Solarina (Story inspired by the Solar Eclipse)

There once was a girl called Solarina who lived with a wicked aunt called Mizrabelle who would make her dress in rags and sleep on a cold floor and live off scraps and bones and do all the housework until she had callouses as big as bunions on her hands.

 

But then, one day, while her Aunt was away; a gypsy woman came riding past the house where Solarina lived, in a caravan painted with moons and stars, selling trinkets and telling fortunes and when Solarina spoke to the Gypsy woman and told her all her troubles, the Gypsy woman gave her a ring that was half silver and half gold and had one sunstone in it and one moonstone.

 

“Put on this ring during a total solar eclipse and make a wish; any wish and it will come true”, the Gypsy woman told her.

 

Unfortunately, Solarina had no money to buy the ring.

 

“Don’t worry”, said the woman, “If you wish to be wealthy then you can pay me when the ring makes you rich”.

 

“Well I would like to marry a handsome prince”, said Solarina.

 

“Well then, pay me when you are a princess”, said the Gypsy woman.

 

Then the Gypsy woman, waving to Solarina got back into her caravan and went upon her way.

 

Now, fortunately there was going to be a Solar eclipse that very day and so Solarina waited and as the moon was passing infront of the sun, she slipped the ring upon her finger and made a wish.

 

“I wish a Prince would come and fall in love with me and marry me and make me his Princess”, she said.

 

But then, rather than a Prince appearing, something else happened; Solarina became invisible.

 

She looked in the mirror on her aunts wall and all that she could see was the ring upon her finger.

 

“That wasn’t what I wished for”, she said, disappointed.

 

And, taking off the ring she became visible again.

 

“Oh well”, she said, sighing as she examined the ring, “I suppose that being invisible may still come in handy. It'll help me hide from my Aunt”.

 

But then, the next day, her wicked aunt sent her into the forest to pick crab apples because her aunt made strong cider out of them in her bathtub.

 

And while she was picking the crab apples, Solarina noticed a band of robbers armed with pistols and swords going past and leading a captive young man, bound and gagged, infront of them.

 

Afraid that they would see her, she put the magic ring upon her finger and became invisible.

 

But then she saw the robbers take the man to a cave and, following them, she heard the leader of the band of robbers say,

“And we will only let you go when your father the king has paid the ransom that we asked for”.

 

“That young man must be a Prince”, thought Solarina, “Oh how unfortunate that he has been bound and gagged and is being kept a prisoner by this awful gang of thugs”.

 

But then, all but two of the robbers left the cave and Solarina had an idea.

 

Creeping past the two robbers who were guarding the cave, she untied the prince and then, slowly sliding a sword out of the scabbard of one of the robbers while he wasn’t looking she handed it to the Prince.

 

“There”, she whispered, “Now you can escape”.

 

“Who are you?”, asked the Prince, “A friendly ghost?”.

 

“No”, she replied, “A young girl, named Solarina”.

 

Then the prince, taking the two the robbers by surprise escaped from the cave holding the hand of the invisible Solarina.

 

But while they were escaping from the cave the ring slipped from Solarinas finger and she was so afraid that the prince would see her ragged clothes that she ran away back home.

 

But the Prince had fallen in love with the girl who had saved him and longed to find her and marry her.

 

“Oh how will I ever find her again”, he wondered, “I don’t know where she lives. All I know is her name, Solarina”.

 

But when the prince said her name, suddenly, the footprints of Solarina lit up with a silvery light and he followed them through the forest until he came to the house of Solarinas wicked Aunt.

 

“Is there a girl named Solarina who lives in this house?”, he asked the Aunt when she answered the door, “She, um, she dropped this ring and I wish to return it to her”.

 

Unfortunately, seeing the ring in the Princes hand, the wicked Aunt only snatched it from him, saying,

 

“Why that is my ring. That evil girl must have stolen it from me. I thank you, sir for returning it and I will see that she is soundly punished for being a little thief”.

 

When the prince heard this he was very dismayed,

 

“Oh but you musn’t punish her”, he began to explain, “She saved my life”.

 

But the wicked Aunt wouldn’t listen,

 

“I’m afraid that’s no concern of yours”, she said, slamming the door rudely in his face, “Good day sir”.

 

And then the aunt picked up a stick to beat Solarina with and while the girl was cowering in a corner of the room, said,

 

“Where did you steal this ring, little thief. It is far too good for rubbish like you to wear”.

 

“I didn’t steal it”, pleaded Solarina, “An old woman gave it to me. An old gypsy woman”.

 

“A gypsy, eh?”, said her Aunt, “Well I might have known you’d be involved with one of them, they’re all dirty thieves and beggars like you”.

 

Then her aunt was going to beat her with the stick but first she thought she would put the ring onto her own finger.

 

However when she did, a strange shadow passed in front of her like the moon in front of the sun and when it disappeared so did she leaving only the ring behind.

 

But then she heard a knock at the door and when she answered it she saw the Prince who had refused to go away and, seeing her, he sank to his knees and proposed marriage to her and because he didn’t have an engagement ring he used the magic wishing ring.

 

Then, only a few days later, Solarina and the Prince were wed in a great cathedral but the Solarina still wasn’t happy because she hadn’t been able to pay the Gypsy woman as she’d promised.

 

Then, one night as Solarina was looking up at the moon that was travelling slowly across the sky she thought she saw two little silver horses pulling it and at the reigns of the horses was the Gypsy woman.

 

“Good evening, Solarina”, she said waving to her and smiling.

 

“Hello”, said Solarina, very surprised, “I’m sorry that I haven’t paid you back yet”.

 

“Oh don’t worry”, said the Gypsy woman, “Just be kind; generous and good to the poor; especially to the poor travelling folk who pull their caravans back and forth as I pull mine every night across the sky”.

 

“I will”, said Solarina, “I promise”.

 

And Solarina always kept her promise, in fact there was never a better and kinder Princess than she and she the Prince lived happily ever after.