A/N This saga-poem is based on the Brothers' Grimm folk-tale Allerleirauh, or "A Thousand Furs" in English. There are similar tales from other countries such as "Catskin", "Donkey Skin", "Cap o Rushes" and "Sapsorrow", and this version borrows tidbits from all. It follows the trials of Luralai, a princess who is forced to flee from her mad father who demands to marry her. She hatches a plan to escape by creating a cloak made of a thousand different kinds of fur (donated by her woodland friends).
I've always had a deep fascination with this fairytale. As a child, it was the three magical dresses which did it for me (one as golden as the sun, one as silver as the moon, one as sparkling as the stars). But as I got older I really appreciated the fact that the princess is not a passive damsel-in-distress, but takes matters into her own hands when things get rough.
There are two lovely television productions of this story I highly recommend watching. The BBC version is called "Sapsorrow" and is a part of a brilliant late-80s series called The Storyteller, which was made in collaboration with the great Jim Henson (ala Labyrinth and the Muppets). I believe you can watch the series on you tube. And there is also a German version Allerleirauh (early 90s) which is also beautifully produced, but I haven't been able to find it with English subtitles (plus the prince is a bit of a jerk in that one).
The poem is written in 2 parts, each containing 12 page-long stanzas, plus an epilogue. If you like it, please leave a review (although given the obscurity of the subject matter and my choice of poetry-presentation, I'm not exactly holding my breath).

Copyright 2015

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PART I

I.

A King once wed a Queen with golden hair,

They had three daughters full of beauty rare:

Fair as lilies, fine as costly pearls,

Never were there three such lovely girls.

Mirabelle, the eldest of the three

Was tall and beautiful, but proud was she.

Daramina had both wit and grace,

But too vain was she, of her own face!

Only Luralai, the youngest child

Was as fair as she was sweet and mild

And, exactly like her mother Queen,

Lura's hair was of a golden sheen.

But her elder sisters liked her not,

Ridicule and scorn became her lot

For their jealous hearts could not well bear

So much goodness in a face so fair.

"Sister," mocked the eldest, "let us be!

We want no gauche chits for company."

"La!" the other cried, "She is so fey!

Such big eyes will scare our beaux away!"

Then the pair would laugh and whisper so:

"She's a creeping little thing, you know."

Oh, kind words! Such sisterly devotion!

Envy is, indeed, a cruel emotion.

Thus fair Lura from a young age learned

She must love, e'en where her love was spurned.

Shunned by her own kin, young Luralai

Wandered through the wooded lands nearby

Making friends with all the beasts and birds

Learning how to speak their secret words –

And, indeed, the creatures in the wood

Loved the princess, for her heart was good.