Issue Date: July 2002
One day the servant forgot to close the door to her quarters properly. An urchin walked in from the street and saw her as she ate. "O princess!" he said. "They serve you bread without crusts and meat without bones? Yet everybody knows that the crust is the best part of the bread, and the bones make the meat tastier!"
       
       The boy ran out to the street and disappeared. When her servant came back, the princess demanded: "From now on I want bread with the crust on it and meat with the bones in it!"
       
       She got what she asked for. At her next meal, she discovered marrow in a piece of bone and knocked it against the table. This caused such a noise that the building shook and the window of her room shattered. Suddenly the princess was exposed to the noises that penetrated from the outside. She could hear the sounds of the marketplace, where hawkers were loudly praising their wares. Fascinated, the princess listened. She tried to look outside, but the high window permitted her to see little. Then she heard one merchant shout: "Buy from me an ounce of sorrow!"
       
       Her curiosity aroused, the princess excitedly ordered her servant to ask the merchant in. He soon appeared and showed the princess his wares. These appeared to be the seeds of some unknown plant. The princess decided to buy seven seeds. The merchant gratefully invoked God's blessings upon her.
       
       The princess decided to plant them on the terrace in a large flowerpot, which had once held a plant from Egypt. She and her maid watered the seven seeds regularly, and soon the first green shoots appeared. The stalks rose up and formed buds. These opened one fine morning, becoming large and splendid flowers. The princess was overjoyed and could look at nothing else.
       
       Alas! Their delicious fragrance attracted two large birds, one pitch black and one snow white. They suddenly alighted and trampled on the flowers until nothing remained except crumpled petals. The princess was furious. She chased the birds with shouts and cries; she even threw her golden ring after them, since she had no other way to punish them. The white bird skillfully caught the ring in flight, then disappeared from the terrace with its crumpled flowers.
       
       The princess was desolate. Suddenly she understood that she had indeed bought sorrow, for she had acquired something she loved for its beauty, only to see it ravished. The princess mourned her flowers until darkness fell.
       
       Two magic birds
       
       Lo and behold! The next morning the broken stalks stood erect once again. New flowers were rapidly expanding and opening, until they were as large and numerous as before. Overjoyed, the princess contemplated them. But alas! The two birds descended again. They quickly picked some flowers and trampled the others. Once again, none were left standing. The princess chased the birds, even throwing her diadem after them, but the white bird caught it skillfully before flying away.

The princess attempts to save her precious flowers from the destructive birds.

The princess shed tears for her lovely flowers but lo! The next morning new flowers opened on new stalks, as fresh and fragrant as ever. No sooner had the princess begun to admire them, however, than the birds returned and quickly set about destroying the blooms. The princess threw the only thing she had nearby at that moment, her golden necklace, to chase them away. The white bird caught the necklace in the air, and both birds disappeared.
       
       On the fourth morning, new flowers adorned the terrace. The princess rejoiced until the birds arrived and destroyed them all. She threw a jewel at them, but the white bird caught it and took it away. Indeed, each morning thereafter the same thing happened. Finally, the poor princess had not a single jewel or ornament left. The big birds had uprooted the plants so completely that they would never grow again.

The princess wept until she fell deathly ill, so her servant went to warn her parents. The king and queen came at once, and when they saw how serious her illness was, they asked their daughter if she had perchance one last wish. "Yes, I have a wish," she said. "Namely that you ask all the women of the city to come here and tell me their life history, every single one of them. I want to know if even one of them is suffering a grief that is greater than mine."


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