Tear not
One snowing day, a miller’s wife was holding her baby daughter and softly singing her to sleep. The miller’s wife could not stop crying for she knew she did not have long to live. Tears fell from her face and didn’t seem to stop, each droplet touched her baby’s face, the baby struggled in her mother’s arms and cried along.
The mother stopped crying when she heard her daughter’s wailing and sighed: “Oh how I wish that you will never be like me, oh how I wish you may never shed a tear in your entire life!”. At that moment, almost like magic, the little baby girl stopped crying. The mother died the very next day.
The girl grew up and though she wasn’t exceptionally beautiful, she had a sweet face and pretty eyes. Unfortunately, he fathers died when she turned 16 so she was left rather alone. At the funeral, she did not shed a single tear, and when the villagers saw, they cried out
“Oh, what a wicked girl for not shedding a single tear for her poor father!” and thus they called her “Tear not”.
Tear not had to work very hard to maintain a life, however the villagers thought she was so heartless that they often refused to sell her meat and bread, and so Tear not lived a poor and hungry life. When at last she had no home, she took shelter under a big oak tree which became her home.
It just happened that a prince from a nearby kingdom was passing the village one day. When he saw the tattered girl, he stopped and ask: “Why are you sleeping under a big oak tree dear girl?”
Before Tear not could reply a farmer answered: “Why your highness, it is mere good fortune for this impudent girl to be able to make shelter under an oak tree!”.
” And why do you say that?” the prince asked curiously. When the farmer told the prince how cruel Tear not had been, the prince grew rather angry. However, he saw that the girl had kind eyes and decided that no young girl was fit to live under an oak tree and in such a tattered state. And so, tear not was taken to the palace to be a sweeper.
Before Tear not left, she gently shook the bottom branch of the oak tree and whispered:
“Oak tree, Oak tree,
Shake your leaves
Oak tree, Oak tree,
Wake and see
Oh, woe oh woe
I’m a maid to be”
At the palace, tear not was given the hardest chores and not long, everyone in the palace learnt about her cruelty. One night when all the other maids were in deep slumber, tear not was still sweeping the floor when she heard a noise from the prince’s room. Curiosity got the better of her and she went to have a look. Any me, was she surprised! The candlelight had caught fire on the table! Horror-stricken, tear not rushed to the prince and pulled him out of his bed. When the prince awoke, he too, was horrified by the smoke and rushed out of his room. When he looked back inside his room, he saw admits the smoke, the shadow of a young girl. But before the prince could see clearly who had saved his life, the smoke covered his vision as the guards pulled her to away to safety.
Later, the youngest princess from another kingdom who was staying at the palace for a visit went inside the prince’s room to see if he was well. The prince however, was not there. The princess started to leave when she discovered a golden acorn half covered in candle wick under the prince’s bed, this, she picked up and placed securely in her pocket.
The next night, when Tear not was sweeping the floors, she heard the same noise in the prince’s room. This time the candlelight had caught fire on the shelf! She ran quickly inside and awoke the prince just in time. Again, the prince could only see the shadow of a coughing girl and nothing more. The prince began to walk towards his smoked covered room to get a better view of his savior when the Guards rushed out and dragged him away from danger. Poor Tear not had no one to save her this time so she ran out of the door and the melted wick of the candle caught onto the rim of her dress and stained it quite well.
When the prince came back into his room, he was amazed to find a golden acorn under his bed.
The prince could not stop thinking about the girl who risked her own life twice to save his. Oh, how he wished he knew who she was! He swore to marry only her. At last his worried mother could stand it no longer, she held a ball in which the prince must dance with every girl in the palace until he finds the girl who saved his life.
The prince danced and danced, and at last it was Tear not’s turn. When the price saw her, still wearing her tattered dress, he sighed and said: “How can you, a girl who would never shed a single tear, ever have the heart to save me?”
However, orders were orders, and he danced with her properly as a prince should dance with any real princess.
When the dance was over, everyone was that the prince would never find the girl. Suddenly, a beautiful princess wearing a lovely pink and silver dress stepped down the stairs. She was the youngest princess from another kingdom. She smiled sweetly at the prince who smiled back and offered his hand. The two danced beautifully.
When the dance was over, the princess reached into her pocket and took out the golden acorn and offered it to the prince. When the prince saw the acorn, he was happy beyond belief, he had found her!
The prince took out his own golden acorn and gave it to the princess.
He took both her hands into his and cried: “You are the one who risked your life to save me, you are the one who I shall marry!”
The young princess blushed and everyone clapped in joy.
Tear not watched in sadness, she wanted to cry, but she could not, she could only feel her heart break into pieces. She had long fallen in love with the handsome prince for she observed that he had a big heart and was very kind to everyone. She looked sadly outside the window and thought she could see the outline of the oak tree in the clouds.
She whispered:
“Oak tree, Oak tree
Shake your leaves
Oak tree, Oak tree
Wake and see
The girl who risked her life
was really me”
As she finished her poem, the two golden acorns suddenly joined and became stuck fast together. The prince and princess tried to pull them apart, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t do so.
Then, the two acorns started to speak:
“Tear not and Tears, please tear us apart, only the true bride can tear us apart”
The pretty little princess took the acorns in both her hands and pulled with all her might but they would not come apart. Every time she pulled to no avail the acorns would chant:
“Only the true bride can tear us apart”
The prince then asked the princess: “are these not your acorns? are you not my true savior?”
“No!” the little princess cried: “These are my acorns, I am your true savior, these acorns speak harshly of me and I do not know why!”
“Very well then” said the prince
“I will let every girl in this room try to tear these acorns apart, if no one can, then I will order the golden acorns to be thrown to sea and I will take you as my true bride”
And so, every girl in the room tried and failed miserably, and finally, it was almost Tear not’s turn.
However, the prince by now grew wary and was sure that the little princess was his true bride. He tossed the two acorns aside and they landed near Tear not’s feet.
The prince kissed the little princess on the forehead and said: “Never mind the acorns, they speak lies, you are my true bride”
The prince’s words pierced Tear not’s heart so deep, she felt like knives were stabbing at every angle of her body. She picked up the golden acorns and gently held them in her hands. She recognized that they were the same kind from the old oak she once lived under. She whispered
“Oak tree, Oak tree
Shake your leaves,
Oak Tree, Oak tree
Please help me,
Let me cry
Let me shed tears and tears”
At that very moment, for the first time since she was a baby, tears of liquid gold fell from her eyes. They touched the two acorns and to everyone including the prince’s amazement, the acorns came apart.
Tear not was so surprised that she ran away but the prince caught up and grabbed her dress. His eye saw the candle wick stain on her tattered dress, it was in the shape of an acorn.
“You are the one who saved me” He cried “Would you be my true bride?”
Tear not cried and cried, as if all the tears she held inside her were finally pouring out. Tears of sadness, relief and joy. Her mother’s spell was at last broken.
The prince and Tear not married and lived happily ever after, the young princess was sent back to her kingdom and did not marry until she was much older. Every year on that day, the big oak tree bore golden acorns for everyone to pick and keep as a reminder of a tearful story.