You have been warned. This is no
fairy- tale; no princess in a dragon’s keep saved by her prince in shining
armor. None of that sugar- coated humdrum, “…And they lived happily ever
after.” And definitely, “The end,” is just the END; the sooner you accept it,
the easier it gets. Tell you what, it is bloodshed out there, you fight, or you
shall perish and die.
We all grew up cradled to sleep with
the enchanting worlds of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella,
Little Mermaid, and all those countless bedazzled jewels in one’s very own
Bookshelf of ‘fantasy.’ But reality is, sometimes, you just have to wake up and
accept that not all stories end up with sugar, spice and everything nice.
For that is just life my friend, and
the Lady or the Tiger by Frank Richard Stockton has proven
that fact powerfully and vividly enough. With the story’s spirited and
indomitable characters: the King, the Young man, and the Princess, Stockton
only reiterates to us that life won’t always be fair, sometimes you
just have to keep the faith and trust others, and that some moments
truly require individualism, sacrifice and letting go.
King: Life won’t always be
fair, and you simply got to accept it. Matters in life won’t at all times
be topped with glitter and gold no matter how much you try to be a good girl or
boy, or wish upon the shooting star. People won’t always magic it up, and
sometimes they’ll be too hard on you and your world will just seem to be
crushing down, brick by brick. Sometimes, the people closest to your heart are
even the ones who will hurt you the most. But people are people, and the King,
semi- barbaric as he is, disregarded the fact that he was hurting his one and
only daughter, by putting that young man she loved so dearly, in a situation
wherein fate was the only one left to choose what he was going to lose-
either his life or his love.
Young man: You probably are a very
private person, but once you get into trouble, you would accept any stranger’s
help. So what more welcoming the help of one you knew with all your heart, with
all your soul? To ‘trust’ is not the easiest thing to do in the world, because
like glass, once it breaks, it would forever be shattered. But at times when
there is really nothing more you can do for yourself, learn how to keep
the faith and trust others. After all, maybe God is just using these people
to turn your life around, maybe He has it all planned out and again, you just
have to close your eyes, open your heart and trust.
Princess: At some point, you have to
realize that some people can stay in your heart but not in your life.
Inevitably, the Princess would have to choose whether to give up the life of
the love of her life so that he could die loving only her, or, give up the love
in their lives, in order to let the young man live. Either way, it would not be
easy, after all, what is easy in letting go? However, this is where individualism,
sacrifice and letting go comes in, when instead of worrying too much
and losing yourself in the midst of the moment, you decide to free your soul
and break away from the pain dragging you down.
Like Frank Richard Stockton’s Lady or
the Tiger, sometimes life would be unfair, there would be instances
where you just have to keep the faith and trust others, and at
times be strong enough to let go. Life is not always smooth
sailing; you would have to go through waves of storms and tsunamis before
seeing how majestic and meaningful it truly is. In the same way, life is a
fairy- tale, and I get back not considering it as such, because I came to
realize, it could still be, and it is, if your heart sees it as so.
Furthermore, like life, the Lady or the Tiger is open ended, giving its readers
the chance to give it a beautiful ending. Who knows, the Young man might not
have been the right guy for the princess, or maybe, the King was just testing
the princess and he truly had greater plans for her. After all, you are the
writer of your own story; you may not be in favor of how it was and how it is,
but, in the end, you are the only one rightful to tell yourself, “This is not
how my story ends; I may not be a princess in a fairy tale, but I dream of a
happily ever after, and I shall have it.”
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