“The Floating World”: A Fairy Tale

By Caroline Sullivan Land

Once Upon A Time, There Was

A Princess.  She Was Born on the day

That The World War Was Won.  And The Antichrist

Was Defeated Forever, And God’s Chosen People

Were Released

From The Prison Where they had

Killed the children and old and sick people,

And they they had starved and died and been shot and killed

And lain in mass graves.  This War

Ended

The Day The Princess

Of This Story

Was Born.  And So, Naturally,

She Was A Very Special Princess.

She Was The Most Beautiful Girl In All The World.

She Grew Older In a Time of Peace and Feasting,

When Prosperity

Kept and Cradled Her in a Reverie of Childhood.  And So,

Kept Safe

Under this downy bosom

of time, she flourished in

Grace

And Song

And Ballet

And Music

And All Things.  She Was fair!

Oh, Marvelous fair!  And She Went To School

And everybody marveled at what a fair and lovely girl she was. But

She didn’t seem to notiuce.  Undimmed, she bloomed.

One Day, A Handsome Young Prince

Just A Bit Older Than Her

Saw Her

In A Crowd, and He feel

Madly

In love

With her.  Then She Came down the steps and closer

And closer

And closer

And, as it turned out, she was

His assigned blind date for the night!

Her mother was sitting with him.  She introduced them,

And they fell in love.  He took her

To the Valentine’s Dance

And She Wore

White Gloves and a ball gown, baby blue

To match her eyes.

They Eloped, and married.

The Princess was fifteen years old.

The Prince was Nineteen.

They eloped, and

The Lived Happily

Ever

After.  There Are Many

Stories

That The Prince and Princess Had After This,

But Surely Their Meeting

Was The Sweetest.  I Count It

A Victory To Those Who Died

In The World War,

And A Light

To Those Of Us Their Chilrden and

Grandchildren, who Would Face The

Evils Of The Future and See Science Grow into

A Terrible God.

II.

Forty Years After The Princess’s Birth,

I, Her Eldest Granddaughter,

Was Born.  It Took

Over forty hours

For my mother to give birth to me

And we both very nearly died

But when I was born,

It was a

Beautiful World.  My Parents

Were Students at College,

And They bought a brick

House on a quiet neighborhood streed in

A Backyard full of ancient

Oak Trees.  As a Child

I Would Lay On My Back

And Ponder the Sky

Through Those Canopies of Oak Leaves.

The Princess Had had Three Children.

I am the daughter of the Oldest Daughter,

 Who Was Very Brave and Wise.

The Middle Son Was Wild and Brave.

The Youngest Daughter Was  Quiet And Very Beautiful.

Anyways, I Grew Up.  The Princess

Bought A Castle On A Hill

When I Was A Baby

And As I Grew Older, A Village Grew Up

Around It.  By This Time

It is a City

And it is centered around

the Prince and Princess’s Castle

On The Hill.  Ever Beautiful, Ever Good,

Ever Gentle, Ever Loving, Ever Kind, They

Flourished and Their Village Prospered

And Grew Until They Were

A King And Queen, naturally,

And Their Town Was Duncan. 

Their Son and Daughters

 were Princes and Princesses

And Lived in comfort in a great enchanted

Forest Where they all built their homes.

After Me, My Grandmother the princess had

Eight Granddaughters and one Grandson

And They All Inherited Her Beauty

And Gentleness and Kindness

And—Well, all of the things

She was blessed with

By Her Birth.  And I

Would Protect Her.  I, The eldest Granddaughter,

Was The Wisest and, Though Fair,  I Was Not The Most Beautiful,

But An Angel Once Told Me

That I Was The Most Virtuous of her Granddaughters.

The Princess Grew Old, but her Beauty

Never dimmed.  Indeed, in her sixties she looked

Like a young girl!  I would protect her

All my life.  The evils of the world would never come

Between her and the evil world or me.  I Bore The Load

Of College, And I Came Home And Married

A Beautiful Prince eight years older than me and that much

Fairer than me, and wiser than me,

And even more virtuous than me.

We had a little flat in the village

A walk away from the castle

And we lived there for many years

Until it came time to have a child

And we were too poor.  How, then, to continue the

Family line, When my wicked Father Wright

Wouldn’t let me have children!  I knew a pill

That, if I didn’t take it, I could have a baby

With my husband.  But we didn’t dare, for we

Were so incredibly poor, and probably

Always would be.  The Princess my grandmother

Would Support us, buying us gifts, and taking me shopping each week

In  town, and over the years we filled the apartment

With luxuries.  Naturally, She Was As Kind To Me

As She Had Ever Been, and, being myself, I was naturally

Very Kind To Her As Well.  I Was Brave and Pretty, But Brilliant

And I had an ethical blade that could pierce

The deepest mysteries.  A gift from my grandmother

And grandfather.  This ethical Blade

Could Pierce Evil and Look Evil Dead into The

Eyes Of That

Evil, and It The Sense, It Was A Fierce And A Glorious

Thing To Behold.  I Had my goodness, that was for sure.

And she would need it, my grandmother, as she

Grew older I would protect her from everyone

That she ever spoke to or beheld

In my presence.  I would Draw my sword  and threaten

Anything

Or anyone

That offended my Grandmother. 

Now, We Only must defeat

My Wicked Father and have our Own Children

My Husband And I!

Then The Family Line Would Continue

And Our Wisdom And Vitrue and Beauty

And All Our Gifts, Would Be Inherited

By Our Children.

So Then, We Must Defeat MY Father.

The End…….for now……