freely.

When all treasure chambers were filled to the top the prince walked from chamber to chamber and looked into every one of them but nothing of what he saw made him smile and so he asked the first person he came upon. “I am sorry, my prince, but I believe my answer will not satisfy you for I do not regard money and the happiness it brings so highly. – What then makes me happy, you ask? To follow my master’s command satisfies me greatly and being able to penalize all of those my master is upset with and to punish all those upset with my master makes me feel fortunate. But to conquer all those laughing at and criticizing my prince does fill me with happiness up to the very tips of my hair.”, and the prince went and brought war upon the kingdoms. He called every man and boy to arms so that they could follow him into battle and while he stood on the battlefield surrounded by slaughter and death he got to know the thrill it brought. But not happiness.

The child cried harder and harder than they did that long, long time ago when the concept of being happy confused them but now the reason for their tears was the same as for everyone and again the child felt the quiet arms of the prince’s spouse. However, they shook and were weak and when the child urged to go inside the answer they got was a smile for that was all the spouse could do nowadays to weaken the sorrow.

The prince was now known in every part of the known world, his mentioning spread anguish and his sighting caused fear but the prince himself felt nothing and so he asked the first person he encountered. “Forgive me, my prince, please forgive me. I do not know the answer. I do not know, my prince. The answer you seek cannot be given by as low a being as myself, my prince. But perhaps, just perhaps, up north can they solve this question. It is said that a person of wisdom lives there.”, and the prince went and searched for this person. He crossed rivers as wide as the ocean and climbed mountains as high as the sky and when he reached a small forest that shone at night he knew that he had arrived. Deeper and deeper did he go until he came across a shining waterfall and in its middle stood a person with hair as white as the full moon and no face could be seen. And the prince asked.

“Is this the question that worries your heart, my prince? Then I will give you the answer. However, every answer comes with a price and yours will be the person you cherish the most. Bring me this person and I will bring your heart the relief it seeks.”, and the prince went back to his homeland and castle and took his spouse from their sickbed.

It was night again when they arrived at the shining forest but the journey was too tiring, the prince’s spouse was now too weak. And so the prince said: “My beloved, can you not hold on a bit longer? It is not far now. I can already hear the water splashing the stones. – No, no, I cannot go alone. I need you there with me for that I brought you with me. Please do not close your eyes for I fear you will not open them again and there, I can already see the water shining brightly between the trees. – What are you saying? I could not have brought anyone else with me, my dear, for you are the only one that could bring me happiness. Ah! My spouse! Why are you crying? Was I rocking you too much? Are you feeling worse? – Nonsense, my spouse! How can you say that? Of all the people in this whole world and beyond I cherish you the most and you alone can lighten my sorrows, you alone can lessen any pain I feel, you alone can love this person I have become. I must apologize for my eyes are blurring so I cannot see you any more and my voice is croaking and trembling for my throat is closing up. I am sorry, my spouse, so very, very sorry.”, and the prince and his beloved held each other close for a long time and never noticed that the forest lost its lights for the wise person had left since it could not give an answer to a question already solved.

The prince resigned and he and his beloved spouse never returned to their castle but wandered through kingdom to kingdom to rectify whilst bringing happiness to people’s hearts starting with a certain, small child.

The End