Tale of the Wandering Princess

A long time ago, in a far off kingdom

There lived a princess, fair in looks but not of heart, for she was vain and cruel.

Now the princess had a particular distaste for traveling, she preferred always to stay at home, where comfort and warmth were never far at hand, and the nobles of various kingdoms soon learned that they would be required to visit her at her castle, for she never answered their invitations.

Above all, the princess sought eternal youth, to keep her looks about her forever. She ordered remedies to be brought to her from around the world, but none worked, and in her impatience, she took to executing those who brought her the false tokens and elixirs.

One night, the princess was entertaining guests, when an old crone who had come on a long journey from the east arrived at the castle. After she was brought to the princess, the crone bowed her head with the utmost respect, and bid the princess come save her son, who had been wrongfully imprisoned. The old woman had been unable to convince the guards to unleash her good-hearted child, but she was sure that if the princess commanded it, he would be spared. All that was required was that the princess come with the mother to the prison in the town.

The princess scoffed at the crone, saying that she would not deign to set foot outdoors with such an ugly woman for any reason, especially one not as pathetic as this. The crone pleaded again, for the princess to be merciful. And again, the princess sneered. Your son is probably guilty, she said, and you come to trick me. I shall him executed, and you with him.

But the princess did not know to who she spoke. The old crone rose up, becoming young, beautiful, and terrible. She was a powerful enchantress, who had heard of the princess' selfishness and come to test her. She declared that she would grant the princess' wish for eternal youth, but with a price. The princess would be cursed to wander the earth forever, never able to stop for even a moment. She would be eternally beautiful, and never need to eat nor sleep, but she would have no home, no family, none who would ever see her as anything other than a half-forgotten figure in the mist. Even as her clothes rotted from her body and the world aged around her, she would wander, forever lost in the cold.

The princess cried for forgiveness, but it was too late. The spell had already been cast, and inexorably, the princess found herself rising to her feet and striding out the door, through the village, and into the dark hills surrounding her castle. She was never seen again in that land, though since then she has been spotted in many other realms.

It has been many years since the spell was cast, but still the princess wanders, her clothes rotted away to nothing, lost in an eternal mist that constantly pursues her. You may see her, a figure in the mist who seems to disappear as soon as you blink. That is the wandering princess, walking in search of the one who can end her torment.