Author's Note: This is just a quick prologue, and I'll have the first
chapter up by tomorrow probably. Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this story, and I also take no credit for The Lady and the Tiger.
My father has always been fond of muggle stories. I don't think my mother really ever knew how much he loved them, or maybe she just never really cared. It was his obsession, something she never felt comfortable meddling in. It never bothered me though, the fact that they both had their own interests. From my mother, I learned how to keep a house, which in my old- fashioned family, was as important as breathing. Don't get me wrong, I love all of my family traditions and odd quirks, but I always felt I was made for something more. Something greater. Yeah, me and the rest of the wizarding population.
You probably think, "Oh, great, another stereotypical story about a teenage girl trying to find herself, and on the way, she saves the world." No, I'm afraid I haven't saved the world, and I'm a long way from knowing who I am, but I'm here. I have a story, and it's one I want to share. Whether or not you want to hear it makes no difference to me.
I've learned that not ever story has a happy ending. That the ones you learn the most from often aren't. But you don't learn the average moral, you do search for a virtue that everyone assumes you have. You learn something about yourself. The story causes you to face the dark corners of your mind. To learn about yourself.
My father read a story to me once, as I was getting ready for bed. The Lady and the Tiger, he said, pulling the book off of his bulging shelf. And so I sat there, listening to him weave a tale of a far off land, only alive in fiction. There was an empire that believed in everything being fair. When you were accused of a crime, you were given a fair trial, a trial where you could chose your own fate. Any government that let you choose your own fate couldn't be wrong, right? So when you were accused of a crime, you went to the arena. And there, you chose between two doors, one where a beautiful woman would come out, and you'd be forced to marry her. Even if you were already married. But the other, you faced a fierce tiger, and soon met your demise. So what happens when the King's daughter falls in love with someone that's not worthy of her? He's sent to the arena, of course. Except the princess is able to find out what's behind each door.... And as her lover sweats over what his decision should be, she lifts a hand to show him what door to go to. And there the story ends.
My father asked me which door I thought the princess sent her lover to, and in my naive innocence that is one of the first things to leave you when you grow up, I responded the door with the woman. But the thing is, do you really think that she sent her lover to marry another woman? Would you rather live your entire life seeing the one you love with someone else, or would it just be easier for them to die. Either way, you cannot have them. There is no right answer, but everyone seems to think there is a wrong one. It's simply your opinion. If a decision is right in your eyes, would it be right to the world's eyes? And how far can love really move you? So tell me, if you were the princess, what would come out of the door? The lady, or the tiger?
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this story, and I also take no credit for The Lady and the Tiger.
My father has always been fond of muggle stories. I don't think my mother really ever knew how much he loved them, or maybe she just never really cared. It was his obsession, something she never felt comfortable meddling in. It never bothered me though, the fact that they both had their own interests. From my mother, I learned how to keep a house, which in my old- fashioned family, was as important as breathing. Don't get me wrong, I love all of my family traditions and odd quirks, but I always felt I was made for something more. Something greater. Yeah, me and the rest of the wizarding population.
You probably think, "Oh, great, another stereotypical story about a teenage girl trying to find herself, and on the way, she saves the world." No, I'm afraid I haven't saved the world, and I'm a long way from knowing who I am, but I'm here. I have a story, and it's one I want to share. Whether or not you want to hear it makes no difference to me.
I've learned that not ever story has a happy ending. That the ones you learn the most from often aren't. But you don't learn the average moral, you do search for a virtue that everyone assumes you have. You learn something about yourself. The story causes you to face the dark corners of your mind. To learn about yourself.
My father read a story to me once, as I was getting ready for bed. The Lady and the Tiger, he said, pulling the book off of his bulging shelf. And so I sat there, listening to him weave a tale of a far off land, only alive in fiction. There was an empire that believed in everything being fair. When you were accused of a crime, you were given a fair trial, a trial where you could chose your own fate. Any government that let you choose your own fate couldn't be wrong, right? So when you were accused of a crime, you went to the arena. And there, you chose between two doors, one where a beautiful woman would come out, and you'd be forced to marry her. Even if you were already married. But the other, you faced a fierce tiger, and soon met your demise. So what happens when the King's daughter falls in love with someone that's not worthy of her? He's sent to the arena, of course. Except the princess is able to find out what's behind each door.... And as her lover sweats over what his decision should be, she lifts a hand to show him what door to go to. And there the story ends.
My father asked me which door I thought the princess sent her lover to, and in my naive innocence that is one of the first things to leave you when you grow up, I responded the door with the woman. But the thing is, do you really think that she sent her lover to marry another woman? Would you rather live your entire life seeing the one you love with someone else, or would it just be easier for them to die. Either way, you cannot have them. There is no right answer, but everyone seems to think there is a wrong one. It's simply your opinion. If a decision is right in your eyes, would it be right to the world's eyes? And how far can love really move you? So tell me, if you were the princess, what would come out of the door? The lady, or the tiger?