San Valentino Special - The fairytale
The best gift
Once upon a time there was a king who had three sons and all three were in love with the Emperor's daughter. The Emperor suggested that the three young men should travel around the world and come back after six months with a gift for his daughter. She would then decide which gift she liked best and marry the prince who gave it.
The three young men set off.
The eldest went eastwards, accompanied by his faithful groom, Anthony - who was also desperately and secretly in love with the lovely princess. The six months were nearly over when a merchant offered the prince a magic carpet that could fly. "This is the right gift for the princess," said the young man, placing it on Anthony's shoulders. The groom could see his faint hopes of winning the hand of the princess disappearing completely: he had written a book of poems, with coloured pictures of the places they visited, but it was nothing compared to such a marvellous gift.
The middle brother travelled to all the great cities of the north and, in the end, in a little shop, he found a telescope through which you could see things more than a hundred miles away.
The youngest brother bought a miraculous fruit, a bunch of wild grapes capable of curing every kind of sickness.
At the end of the six months the three brothers met to travel home together and each one boasted about the wonderful qualities of his gift. Anthony just kept his book hidden in his pocket. The middle brother wanted to show how powerful his telescope was so he pointed it towards the Emperor's castle, over 100 miles away, and saw the princess lying sick in bed with worried doctors fussing around her.
"We must get back to the castle immediately, the princess is dying" he said to his brothers. The eldest brothers unrolled the magic carpet and they all got on, leaving poor Anthony behind.
They reached the castle within a few minutes. The youngest brother gave the princess a few of the miraculous grapes to eat and she immediately got her colour back and set up in bed, cured. The time had come to decide who had brought the best gift: the youngest said he was the winner because he cured the princess, the middle brother reminded everyone that without the telescope they would not have known she was sick and the eldest added that they would never have arrived in time if it had not been for the magic carpet.
The brothers came to blows and while they were fighting Anthony arrived and separated them. "How did you get here?" they asked him.
In the meantime the book fell out of his pocket. The princess picked it up, saw her name on the cover and started to look through it: every page, every drawing, revealed great love.
"Love gave wings to my feet," said Anthony, looking at the princess, who looked into his eyes and said "This is the best gift".
That is how Anthony married the Emperor's daughter and the three princes ended up by marrying three of her beautiful cousins and they all lived happily.