The Pink

In a magnificent kingdom surrounded by rolling hills and crystal streams, there lived a beloved queen who was as kind as she was beautiful. Her husband, the king, adored her deeply, and their subjects cherished her for her gentle nature and generous heart.

The queen had one precious treasure above all others—a magical pink flower that grew in her private garden. This extraordinary bloom never withered, its petals always fresh and vibrant, and it possessed the remarkable power to grant a single wish to anyone pure of heart who truly believed in its magic.

The royal couple had been blessed with a beautiful baby son, and their happiness seemed complete. However, their joy was shadowed by the presence of an old woman who worked in the castle kitchen. This woman had served the royal family for many years, but jealousy and bitterness had slowly poisoned her heart.

The old cook had always envied the queen’s beauty, kindness, and the love she received from everyone in the kingdom. When the prince was born, the cook’s jealousy reached a dangerous peak, for she saw how the queen’s happiness seemed to shine even brighter than before.

One day, when the queen was walking in her garden with the infant prince in her arms, the old cook approached her with what appeared to be genuine concern.

“My lady,” said the cook, her voice dripping with false worry, “I have heard troubling news from the village. There is talk of a plague affecting newborn children. Perhaps you should let me take the little prince to the kitchen for a special blessing that my grandmother taught me. It will protect him from any harm.”

The queen, being trusting and kind-hearted, and always concerned for her child’s welfare, agreed to this suggestion. “If you believe it will keep my son safe, then please do what you must,” she said, placing the baby gently in the cook’s arms.

But the old cook had no intention of blessing the child. Instead, she carried the prince to her chambers and hid him away. Then, using dark magic she had learned from forbidden books, she cast a terrible spell upon the queen.

“Let beauty fade and kindness fail,” the cook chanted with malicious glee. “Let the queen become as lowly as she has made me feel. Let her take my place and I take hers!”

Immediately, the queen felt a strange tingling sensation throughout her body. Her fine gown transformed into rough kitchen clothes, her delicate hands became calloused and worn, and her beautiful face changed to that of an ordinary servant woman. Most devastating of all, her memories became clouded and confused—she could remember only how to cook and clean, not her true identity as queen.

When the king returned from his travels that evening, he found a strange woman working in the kitchen. “Who are you?” he demanded. “Where is my wife, and where is my son?”

The old cook, now magically disguised to look like the queen, appeared before the king with tears in her eyes. “My beloved husband,” she said in a voice perfectly mimicking the queen’s, “a terrible tragedy has occurred. Our precious son has died of a sudden fever, and the shock has driven our cook mad. She now believes she is the queen and claims that I am merely a servant.”

The false queen pointed to the real queen, who stood confused and bewildered in her kitchen clothes. “This poor woman has lost her mind completely. Out of kindness, I have allowed her to remain and work in the kitchen, but she is quite harmless.”

The king, devastated by the supposed loss of his son and confused by the strange situation, accepted this explanation. His grief was so overwhelming that he didn’t notice the subtle differences in the false queen’s behavior.

Days turned into weeks, and the true queen worked in the kitchen, her memories locked away by the cook’s evil spell. She felt a constant sadness that she couldn’t explain, and often found herself weeping while she worked, though she didn’t understand why.

The only thing that brought her any comfort was her pink flower, which she would visit each evening when her kitchen duties were done. Something about the beautiful bloom made her feel peaceful, and she would often whisper to it, though she couldn’t remember why it seemed so important to her.

One evening, as she sat beside the pink flower in the moonlight, she heard a soft voice calling to her from beyond the garden wall.

“Mother… mother, where are you?”

The queen’s heart began to race, though she didn’t understand why the voice affected her so deeply. She looked around but saw no one.

The next night, she heard the voice again, and this time she followed it to the garden wall. There, to her amazement, she found a young boy of about three years old, with golden hair and the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen.

“Who are you, little one?” she asked gently. “Why are you here alone in the night?”

“I am looking for my mother,” the child replied. “The bad woman locked me away, but I escaped. I know my mother is here somewhere, but I cannot find her.”

Something about the child’s words stirred memories deep within the queen’s enchanted mind. “Tell me about your mother,” she said softly, kneeling down to the boy’s level.

“She is the most beautiful and kind woman in the world,” the child said. “She has a magical pink flower that she loves very much, and she always smells like roses and sunshine.”

The queen gasped, for she too loved the pink flower, and she noticed that the child’s eyes were exactly the same shade of blue as her own. “What is your name, dear child?”

“I am Prince Alexander,” the boy replied, “and my mother is the queen of this kingdom.”

At these words, something cracked in the spell that bound the queen’s memories. Flashes of her true life began to return—images of holding this very child as a baby, of walking with him in the garden, of the love she felt for him that was stronger than anything else in the world.

“My son!” she cried, sweeping the child into her arms. “My precious son, I remember now!”

As her true memories flooded back, the queen understood the evil that had been done to them both. She held her son close and carried him to the pink flower.

“Dear flower,” she whispered, pressing her lips gently to its soft petals, “you have always been magical, and now I need your power more than ever. Please help me restore the truth and reclaim our rightful place.”

The pink flower began to glow with a warm, gentle light, and its magic flowed through the queen and her son. Instantly, the spell that had transformed her appearance was broken. Her royal gown returned, her face regained its natural beauty, and her strength was renewed.

But the flower’s magic did more than restore her appearance—it also revealed the truth to everyone in the kingdom. The king, awakening from his sleep, suddenly remembered his real wife and son clearly, as if awakening from a strange dream.

He rushed to the garden, where he found his true queen holding their son beneath the glowing pink flower. “My beloved!” he cried, taking them both in his arms. “How could I have been so deceived?”

“The old cook’s magic was powerful,” explained the queen, “but it could not overcome the pure love between our family and the magic of the pink flower, which responds only to truth and goodness.”

The false queen, realizing her deception had been discovered, tried to flee the kingdom, but the pink flower’s magic ensured that justice was served. Her own dark spell rebounded upon her, and she was transformed into a crow, condemned to live as a scavenger, never again able to harm innocent people.

The royal family was reunited, and the king decreed that the pink flower should be protected and honored forever as a symbol of true love’s power to overcome any deception or evil magic.

The queen, wiser now from her experience, established a special garden where any person in need could come to find comfort and hope. She taught that while dark magic might temporarily cloud the truth, love and goodness would always prevail in the end.

Prince Alexander grew up to be a wise and just ruler, and he never forgot the lesson of the pink flower—that the most powerful magic in the world is the love between family members and the courage to fight for truth.

The pink flower continued to bloom in the royal garden for many generations, and whenever the kingdom faced difficult times, the people would remember the story of their queen who was restored by love and magic, and they would know that no darkness could permanently overcome the light of truth and devotion.

To this day, it is said that pink flowers still grow wild throughout that kingdom, and that those who believe in the power of love and maintain pure hearts can sometimes glimpse the magic that lives within their delicate petals.