A king and his habit.

Greetings reader friends. Today I bring you a fantasy story to let your imagination fly.

Long ago there was a country where the king was known to be fond of collecting ladies for his harem. Whenever he had the opportunity to leave the palace, he went through all the towns and visited all the families to find his new lady.

There was a town where everyone already knew about the king's oddities and they were preparing their women as soon as they were out of adolescence for when the king arrived, he would then see them and take them to the palace.

In this town there was a humble but very united family. There was the father who was a very hard-working man and the mother, a very enthusiastic and loving woman with everyone, they had three children, the eldest Katy, she was very beautiful at just 15 years of age, John was 8 years old and Job was 5 years old. They all helped their family as best they could.

Katy already knew about the king's story and was worried that he would come and take her to his palace, she did not want to go live somewhere else and have to leave her parents and siblings.

Once, working on the kitchen stove while trying to it fix the best she could, her whole body was filled with soot. When her parents came home they never thought to find such an image as the one she had, they laughed when they realized it was their daughter and everything turned into a happy story because of the great job she did in the kitchen.

This story happened to give Katy an idea. Just as her parents were scared when they saw her for not recognizing her in all that soot, the king would not see her beauty if he found her hidden in all that dye.

She talked to her parents and decided that she would cover herself with soot every day so that when the king came to his village he would not want to take her with him and so they accepted it.

The girl was in town all the time covered in soot and people laughed because they thought she was so poor she could never take a bath. She, for her part, was happy that her idea was a success in the town, now all that was missing was for the day to come when she would meet the king.

Two years passed until the king finally passed through this town where he had been told that there were beautiful women. The king was passing by Katy's house and found no one, but he decided to wait a bit and rest on a log, until he soon saw a person arrive all covered in black.

The king smiled and saluted and from her came the greeting and reverence towards his king, the king asked her who lived in that house and she told them.

The king asked one question after another, spending several hours without realizing it and was pleased with the answers. Until he saw other members of the family arrive and decided to end his visit and continue through other houses.

All the members of the family and the girl said goodbye, the king continued on his way and stopped at the next house and there, instead of asking about the family members, he only asked if they knew the family next door. To which everyone replied that they knew them and they responded to all the concerns of the king.

The king, instead of asking about the women of the house, only asked about the way of life of his neighbors. He continued on his way and being in the next house he also asked the same questions as in the previous house, he just wanted to know what this family he met on the other end was really like.

Everyone in the town was surprised because the king did not ask about any of the women who were there. All the young daughters came out to attend to him but he did not notice them, his mind had been thinking of that girl covered in soot whose conversation was so pleasant.

Two weeks passed and the king returned to visit Katy's house, she covered herself as best she could with the soot and received him strangely, the king began to ask her questions to which Katy answered without flinching, but without showing her attributes.

But there was one thing Katy didn't know, it was that her beautiful voice gave peace to the king's conversation, he asked her about many things that he didn't care about, he only did them so that she could explain to him so that he could listen and enjoy her melodious voice for longer.

Katy, without realizing it, had captivated the king not because of her physical beauty that was hidden carefully, but because of her wonderful voice, her way of expressing herself and her innocence.

So the king waited for Katy's parents to arrive, who were surprised to see him again. When he had them in front, he told them that his daughter would go to his castle to visit him and that they would receive answers later if they agreed.

Katy was surprised, she never thought that the king would take her into account seeing her soot all over her body and she was sad to leave her family. At the same time, she felt a certain unease at the king's conversation, which was so pleasant.

She said goodbye to her parents and left with the king's escort, not with him but in a float that was already prepared for her.

They arrived at the castle and there he invited her into his palace and took her to his throne, there she sat down and invited her to sit down while he told her.

“I invited you to come to my castle because I wanted to talk to you about something. I have been looking for a long time for a woman with whom I could have a pleasant conversation without first looking at her physical beauty.

I met you in a different way. I have seen your inner beauty and I have been captivated by it to the point that I am not interested in how your face or your body is behind that soot. I want to invite you to stay in my palace as my queen.

For several years I have been looking for someone to share my life with and I hope you accept it. If you do, you will be honoring me and tomorrow you will be presented in the kingdom as the future queen.

I will send for your parents and siblings so that they can all live in the palace and continue to share their beautiful life that you have told me about.”

This is how Katy was happy, because she saw that the king did not seek her because of her physical qualities and also because he would not separate her from her parents and siblings. She accepted the proposal immediately and the king put her in the hands of the women of the castle so that they could bathe her and remove all that dirt from her body.

Just as the king ordered, she was prepared so that the next day she would be presented to the kingdom that was summoned to accept her as its queen.

The family arrived the next day and the king couldn't wait to see them when they were ready.

When the time came, the whole region was present in the courtyard and the king was waiting on his throne for Katy to arrive to take her out to the courtyard for her presentation.

When Katy's entrance was announced and she began to walk towards the king, he could not help but marvel at all the beauty that had been hidden under that soot. He felt his legs trembling as he joined all his love for her words with such beauty.

She smiled at him and greeted him with her reverence, while the trembling king took her by the hand and apologized for his clumsiness, to which she understood because she realized that before the trembling of her hands there was a firm hand suggesting that she was also trembling with him.

Both went before the presence of the people to announce that in a short time the king's nuptials would be celebrated with the woman he had been looking for some time ago.

This is my story of the king and his princess, but framed in the aspect to which I give more importance. We must cultivate a clear mind without neglecting our physical attributes, but the best reward we can give ourselves is always to grow in knowledge because in the long run it is the one that will give us the greatest benefits.

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