The Tale of Hijacahula: A Mixed-Up Faery Tale

Once upon a fairy tale, there was a small kingdom called Hijacahula. The rulers of this kingdom were called King Jeffery and Queen Zephella. They had a handsome, haughty, and proud son, named Prince Doubtless. In their village lived an old man and his two daughters, Cinderdella and Julienne. Cinderdella, the eldest daughter, was very lazy, and always sat by the fire and complained to her fairy godmother when anyone asked her to do anything. In spite of this, she was very pretty. Cinderdella's younger sister, Julienne, was a hard working, strong young lady, but sadly wasn't quite as fair to look upon. On the outskirts of the kingdom was a great, Black Forest and a large, light, green forest that were connected. The Black Forest's sole occupant was a big, black, mean Unicorn. White Unicorns were gentle and kind, so they lived in the village and were a great help to people, especially because they could speak. The Black Unicorn was an exception because he was black, mean, evil, and hungry for human flesh once every fifty years. At the end of every fifty years, the Black Unicorn would demand that the kingdom of Hijacahula would gave him one young man for him to eat. All the young men would draw straws to see who had to go and the man with the shortest straw was the unlucky lad who would be eaten by the Black Unicorn.

When we come into this story, the end of the 48th set of fifty years had ended in the kingdom of Hijacahula. This time, Prince Doubtless drew the shortest straw. Every girl in the kingdom except Julienne was in love with the Prince and many offered to try to kill the Black Unicorn, but they all failed and the Black Unicorn ate them all. In spite of this, the Black Unicorn still hungered for the flesh of a young man. On the day Prince Doubtless was to be taken to the Black Forest, he gathered up all of his gold, hoping to bribe the unicorn to let him live, and headed off towards the Black Forest. Meanwhile, Julienne, who was determined to save the Prince for the King and Queen's sake, was walking toward the Black Forest by way of the Green Forest, and met a fairy named Airion. Airion and Julienne became wonderful friends in minutes. Right before Julienne went into the Black Forest, Airion gave her a unique gift, a white sheet that could change anything dark into light for five minutes everytime it touches something. Airion knew that if the sheet were on an object for more than 59 hours, it would change the very nature of the object, making it pure and radiant, permanently, by becoming part of it. Julienne thanked him many times for the gift and went off to the place where Prince Doubtless was to meet the Black Unicorn. When Julienne finally reached the Prince, she found him pouring his gold on the ground, nearly 100,000 pieces of it, and begging the Black Unicorn to spare his life and take his gold instead. Obviously, the unicorn wasn't accepting the offer, for he was sharpening his horn on a rock and glancing back at the Prince so that he wouldn't try to get away. Julienne jumped up, ran at the unicorn with the sheet in her hand, and threw it over him, changing him from a black, mean Unicorn, to a white, gentle one. At first, the formerly black Unicorn looked shocked because of his whiteness. Then he stood quietly while Julienne tied him up with a rope so many times that you could hardly see him. She did this to prevent him from charging at the Prince and her and killing them both. Once Julienne had helped load the chests of gold into a small wagon he had brought with him, Prince Doubtless left without one word of thanks to the young lady that had saved his life. For four more days, the Black Unicorn demanded that Prince Doubtless be brought to him, and each time Julienne saved him without one word of thanks from the Prince. On the fifth day, Julienne told Airion that she was going to leave the Prince to die. Airion told her to capture the Black Unicorn instead and tie the sheet on it so it would stay pure and nice forever and keep it as a friend and pet, and that's what she did. Once Julienne touched the Black Unicorn with the sheet she tied in on his back with a rope, said good-by to the Prince, and led the now white Unicorn away into the Green Forest. She gave the unicorn to Airion as a gift, for she had fallen in love with him over the five days that they had spent together frolicking in the forest. Two months later there were two weddings, one between Cinderdella and Prince Doubtless, who loved each other because of their good looks and bad personalities, and Julienne and Airion, who loved each other for their strong and loving spirits. Julienne moved into the Green Forest with Airion and Bertie, the Black Unicorn who had been changed into the kindest, most gentle white unicorn you'll ever meet by Julienne. The white sheet became part of him, so ever since then, he always had a square patch of skin that didn't have any fur on it, just a soft, warm cloth-like skin. Julienne and Airion lived together in the Green Forest for several years and then they started wandering with Bertie, stopping wherever they pleased, taking orders from nobody. Cinderdella ran away from the kingdom after just a year, saying that being a queen was boring, tiresome, and too much work, and who knows? She might be right.