The Princess Whose Hair Would Not Curl

Her Once Beautiful Hair

Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen who had but one child, a little girl. This girl, who was very beautiful, had hair that curled in wonderful ringlets to her knees and was as golden as the Sun. Everybody claimed her hair was the most beautiful in the world, and it was indeed true.

Despite her beauty, the little princess grew very selfish and sulky, behaving just like any child given their own way all the time. As she aged, however, her beautiful hair gradually grew darker and straighter, losing its charming curls. By the time she turned sixteen, her hair was straight, dark, and looked as though it had been waxed. She was no longer the most beautiful princess in the world.

The Desperate Attempt

Grieving their daughter’s loss of beauty, the king and the queen did everything in their grasp to restore her hair’s curls. They summoned the finest barbers in the world, applied exotic ointments and lotions from the East to her scalp, and even washed her hair in the dew collected from roses. Yet, these efforts proved fruitless as her hair remained straight, dark, and greasy.

The Unusual Advice

One day, as the Princess was riding in her coach, she heard a woman admonishing her child to eat crusts if she wanted her hair to curl. Delighted, the princess shared this newfound solution with her parents. Their reaction, however, was of horror. They exclaimed that crusts were for beggars and could not be swallowed by their princess. Yet despite their refusal, the princess’s hair remained stubbornly straight.

The Enigmatic Guide

During her solitary time in the gardens, an old man suddenly appeared before the princess. While initially frightened, the princess was captivated by the old man’s sing-song voice as he offered her a golden key and instructions. Following the old man, the princess found a door she had never seen before and walked down a path beyond it as instructed. Along her journey, she encountered the crushing realities of poverty, which moved her to acts of kindness she had never considered before.

The Journey Back Home

At the end of her journey, the princess, drenched and cold from the rain, met the old man once again. Overcome with hunger, she disregarded her royally nurtured taste and asked for some of the crust of bread he was eating. After quenching her hunger with bread and cold water, the princess expressed her wish to go home with tears in her eyes, asserting that beauty didn’t matter to her anymore after witnessing such poverty.

The Beautiful Transformation

When she reached her castle and met her worried parents, they were initially distressed by her disheveled look. Yet, they quickly noticed the golden curls in her hair that fell beautifully down to her knees. The princess’s hair had returned to its original beauty, proving their noble hearts were more powerful than they had thought.

The princess then started eating crusts once a week to remind herself of the hardships endured by the poor. She frequently shared clothing and food with the less fortunate, thus, attracting blessings that made her glow more than ever before. The princess who once lost her beauty found it again through acts of kindness and compassion.