"Oh giiiiirls," came a
sing-songy voice through the front door of the salon. "You will never
believe who I just had lunch with!"
"Ooh! Hopefully someone with
good news! We haven't had any good news in awhile," came a shout from
one of the hairdressers in the back.
"Oh, definitely good... I just
got back from a delicious lunch with Queen Catherine! At the castle!"
"NO! I don't believe it!"
"What was it like - what was
she wearing?!"
"You are lying! You had better
watch out or your nose will start growing!"
"I swear on it! She said that
she was tired of all the rumors going around town about her marrying
for money and being a fraud - and she just knew that I was the one to
tell - seeing as I am always the first to know the news around town,"
she said as she fluttered around the salon, stopping at a new station
for emphasis.
"Well anyways, I got the golden egg of news, straight from the golden
goose herself."
"Well, don't stop there! You
simply HAVE to tell us!"
"Ok.. well, grab some lemonade
and a tissue, because this one sure is a tearjerker! It all started
when Catherine was a young girl. She said her father was a nobleman,
and a
very rich one at that. Anyways - she told me that one day she was
sitting in her room, gazing at her beautiful view and dreaming about
finding her prince charming when all of the sudden the most beautiful
woman she had ever seen came in and told her she had to choose between
happiness now and happiness in her later years. And wouldn't you know,
she picked her later years."
"Humph! Well I guess being
queen does make life happier."
"Oh, hush. It wasn't two days
later that terrible things started happening to Catherine and her
father. They lost EVERYTHING! Well, Catherine said her father was so
depressed at the change in his fortune that he just dropped dead one
day."
"NO! Oh now I do feel a little
sorry for her.."
"It's true! That's what she
told me, and she even showed me the obituary. So, she was left with
nothing! Not even a cent. So, she picked herself up and left their
estate. She just walked away! I couldn't believe it. And then she said
she took up working for a rich lady in town doing sewing and cleaning
and the like - when one day the beautiful woman was back! You know, the
beautiful woman who somehow had control over Catherine's happiness..And
completely wrecked the entire house! Tore everything to shreds, burned
up the curtains, broke all of the fine china!"
"I don't believe it! Catherine
must
have been terrified!"
"Well she was.. I mean she
didn't tell me.. but, I imagine she was. Anyways, girls, she was so
scared of her rich lady that was her boss coming home and finding the
mess that she tore out
of the house faster than a lightening bolt. And this happened to her
for the next seven years! Every time she would find a new job in a new
house, the
beautiful woman would come and destroy everything.."
"Oh how awful."
"I know. So she told me
she had found a new house and had been working there for a few years
without any sign of the beautiful woman. But she said, she had the
strangest job at her new house... every day she had to take a loaf a
bread to the top of a tall tall mountain and cry out to her Fate three
times - and then her Fate would come and eat the bread. And who do you
think her Fate was!"
"Oh tell us, tell us," all of
the ladies cried out - by this time they were all sniffling into their
tissues.
"It was the beautiful woman!
At first Catherine said she wanted to hit her Fate over the head with
an old loaf of bread, but eventually she would just cry each time she
saw her Fate, and lament about how she herself used to be beautiful and
rich... and now she was living as a maid. So sad. Well, I guess her
Fate
finally felt sorry for her, because she gave her this beautiful skein
of silk and told her to use it wisely. And then her Fate just
disappeared! Catherine told me that she was so excited and nervous at
the same time.. she was terrified that her Fate would come back at any
minute and ruin everything!"
"Who wouldn't be, after a life
like hers... did she tell you how she met the king?"
"Hold on to your white horses,
girls... I am getting there! Well, she said that she heard the king was
looking for the most beautiful silk in the world to make his garments
out of, and would reward whoever had it with a ton of gold coins. She
said she thought it was her opportunity to get her fortune back, so she
decided to try her luck and take the silk in. And the king fell in love
with her - and her silk! She told him her life story, and she told me
he was so touched by her grace and humility after all of her life's
circumstances that he proposed to her on the spot! She said she was so
excited because her luck had changed and she had finally found her king
charming."
"So I guess she isn't a
gold-digger after all," said the crotchety old woman in the corner,
dabbing her eyes with her tissue. "Just a girl who finally got lucky in
love."
Author's Note: The story of
Catherine and Her Fate is one of my favorite stories that I came upon
while researching Italian Fairy Tales for my story book. I tried to
stay as true to the original tale as possible, and thanks to this story
being shorter than others I was able to include more of the original. I
like this story because it has such a great story line! Think about
contemporary stories.. a privileged girl who loses it all, she has a
string of bad luck which eventually turns around and the story ends
with her living happily ever after.. Does that sound familiar or what??
Anyways.. I did not end up changing as much as I thought I would have
to in order to make it more 'fun' and the gossip-y ladies really lent
themselves to the overall feel that I was going for. I also thought it
was fun to bring in the 'rumor-mill' into part of the plot. It makes
sense that the queen would want people to quit gossiping about her, and
I thought it was a fun twist to have her invite one of the gossips to
the castle to get the 'real' story. I hope you enjoyed the tale of
Catherine and Her Fate! Read the original!
Book Title: Italian Popular Tales
Book Author: Thomas Crane
Year Published: 1885
Web Source: SurLaLune Fairy Tales
picture source: Getty
Images
