Onyx

An old-style fairy tale about broken vows

There once was a beautiful princess named Onix, for her hair was black as a moonless night. Her beauty was so great that the king had a fence built outside her window and placed a tiger in the fence to scare off anyone who may try to come woo his daughter.

But the princess prayed, “Please send me a beautiful young man to come sing songs to me outside of my window, and I promise to give as much gold to the poor as I give in sanctuary every week.” One evening, as she finished her prayer, the princess heard a song coming from outside her window. When she looked outside the window, she saw that a tree branch had grown over to her window from a tree outside of the fence.

Every night, her prince would come to her window and sing for her, and her love would grow strong for her prince. But the princess forgot about her promise, and instead would spend the money promised to God on gifts for her lover.

One night, as the young man was singing outside of her window, the branch broke, and the boy fell to the ground and was devoured by the tiger.

The princess wept for many days after, and in her mourning she cried out to the heavens, “Please send me a beautiful young man to come sing songs to me outside of my window, and I promise to spend an extra hour every day in thanksgivings and praise.”

After many days of the princess’s crying, the princess once again heard a song outside of her window. She looked outside to see that the tree branch had grown back and another prince had come to woo her.

Every night, her prince would come to her window and sing for her, and her love would grow strong for her prince. But once again, the princess forgot about her promise, and instead would spend an hour a day creating gifts and treats for her lover.

One night, as the young man was singing outside of her window, the branch broke again, and the boy was devoured by the tiger.

The princess wept for many days. But God would not hear her cries this time, and the tree which had grown outside of her window withered and died. But the princess would not give up her prayers. “Please send me a beautiful young man to come sing songs to me outside of my window, and I promise to give to you one extra day out of every week. On the day before the Sabbath, I will go to the sanctuary and devote myself to your services.”

So one day, while she was walking through her garden, the princess heard a song coming from outside of the gate. She climbed up the gate and yelled out to the boy, “If you will come here every night, I will come out and listen to you sing.” So every night, she would put on a black robe and put her black hair over her face so she couldn’t be seen, and she would climb down from her window and up the wall to come listen to the boy.

But again the princess forgot her promise, and instead would spend all of her days dreaming about her prince, and all of her nights on the wall listening to his songs. One day, the boy asked her if he could come and sing to her outside of her window, but the princess refused. “There is a tiger at the bottom of my window which has devoured all who have tried to sing to me outside of my window.”

But on the night before the Sabbath, the prince climbed up the wall with a spear in his hand to kill the tiger with. While the boy was climbing up the wall, the princess was climbing out of her window with her black robe on and her hair in front of her face so that she could not be seen. Just as the boy let go of his spear, the girl stepped in front of the tiger, and the spear pierced her through the heart as well as the tiger.

When the boy realized what he had done, he ran into the king’s woods to hide. The next morning, the king’s hunters, thinking he was a bear, shot him with their bows and pierced him through the heart.