THE CONCH SHELL PRINCESS AND THE SEA URCHIN

THE CONCH SHELL PRINCESS

AND

THE SEA URCHIN

 

Long ago in a castle near an ocean, there lived a king and queen who were blessed with a beautiful daughter, fair as the winged angel shell fairies who lived behind the ocean rocks.

It was time for her christening and the good queen wished that her daughter be named Edelyn. To celebrate the grand occasion she wished to invite the three good little angel-winged fairies of the sea shells but she would also have to invite the fallen elf winged shell witch Wentletrap too.

Wentletrap lived behind the ocean rocks and the queen greatly feared the wrath of such a shell elf witch and her selfish elfish bewitching spells. Nevertheless, she knew the three angel winged shell fairies would compensate her bad wishes.

On the christening, the three angel winged shell fairies sang a sweet lullaby bestowing their gifts,

Toodle Do,

Toodle Dee

Toodle Dah

We three angel winged shell

Fairies Docina, Lucina, Coquina,

Grant three wishes

To our little princess fair

When she turns eighteen.

Toodle Doo

Toodle Dee

Toodle Do Dah

They then bade the king and queen farewell and flew away to their peaceful sea shell kingdom as if they cared naught for the elfish witch Wentletrap and her devious spells for good baby princesses.

It was rather an inopportune moment for as soon as the good fairies Lucina, Docina and Coquina disappeared, the shell witch Wentletrap did appear and laughing rather haughtily cast an evil trap for the pretty little baby Edelyn, for she disliked babies very much.

Wentletrap presented her an evil curse rhyming on,

Eenie, meenie, minie, moe

Traps and snare for hares,

And for pretty baby girls

Like princess Edelyn fair!

When she turns eighteen

And if she falls in love with a poor urchin boy,

Then both shall never resume

Their human forms again,

Traps and snares for hares

And for pretty baby girls

Princess Edelyn Fair!

Eenie, meenie, minie, moe

So saying the befallen shell elf of a witch Wentletrap snickered and sneered and disappeared. The king comforted the grief stricken queen, that henceforth no urchin poor ragamuffin be ever seen anywhere along their little islet bay.

The princess grew up to be a beautiful young girl, however when she turned eighteen as she loved to swim in the little islet bay, the evil curse of the elf shell witch Wentletrap took place. There was a whirlpool that trapped the poor princess Edelyn into the rough tide and soon swallowed her into the depths of the sea.

 A roughish ruffian living in a faraway island where the king had condemned all poor urchins to live, soon came to the rescue of princess Edelyn. He had come fishing, when he saw the whirlpool entrap the poor princess swimming and wasted not a minute to save the fair princess.

This young urchin named Xercus was a strong lad with rippling muscles and as soon as Princess Edelyn opened her blue eyes she fell deeply in love with the orphan ruffian.

Xercus sailed her in his boat safely to her castle and Princess Edelyn gave him a kiss. The princess had indeed fallen in love with the urchin ruffian Xercus and expressed to the king and queen her desire to marry him.

The king and the queen were very much disheartened that the evil curse of the shell elf of a witch would take place but did give in finally, as the little urchin lad had saved their little darling princess.

As soon as Princess Edelyn and Xercus got married, the uncouth and roguish ways of the young urchin boy got under the skin of the fair princess. Alas! Xercus possessed no etiquette and manners. He was an ignoramus and had many a vice too. Princess Edelyn was broken hearted!

One day when she could take his rough and uncouth ways no more, in order to test him, she gathered near her the king, queen and her urchin groom Xercus. For she knew of the three wishes that the queen told her, she would be able to wish for, when she turned eighteen.

She exclaimed to Xercus, “Oh Xercus, Xercus, my little urchin prince, as you can never gauge my great love for you, I shall make my very first wish as I possess three wishes………….to be turned into a conch shell!”

The princess Edelyn soon turned into a conch shell. The urchin prince was flabbergasted! And filled with remorse, and he begged the princess as the story here enlightens……

Wish Dear Princess Edelyn wish,

That I may fathom,

The depth of your love for me,

Oh wish princess do wish

That I only hear the ocean humming

Through your pretty conch shell

So Princess Edelyn feeling sorry for her ruffian groom, she wished her second wish that Xercus be turned into a sea urchin, for it seemed to her that only then, would he truly understand her better. For now they would belong to the ocean kingdom.

In a trice, Xercus was turned into a sea urchin with prickles around his body.

The king and queen were deeply saddened and pleaded with their daughter, princess Edelyn saying, “Leave be the urchin now a sea creature to itself, and turn into your human form, Edelyn dear.”

They begged the conch shell princess to make her last wish. But Princess Edelyn was wise and she knew that once she assumed her human form, she would not understand the language of her beloved groom, the sea urchin. The sea urchin creature loved Edelyn more than ever and as he desired to be with her forever near the ocean, so she made her last wish,

Xercus, I have waited

For this moment

Longer than I thought would come true

And that is

Our princely heads pop out

From our shell and bristles

At last this be!

My final third wish

To be forever a

Conch shell princess with her ruffian sea urchin prince

Of course the king and queen lamented that the elfish wishes of the witch Wentletrap had come true and that Princess Edelyn and Xercus would never regain their human form again.

However soon did appear the three winged shell fairies Docina, Lucina and Coquina and comforted the king and queen saying,

‘Love indeed is Blind’

Dear King and Queen

And so is the story

Of our bride and groom

For we so love

Them with their heads sticking out

Of the conch shell and prickly bristles body!

Seeking the opportune moment, the princess and the prince spoke in their sea kingdom language to the good fairies Lucina, Coquina and Docina and requested them to tell the king and the queen to invite all the roguish ruffians mischievous little urchin boys and girls back again into their little kingdom.

The king and queen did agree, and then the three good fairies waved their wand in the air and Lo! A magical sand castle did appear for the princess and her groom.

Though they did never assume their human shape, they lived happily near the ocean in the little sand castle telling their happy tales to the little ruffian urchin boys and girls who very much understood their language. They learnt about the story of the ignoramus lad Xercus who, because he was illiterate could not understand the poor princess Edelyn and so they vowed to henceforth read and write and be of use to the kingdom.

Certainly their cumbersome love test was worth one in a thousand and put to shame the elfish witch Wentletrap’s deeds and the sand blew a smart in her eye.

As they rejoiced singing,

Toodle de do dah

Witch Wenteltrap our foe

Her snare and evil traps no more

Princess Edelyn and Prince Xercus

Shall live forever more

In the hearts and minds

Of all the urchin lads and lasses of our kingdom

While

Eenie minie minie moe

The prince and princess caught

The elfish witch Wentletrap by her toe

The sand dunes smart her in the eye

Till she cried out

The witch Wentletrap…..

OH! Please let me go

Eenie, meenie, minie, moe

Now in Venice the Conch shell Princess is known as the bride of the Adriatic Sea and the sea urchin, the bridegroom.