The Lady or the Tiger?

Ending Story 9/11/06

Out came the man’s gift of opening the right door. It was the beautiful young maiden. She glanced up at the young man and blushed. The man looked up, surprised. He had expected the princess to show him the door of the tiger. He thought that she had known, that being married off to another woman, no matter how beautiful or lovely they are, he wouldn’t dare to live without her.

Suddenly, he was overcome with a spasm of sorrow. He realized that she really had cared for him, and wanted him to live his life, even without her. He turned around and their eyes met, the stared at each other for a few seconds, before he was ushered into a wedding, his own.

The princess observed the wedding from her seat, watched and heard the screams and the laughs. She watched as her lover was married, his hesitancy of being married was felt, no matter how far he was from her. She looked at her father, the king. She knows he’s as stubborn as her, as barbaric as she can be. She stares back at the wedding scene, and senses someone watching her. She turns back to the king and the king watches her closely.

Suddenly, the king turns to a person and suddenly, someone screams out something and everything stops, including the celebration. The king looked determined, but the faces of the people in the celebration looked worse. The wedding had been halted.

Now, it was the princess’s turn to look surprised. The king, her father, turned to her and asked her a question. “Do you wish him to live in pain or to die in peace?” She realized, that was the question she should’ve asked herself that before making her decision.

Her answer, however, surpassed the king’s expectation of her answer. She said, “Do you wish me to live in pain, or to die in peace?” The king had a face of bewilderment, and nodded, understanding what his daughter meant. The king stood up, and announced, “ The maiden, shall be replaced with my daughter.”