Carissa Reulbach

1-15-15
Ironic Fairytale
Once upon a time, there was a young explorer from the large and prosperous kingdom.
His name was Alexander. He was handsome, tall, and a very curious young lad. Alexander had
decided that he would embark on a quest to explore uncharted lands and learn about the other
peoples that shared this world with him. He left his hometown with rations that would last him a
week and his trusty steed, and rode past the kingdom walls.
After six days of venturing through the dark forest that surrounded his kingdom,
Alexander became worried that he would never find another civilization, and would starve out in
these mysterious woods. The young man decided to stop to camp for the night, when he saw a
light off in the distance. After a few minutes of contemplation, the explorer decided to rest for the
night and explore the mysterious light in the morning.
Just past sunrise, Alexander jumped up, excited to have finally made progress on his
adventure and to possibly get some food into his grumbling, empty stomach. He rode down the
hill, and saw in the clearing below, a small town, secluded from the rest of the world in this small
valley. On the other side of the town, there was a range of large mountains. He could not yet see
any people from this distance, so he rode down closer to the strange town. Alexander rode
straight to the square in the center of town. The town was very small, but was overall very
similar to his own town. There were not many people out at this early hour of morning, but
before long, he saw a man come walking towards the square. Once the man was within eyesight,
the explorer was astonished by the sight of the man. He had three eyes! What a discovery,
thought the explorer! He was instantly intrigued with this different man. He started towards the
older man, but before he could get close, the man yelled out, "AHHH, a monster!", and ran away.
Alexander was very confused. He wasn't the monster, if anyone was a monster it was that
man. Before long, a group of angry men and women, also possessing a third eye, came marching
into the square with weapons and torches. The man that he had encountered before, stepped
forward from the group, and said, "You must leave at once and never return, or we will have to
force you to leave!" Alexander tried to explain that he would not bring any harm to them and that
he was only there to learn more about the world, but before he could finish, the crowd charged
him. He took off through the town, catching glances of scared towns people peering through the

windows of their houses. Soon enough, he saw the forest up ahead and ran into the safety of the
woods. Alexander was disappointed by the hostility of this society. How was he supposed to
learn anything about them if he couldn't even get near them. Alexander was tempted to give up
and return home, but he was still determined to learn about this extremely unique society. And,
he had no more food left, so he ventured farther into the forest traveling along the town line in
search for anything that he could eat. After hours of tromping through the forest with only a
handful of berries to show for it, Alexander saw a small cottage on the edge of the town, and
outside was a young girl collecting eggs. He was instantly attracted to this beautiful young girl,
even though she, like the other members of her town, had a third eye. He started creeping
forward, but then stopped, what if she was frightened by his differences and rejected him, like
the other townspeople he had encountered? Alexander continued forward, deciding that he might
as well give it a shot and see if she has a more open mind.
The adventurous explorer walked up to the girl, stopping once he was ten feet behind her.
"Excuse me", he said, and she turned around to face him. A look of fear flashed across her face,
but she stayed where she was. "Who are you?!", she yelped. "I am a mere explorer from a far
away land. I mean no harm to you or your people. I just want to learn more about your unique
society.", he responded. She stood there with a thoughtful look on her face, and finally decided to
invite him inside. She offered him a drink and some soup, which he gratefully accepted, before
introducing herself as Cassandra, a peasant farmer. She too found this mysterious young explorer
handsome and intriguing, despite the fact that he lacked an eye. Alexander explained how he left
his kingdom to explore these unknown forest when he came across this small town. He recalled
how the other townspeople chased him away without even listening to a single word he had to
say. They were frightened by the fact that he was different and unknown, so they didn't even give
him a chance. They instantly judged him by how he looked. Cassandra apologized for their
response, and said, "it's not often that we get visitors in this town, so we always assumed we
were alone in these woods."
They talked for hours, comparing their two towns, and concluded that they weren't all
that different. They laughed and talked about their families and interests for hours. Before they
knew it, it was night and these two young people were falling in love. "My father will be home
soon", said Cassandra, "but I'm sure you can stay here". "Really?", answered Alexander, "he
won't mind?" "I think I can convince him", she proclaimed.

Fifteen minutes later, they heard the door open, and in walked the old man Alexander had
first encountered in the town square. Alexander jumped out of his seat with a fearful look on his
face. When the old man spotted Alexander standing next to his daughter, he rushed towards him
with a furious look on his face, but before he could reach him, Cassandra jumped in between
them and tried to explain that Alexander was not going to do anything wrong and that he is just
like them. The old man couldn't see past his anger and side stepped his daughter, snatching
Alexander by the front of his shirt. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE AND LEAVE THIS
TOWN!!!!", spit the old man inches from Alexander's face. Alexander glanced over at Cassandra
before dashing out of the house and jumping onto his horse that was tied to a tree outside. He
rode a bit deeper into the forest before stopping to sleep for the night because he was exhausted
from the day's excitement.
When Alexander woke, sitting a few feet away with a large bag at her feet was
Cassandra. He was astonished. She had come looking for him! "I want to come with you", she
declared as soon as she realized he was awake. "I am tired of this small town. I never get to
experience anything new. And... I don't want to leave you. Obviously, my father and the rest of
the town will never approve of you, so we have to leave. What do you think?" Alexander was
speechless. He couldn't be any happier. "Of course you can come with me!", he stammered. He
ran over to Cassandra pulling her into a tight embrace. "We have to leave before my father
realizes I'm gone", she said, so they began to gather all their things. Alexander swung up onto his
horse, and pulled Cassandra up behind him, before riding off into the woods.
After a long day of riding, it began to get dark, so they decided to stop for the night. Once
it grew, completely dark, they saw some lights off in the distance. Another town! They went to
sleep after deciding to visit the town in the morning. Alexander wondered what the people would
be like. How many eyes would they have? He fell asleep with these thoughts circulating in his
head.
Early the next morning, they mounted his steed, and rode in the direction they had seen
the light. Before long they came upon another small secluded town. They rode into the center of
the town, and spotted some men having a conversation. Upon closer inspection, they realized
that these men only had one eye! They gasped in surprise, but decided to confront the men with
an open mind. When they approached the men, a look of surprise popped up on the faces of all
the men, but they didn't seem afraid. That was a good sign... wasn't it? One of the men,

introduced himself with a smile on his face, and invited them inside to share their stories. They
talked all day. 'Wow! These people are very nice', thought Alexander. One of the men even
invited them to stay overnight in his house, which they gratefully accept. Before going to bed,
they discuss their day. " What a surprise!", said Alexander, "another town with people with only
one eye!" "I know! And they were so friendly! They instantly accepted us. Maybe we should stay
here for a few days", responded Cassandra. "Yeah", he sighs. They both fall asleep with that
happy thought in their mind.
In the middle of the night, horror strikes. Alexander opens his eyes to see three men they
had first encountered earlier that day standing over their bed with knives gripped in their fists,
but before he could move to fight back, a knife came flying down into his left eye. He screams
and is instantly blinded, hearing a scream come up from Cassandra as well. When he finally is
able to see what is going on in his right eye, he sees that Cassandra has two bloody patches
where her right and left eye once were. He jumps up and pulls Cassandra to her feet. He shoves
past the three men, pulling Cassandra behind him and runs out to his horse. He jumps up, pulls
Cassandra up behind him, and rides off into the woods. From that day on, they never forget what
occurred on that ghastly night and vowed never to return to that evil town.