“Who will marry the Princess Lucinda?” asked the Queen, looking sadly at the King.
He shook his head, at a complete loss for an answer.
“I have tried everything, and failed. I have even removed all the mirrors from the palace so that she may not feel bad.”
The King looked sadly at his daughter who sat at the far end of the huge dining table. Thirty dishes were spread out before her and she was happily piling her plate and enjoying her food, unaware of the misery on the faces of the King and the Queen.
Princess Lucinda needed to have a huge chair to sit comfortably. She wouldn’t stop eating! Throughout the day she needed a supply of snacks and sweets. It had resulted in her becoming so large that the Princes who came to ask for her hand, vanished after seeing her.
The royal doctors shook their heads and said she would feel sick. A special coach had been built for her. She could not ride, because the last horse she sat upon had collapsed under her.
One day, a young man came to the King’s court and said he would like to marry the princess. The King and the Queen stared at him.
“But I have a condition,” he added, “I must live in the palace for six months and everything I say must be done.”
The King and the Queen readily agreed. And so the young man was put into a comfortable guest room and everyone was asked to obey his orders without any reluctance.
He first put mirrors in all the rooms and corridors. Then he made a visit to the kitchen where he gave specific orders about what was to be served to the Princess. The cook looked stunned.
The next morning onwards, Princess Lucinda found she got fruit and broth for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She was forced to walk whenever she went out. The coach would not come when she called for it. No chocolates or cakes were allowed in the palace. She felt wretched seeing herself in all the mirrors.
But then a strange thing began to happen. The Princess began to enjoy the new way of life in the palace, for the reflection in the mirrors had started to look prettier every day.
In six months, Princess Lucinda stood in her room and was being fitted for a wedding dress. The young man waited in the church as his beautiful bride walked up the aisle.
