Once upon a time (and all stories worth telling begin with “once upon a time”*), there was a beautiful land that had been overcome by darkness and despair.
All the crystal-clear wells had turned to slimy mud.
All of the once-glittering, emerald shade trees had withered and turned to brown.
All the singing birds (and even some “flying rats”) had been silenced.
All of the people in the land were stuck by deep feelings of sadness and remorse.
And what, you may ask, was the source of all this doom and gloom?
Well, I’ll tell you.
The Prince had left the land, and gone off to fight a horrible war to the West, and was never expected to be seen again. There were mountains there in the West, and multitudinous mists, and monsters of every type and description.
The Prince was very beloved by the people, and the land seem to draw energy from his very presence. But with him gone, things…fell apart.
There was one person who did not slip deeply into despair, and that was his Princess. The beautiful, dark-haired Princess stood on the cupola deck every night, and stared out into the West, and said to herself, “I wish for my love with all my soul. He will return.”
And so it went.
The land grew sicker, and the Prince did not return, and evil men began to consolidate their positions of power, and soon they held all (except for the beautiful dark-haired Princess) in thrall to their whims. Three of the most evil men were known by the names Phaedrus, Mark, and Tyler.
Once night, Phaedrus came upon the widow’s walk and spoke to the Princess. He said:
“I realize that you are pining for your lost love, but you must know that all that has happened – him going off to the horrible war, your despair, all of it – is God’s Will, and cannot be changed. Some may say that our fate is our own, but do not believe it. It is all written down in a special book. So, you must join me. Wed me, and we will control all of the land, and enforce God’s Will together.”
But the Princess did not listen; instead she said: “I wish for my love with all my soul. He will return.”
And so Phaedrus went away.
The next night, Mark came upon the cupola deck and spoke to the Princess. He said:
“You know, your Prince is never coming back. Some Black people got him, and hauled him off to their lair, where the evil tribe of the Fat Women crushed him into itty-bitty bits. You will seem him no more. What you should do instead is marry me, where we will control all of the land, and take revenge upon any Black people we come across.”
But the Princess did not listen; instead she said: “I wish for my love with all my soul. He will return.”
And Mark went away.
Upon the third night, Tyler climbed the crumbling stone stops to the roof. His hair was all askew, and a mad light was in his eyes. He said:
“The Prince! Bah! He has been captured. I hear tell of a maleficent tribe not three days West of here, who take their victims and inflict the most cruel punishment upon them. Death? No, not death. They cut off their foreskins! You realize what this means, of course. The Prince will be so damaged by the procedure, he will kill himself, or go insane. So, you see, Princess, you would be better off with me. Together, we will control the land, and keep all men whole for all their lives!”
But the Princess did not listen; instead she said: “I wish for my love with all my soul. He will return.”
And Tyler went away.
On the fourth night, no evil men came. Instead, there was a blizzard of snow that swooped and spiraled up the walls of the old castle, and chilled the dark-haired Princess to the bone. And out of the snow came a voice, slow and rusty, aged in the manacles of time. The voice said:
“Your Prince is dead. He was killed in a battle in the horrible war in the West. But he died honorably, and now I see why he felt he had to: You were in his thoughts, and he could not bear to return to you a failure. And so it goes.”
The Princess feel to her knees, and let out a wracking sob. The voice continued:
“No, do not be sad. I have been watching you, and seen that your love has been tested many times, and has never been overcome. And so I will return him to you, from the Land of the Dead, where even now he looks out into the dark sky and calls your name.”
And it came to be. The Prince was standing there on the cupola, a bit blue, a bit snow-fogged, but nonetheless alive. He shook his head once, twice, and then said:
“You will never believe what has happened to me.”
The Princess rushed to him, and clasped him close, and whispered in his ear, “I love you with all my soul. I knew you would return.”
And the land came alive again, slowly, but with an inexorable will, and the evil men fled to other lands, to trouble other people.
And the slimy mud wells turned once again crystal clear.
And the withered brown trees bloomed emerald green.
And the birds and flying rats raised their voices again to the sky.
And the people in the land raised their eyes to the castle balcony, where the Princess and her Prince were together and all were flushed of any feelings of sadness or remorse.
The End
Sorry, a bit long, a lot trite, but it’s the best I could come up with in ten minutes. 
- Apologies to Peter Straub
