this story is one that I made up when a friend of mine was feeling really down. she asked that i write a story to her over an IM that involved a ship. that was her only requirement. so i fabricated and typed out a full fairy tale in one go, without so much as taking a minute to think about it. i just typed it out. this is that story, copy pasted from the conversation window.
alright
5/2/09 4:32 PM
lemme think
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ok
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once there was a kingdom, overlooking the sea.
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and in this kingdom, trading by ship was very important.
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all the best traders had the fastest ships.
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one day the king, who only had a daughter for his heir, decided it was time to decide whom she should marry.
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so he went to his daughter and asked her what she wanted to do.
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she told him, "Father, I will marry whichever man can sail through the Devil's Teeth the fastest, for only a man of true spirit, strength, and love for his crew, could ever do such a thing."
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so the king agreed, very proud of how wise his daughter was.
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he sent out a decree, calling for all the fastest traders and merchant captains to summon their crews and report to the mouth of the Devil's Teeth, a strait of horrible currents and sharp coral shoals, for the biggest race to ever be held in the kingdom.
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a young man, brave and strong, but sorely poor, heard of this decree and desperately wanted to participate in the race as a captain, but, as he was only a poor crewman, he could not afford his own ship.
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upset at his stock in life, he wandered the beaches along the kingdom's shoreline, singing a dirge to himself in a pure and beautiful voice.
5/2/09 4:39 PM
suddenly, he heard a voice from one of the many caves that dotted the cliffs along the shore.
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rushing inside, he found the perfectly preserved remains of a beautiful roman trireme
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the trireme called out to him, "Young man! Never have I heard a song so beautiful. Long have I been tired of the waves of this world, but hearing your song has brought my old hull back to life and i wish to race through the sea again. Only sing to me, and I will take you wherever you want to go faster than any other ship in the world."
5/2/09 4:42 PM
the young man was overjoyed! he had his own ship now, and one fast enough to win the princesses heart. so he built some rollers and towed the ship out to the sea. singing to it, he fairly flew into the harbor, the bow bairly touching the waves.
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he gathered for himself all the boys he had served with him in the past, facing storm after storm as cabin boys and crew together, and he formed a crew as trustworthy as any that had ever been seen.
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with his crew on board, the young man sailed the ship to the mouth of the Devil's Teeth. the crew marveled at how the ship sailed so fast, almost without their assistance. and the young man sang joyfully.
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the princess was at the starting place as well, surveying the ships, when she saw the young man and saw his ship and heard his voice.
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she was entranced.
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she called out to him, "Young man, I pray that it is you who will win this race, for I feel that I love you already!"
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the man could not answer, for he had to continue singing, but he sang all the louder, to let her know he had heard her words.
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the race began.
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the young man sang to his ship and the trireme pushed out ahead of the compitition wihtout trouble.
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his ship and crew were full of high spirits and they relished the thrill of the race.
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however, once they had reached the halfway mark, a storm came over the horizon.
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it was the largest storm that had ever been seen.
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all of the other ships in the Devil's Teeth were wrecked.
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men called out to the young man from the waves, cryining for him to rescue them.
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the young man heard them, and responded with a song that was hard and biting as the wind, defying the waves to take the men's lives. the triremem responded swiftly, and moved from wreck to wreck, rescuing the men who lost their ships.
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however, the young man's voice began to flag. his throat was sore and his lungs were tired.
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however, there were more ships to be saved.
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his crew urged him to continue onward, that he could not possibly save them all, but he would not listen. he continued to sing.
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the trireme rescued the remianing survivors, and began it's journey once more through the Devil'
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s Teeth
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however, the man knew his voice would not last much longer
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he sailed the trireme to a small, rocky outcropping, big enough for the men to take safe refuge on, and forced them out of the ship. he knew he would not make it to the finish, but he also knew he would not give up. with tears in his eyes, he bid his crew goodbye,a and they wept openly.
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with his remaining strength, he sang the ship to the end of the race.
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the sun was now shining, the storm all spent, but the man's voice was so weak, the trireme was floundering in the waves
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the princess, waiting at the finish, saw her love's ship approach, but also saw how slow and labored it was.
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she reached out her hand to him, her heart full to bursting at his bravery.
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the young man responded with one, final note, full of adoration and acceptance.
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and the trireme sank beneath the waves.
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the king was broken hearted at the young man's death, and asked his daughter what she would have him do.
5/2/09 4:56 PM
"Father, I will not marry, for my husband is drowned. Instead I will rule this kingdom as I know he would have, bravely and with a heart of love, never giving up hope."
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and for the rest of her days, she ruled the kingdom as a wise and well loved ruler, never once regretting her decision to remain unmarried.
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and when she passed away, she was buried at sea, at the very spot where her true love had drowned.
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the end
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