SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGIES | KINGDOM

There was once a story, of a princess who fell in love with a king without a kingdom, who had a palace in the middle of a glade of stars, savoring the silent and nocturnal cold of the place. She, despite being in love, was also demanding, and detested the paradise that the king by fate accepted. The princess rose and invoked the wind, and with it the birds came to her call. She looked at them all, from the largest to the smallest, and demanded that all of them forge a kingdom for her.

The birds resigned at such a request, and many flew away to the more hostile gusts, except the larger and more intelligent ones, who stayed with the princess after hearing her. They all looked at her, and as they pondered, flapped their wings and then at last conferred a bow.

"You shall have what you have wanted, princess," said the Albatross, brushing his lanky beak over the ground. The other birds nodded, then ascended into the sky, to fulfill their mission. The princess returned to the king, who was staring into a campfire, looking for answers in the glowing fire. She had contempt for him, for being so passive and indolent about his situation. How could a king be left without a crown after having scourged and ruled an entire kingdom? In her conception of kingship she could never understand.

In the meantime, the birds sought out the clouds and made them descend to the mountains, to talk about their situation, and all the trees, especially the larger ones, used their servants; the leaves, to find out the reason for that meeting.

The elusive animals, from small rodents to crawling creatures, stealthily made their way to the meeting place. The harpy eagle, the mightiest of all birds, soared to the highest peak of the meeting peaks, and squawked a roar that paralyzed all present, capturing their full attention.

"The princess without a kingdom and her husband, they want a dignified place to live, dignified as a royalty like them, and we, we are going to give them what they want. We will not give them a kingdom of humans, but a kingdom of nature; of birds, mountains, clouds, stars, trees, reptiles and rodents, where they can rest and be our rulers."

And all the birds squawked, all the rodents whispered, all the reptiles hissed, all the clouds whispered and all the stars twinkled, nodding at the great Harpy Eagle's plan. Then they went to them and began their work. The great Harpy Eagle gave them both a crown each, made of bronze, myrtle and roses, which shone in the clear light of the night, and all the animals, subjects of that monarchy, bowed before them and pledged their allegiance.

The princess, who was now queen, smiled, but her husband did not smile. The king's hands began to turn white and transparent, his eyes became white and opaque, like blindness, and the rest of his body began to perish, as if faded by time or undone, to become nothing. The queen tried to take him by the arms but she could not touch him, she pierced him as if she were piercing the wind. And then, in an instant of impact, the king disappeared, like a ghost.

An ancient and millenary incantation explained why the king could not have a kingdom and why he disappeared. The man was cursed for destroying the kingdom of an evil sorcerer, and the sorcerer, motivated by revenge, removed him from his kingdom, preventing him from ruling another, because if one day he dared to reign, his existence in this world would end forever.