The Wardrobe Determined Destiny

Word count: exactly 1000!


The Prince’s footman arrived at the door to deliver the invitation to the ball, but the actual piece of paper was merely a formality.

Yesterday a proclamation had been issued, and had been read aloud in the town square. The Prince was of age to be married, and, as a suitable bride had not yet been found, the King had decided to invite all of the young ladies in the kingdom to the ball. At this point the King no longer cared about breeding, or whether or not the young lady came from a good family. At this point he was beginning to doubt that his son had any interest in women at all. The King was ready to concede that perhaps his young Prince was “not the marrying type.” All that the King wanted, though, was an heir to the throne. And he was hoping that a young peasant girl would be willing to bear his son a child without asking too many questions; he was hoping that such a girl would be so enchanted with her new station in life that she would be content in a hollow marriage. After all, what young girl didn’t dream of being a princess?

The Prince was actually excited about the upcoming ball. He knew that his father wanted him to marry a titled lady who would bring land of her own to the kingdom, and who would perhaps have a powerful father with whom he could build a strong alliance. But the ladies that he had met were all wrong. One was willful and spoiled, one was terribly ugly, and one was only twelve years old. He had grumbled about being married to a mere citizen from his own kingdom at first, but he was beginning to like this idea of his father’s. He enjoyed the picture of the future that this presented: Marriage to a young girl whose father was one of his own subjects? Without question, he would have the upper hand in this type of relationship. His father would finally leave him alone, and he would be able to do whatever he wanted.

The footman was having a good day. He felt so important! Never before had so many women seemed so anxious to see him! As he went from farmhouse to cottage to shack, he felt himself smiling inside and out. One of these ladies would soon join the royal family! The excitement of the ladies was rubbing off on him, and he began to feel that his life, also, was about to change for the better. Maybe once the Prince was married, the footman would be promoted to a job within the palace. Then he would surely be treated with dignity! Yes, the footman was feeling lucky as he knocked on the door of the small house, three invitations in hand.

The beautiful young maiden was an orphan, but had been taken in by her stepmother. Now she worked tirelessly tending to the needs of this woman, as well as the needs of her two stepsisters .The drudgery of her life was utterly overwhelming. She saw no escape, no future for herself that differed from her present. Among many other things, it was her duty to answer the door and take any deliveries. When the knock came, she put down her bucket of cinders and went to greet the caller.

The door swung open. The footman, still dreaming of a brighter future, was taken aback by the beauty of the young girl. The girl, unaccustomed to seeing a man dressed in the royal colors at her home, felt her breath catch in her throat. As he handed the small stack of papers to her, a spark passed between them. They both knew that they were experiencing a fate altering moment; one of those rare spaces in time when everything changes; when nothing afterward will ever be the same again.

The delivery of the invitation was more than simply a party invite. It was the answer to her prayers! Never before had she heard destiny speak to her, but the message was clear as a bell: “This is it! This is your chance! Seize the moment!”

As the footman watched her open the parchment, he, too, was overwhelmed by the power of the moment. Awestruck by her simple beauty, he knew immediately that the Prince would choose this girl as his wife. As he came to this realization, he was overcome with an immediate feeling of anxiety.

The maiden looked up from the paper in her hands. She seemed to be in a daze.

“This is it,” she murmured.

And then, as though waking from a trance. “This is my chance!” she said with conviction.

She knew that if she did not trust her inner voice, if she did not “seize the moment” as she was being told, all would be lost!

This beautiful young peasant girl, who only moments before had seen nothing but a road of misery stretched out ahead of her, knew that she had to listen to the words that destiny was screaming in her head. Suddenly, she knew what she had to do.

She grabbed the footman, and kissed him directly on the mouth with an urgency that shocked them both.

They were married that very afternoon.

And she did live happily ever after. She never realized that, on the day she met her husband, there was another path that she could have taken. It never occurred to her that, had he met her, the Prince might have chosen her to be his princess. It never occurred to her that the ball itself was the ticket to her destiny, not the delivery of the invitation. She always believed that she had made the best decision of her life on that fateful day.

Truly, as she read over the invitation, it never even entered her mind that she might attend the Royal Ball. And the reason?

She didn’t have a thing to wear.