A Tragic Fairy Tale

I was supposed to blog about my Bangkok trip and put up photos, which I will (eventually) when I have more time. Right now, my schedule is kind of packed but I feel somewhat guilty about not blogging, since my friends have been bugging me to post something and complaining that my blog is purely ornamental nowadays.

So, I'm just going to post a quick little story that Jess and I made up when we had way too much time on our hands one day. It is far-fetched and doesn't make any sense but seriously, I don't care. It's just a space filler.

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This tale of lust, forbidden love, betrayals, lies and deceit is set in 189 AD, in the Han Dynasty. Emperor Zhong, a powerful but (unusually, for that era) benevolent ruler, reigned over an enormous empire stretching from Persia to India. His people were well-fed and satisfied, he had won peace after years of bloody battles and long-drawn negotiations with the barbarians of the north, and he himself had a harem of 3,000 beautiful concubines, personally handpicked by the Empress Dowager herself.

Despite Emperor Zhong having 3,000 concubines for his pleasure, he favoured only a handful. Of these, 8 concubines eventually gave him 9 children - 8 sons and a daughter.

Even in that day and age, when boys were universally favoured and girls were regarded as mere vessels to produce sons, Emperor Zhong's favourite child was his only daughter, Princess Jun. For starters, she was born to his favourite concubine, Lady Xiang, widely acknowledged to be the most beautiful lady in the land with a face to rival the famous beauty Xi Shi. Also, unfortunately, Lady Xiang died of an illness at the tender age of 21, leaving her 5-year-old daughter motherless. Emperor Zhong, out of fealty to his beloved concubine, took Princess Jun under his wing and showered her with love, instead of leaving her to the care of the palace attendants and nursemaids.

Princess Jun grew up to be the spitting image of her mother. Everyone who saw her was struck by her sublime beauty and enchanted by her vivaciousness and many talents. She was superb at painting, calligraphy and music, highly educated for a girl, and often spent her days reading the classics or playing the qin in the sheltered pavillion in the grounds of her palace in the Forbidden City.

Besides Princess Jun, Emperor Zhong had 8 sons, among them the Crown Prince, born to him and Empress Wei. Despite the Crown Prince's status, he was weak and perpetually ill from childhood; many wags whispered that, if Emperor Zhong had his way, he would give the title of Crown Prince to his fourth son, Fourth Prince Yi, instead.

Prince Yi was born to another of the emperor's favourites, Lady Yun, and was a year older than Princess Jun. Bright, forthcoming and handsome, he was singled out by the emperor and his ministers as a talent to groom for the future. Prince Yi excelled in both the martial arts and academic learning, and was so brilliant that from the tender age of 14 Sun Zhao-Ren, the famed scholar who was personally asked by Emperor Zhong to tutor the young prince, gave up and told the emperor that he had nothing left to teach the boy; he had surpassed his tutor. At the age of 20, Prince Yi was made Commander-General of the Imperial Guards. In essence, he controlled the entire military force of China.

Because they were close in age, and their mothers had been close as well, Prince Yi and Princess Jun grew up together. Prince Yi watched over the delicate, beautiful Princess Jun and kept her from harm, while Princess Jun adored her older and intelligent half-brother. They remained close even as they grew older and began assuming adult responsibilities. Prince Yi personally handpicked 7 of his best guards to guard his sister, while Princess Jun, on her part, provided much-needed moral support and a listening ear to her battle-hardened brother.

However, they say that an idle mind stirs up mischief. So it was for Princess Jun, who, cooped up day after day in her palace, began to be restless. She was extremely intelligent, and for a girl with her sharp mind there was only so much embroidering and reading she could do. She needed an outlet for her pent-up boredom, and she found it in the shape of a man named Jie.

Jie was a subordinate of Prince Yi and one of his trusted lieutenants. At that point, the prince was away, leading a war upon a barbarian tribe who had been raiding and killing freely in the southern provinces. Because Jie was highly capable and looked upon favourably by the prince, who was grooming him for a high position in the military, he was left behind in charge of the Imperial guard in the palace - the personal army protecting Emperor Zhong, his ministers, concubines, and children. Among them was Princess Jun.

It didn't take long for Jie and Princess Jun to begin an illicit affair. Princess Jun had a trusted lady-in-waiting named Ming, who was their middleman and messenger and helped her mistress cover up the affair. Of course, at that time, consorting with a princess was a crime punishable by death. If they were found out, Jie would be executed and quartered on the spot, while Princess Jun would face exile to remote Siberia. Accomplices like Ming would be executed, while Prince Yi would face demotion from his post and stripped of his titles for failing to watch over his sister and safeguard her virginity.

Worst of all, Princess Jun was already betrothed to King Cao, a powerful warlord who ruled over vast tracts of land in the east. This marriage was meant to seal the empire's alliance with the kingdom. But if King Cao should discover that Princess Jun had betrayed him with another man before their marriage, it could not only sunder the alliance, the insult could mean war between the two lands.

Princess Jun knew she was putting a lot of people's lives at risk, but she was so caught up in the adrenaline and excitement of what she was doing that she could not stop. She held no particular feelings for Jie; he was just a rather good-looking toy to her, something to alleviate her boredom. She found it palpitations-inducingly exciting when Jie was smuggled into her bedchamber in the nights by Ming, who would dress him up in one of her own maid's robes to disguise him, or when her father or brother came to visit while Jie was still ensconced in her room with her.

Jie, on the other hand, was merely honoured in the beginning to be chosen as the beautiful princess's lover, but as the days went by he fell deeply in love with her. It hurt him to the core that he could never have her, and he knew that she was not in love with him, yet she melted his heart effortlessly. He was racked with guilt at his betrayal to his superior, Prince Yi, and afraid of the consequences. But he could not help himself when it came to her; he loved her too deeply.

After a month, when Prince Yi won the war and returned with plunder from the barbarians, he had no inkling that his beloved sister was having an affair with his trusted protege. Handsome and young he may be, but the prince had no interest in women, marriage, or anything of that sort. To him, his life was the battlefield, and his only duty was to his father and his country.

Because of that, he did not see the events unfolding before him. He did not see how, when his sister stepped out of her palace to greet his triumphant return, her eyes flickered first to where Jie was standing behind him. He did not see how she allowed a small smile to touch her lips at the sight of Jie. He did not see how Jie looked down with his hands trembling at the sight of her. He did not see how, as she threw her arms around him in exuberant greeting, she let her silk handkerchief slip out of her hands and fall to the ground in front of Jie. And he did not see how Jie, on the pretext on leaving the siblings alone in private, turned away and stooped quickly to pick up the handkerchief before slipping it into his armour and marching away.

If he did not notice the heated signals between Princess Jun and Jie, Prince Yi certainly did not notice the longing looks of the princess's faithful lady-in-waiting Ming. Their acquaintance had begun years ago, when the prince had ridden into Princess Jun's palace courtyard on a magnificent black stallion and nearly ran over Ming, who was running across the courtyard on an errand for her mistress. Ming crumpled to the ground and remained there head bowed, but much to her astonishment, unlike the other high-and-mighty court officials, Prince Yi got off his stallion and lifted her up. He then gave her a white silk handkerchief and told her to keep it to clean her hands, which were slightly scuffed by her fall. Then, cool as ever, he swung back up on his horse and rode off, but not before he had captured Ming's heart with his dashing good looks and kindness to a mere servant girl.

Years later, Ming was almost as miserable as Jie in her unrequited love for Prince Yi, as she knew the Prince would likely never marry. And even if he did, he would marry a lady of noble blood, and not a lady-in-waiting. But each time he came to visit Princess Jun, she hovered around him, a picture of quiet and demure solicitude, hoping and wishing for a glance, a smile, anything, but the prince never seemed to notice her. Ming was very beautiful herself, loyal and sweet, but she just could not attract Prince Yi's notice because the prince was too caught up in court and military affairs to ever notice women. She had plucked up the courage once and gone to the prince's palace on a made-up pretext, deliberately bumped into him, and shyly held out a present she had made for him - a white silk handkerchief which she had embroidered herself. She hoped that it would jog his memory of the day when he had helped her up and given her his handkerchief. The prince, however, hopelessly dense when it came to affairs of the heart, merely frowned and asked, "What's this? Who asked you to give this to me?", whereupon the poor girl's courage faltered and she fled, present still in hand.

These convoluted love affairs might have carried on forever if not for the fact when one day, Jie's good friend Rong, who was also one of the Imperial Guards, began getting suspicious of Jie's long absences from his post, especially at night. He started questioning Jie, who was already facing immense pressure from the need to hide his affair with Princess Jun from the many watchful eyes in the court, as well as having his heart broken by Princess Jun's flippant attitude towards him. Jie eventually broke down and confessed all to Rong.

Hearing this, Rong broke out in a cold sweat. Now that he knew about the affair, he was officially an accomplice and would be put to death along with Jie if they were found out. He was close friends with Jie, but he knew his friend was playing with fire and would end up getting everyone around him killed. To forestall this scenario, Rong went to the Empress Dowager and poured out everything that Jie had told him.

The Empress Dowager was furious with good reason, and demanded that the suitable punishments be meted out. Prince Yi was devastated at the double whammy of the betrayal by his sister and his lieutenant, and immediately offered to resign his post and exile himself to a distant land for failing in his duty. Princess Jun was appalled at the consequences of her affair, clearly spelt out now, and tried to hang herself, only to be saved by Ming, who herself faced execution and was placed under lock and key together with the princess.

However, Emperor Zhong could not bear to order his precious daughter exiled, much less strip his favourite son of his titles when he knew Prince Yi never knew about the affair. Furthermore, he had already made up his mind to confer the title of Crown Prince on Prince Yi, and to promote Jie, who was highly recommended by the prince, to Commander-General once Prince Yi became Emperor. Also, there was the matter of the princess's betrothal to consider.

Benevolent though he was, he could not so easily spare the other perpetrators of this monstrous crime. Jie was duly executed and Rong, despite him telling the Empress Dowager what happened, was exiled quickly and without announcements so as to prevent him spreading the news anywhere else in the court and tainting the princess's upcoming marriage. Princess Jun was married off to King Cao quickly, and despite her pleading for the life of her maidservant to be spared, Ming was executed as well. On the night of her marriage, Princess Jun, having lost her brother, her family, her lover, and her good friend and servant, killed herself by jumping into a well.

Upon receiving the news of his sister's death, Prince Yi broke down completely. He went to the lifeless and empty palace of Princess Jun where they had spent so many happy days, and looked through his beloved sister's possessions, remembering her and her sharp wit, outstanding beauty, and loveable sweetness.

Among her possessions, however, he discovered something: A letter written by Ming, in the days when she was imprisoned along with Princess Jun to await a sentence. The letter was addressed to him, but apparently she had never dreamt that it would be found and read by anyone, much less him. When he read it, he realised how that quiet young maidservant had been in love with him for years, and how blind and foolish he had been to devote himself to the military and never notice her.

Prince Yi had lost everything, and so, he pulled his sword out of its scabbard and slit his own throat.

So ends this tragic tale...