The Princess Who Could Not Cry

Once upon a time, there was a princess ¹ who couldn't cry, and she always kept laughing. The king and the queen were very worried about their daughter. It's all right if she just keeps feeling happy, but it'll be a problem if she always keeps laughing at others.

They found an animal fairy ² to get an idea of how to save the princess. The queer³ fairy said, "If you can make the princess cry once, then she'll be normal," so the king made a promise that if anyone could make the princess cry without hurting her, then the one would get a bag of gold as a reward⁴.

There were a lot of wise men around the kingdom who went to the king's palace⁵, and they all said that they had a good idea that would let the princess cry without hurting her.

The first wise man said, "We can shut up the princess in a room and just feed her bread and a bowl of water every day. After six weeks, she will feel sad and cry." The queen thought that's unkind, but the servant'll take care of the princess. So she still agreed with that idea, but replaced the water with a bowl of milk.

Went to the lastest week, the princess didn't feel sad and never cried. While the servant⁶ was sending the bread and milk into the room, the princess said, "How thin am I now? I almost can't wear my slippers⁷," and then the princess kicked⁸ the slippers into the air and laughed at the servant, who had a frightened⁹ face. The queen wasn't worried about the girl's crying issue either; she was hurrying to the kitchen¹⁰ and cooking a lot of food with bread,beef, and tomatoes for her daughter's next meal.

The second wise man said nothing but kept making queer faces and being terrible noisy in the princess's room. But the princess didn't feel frightened and never cried. After six weeks, the wise man left the castle¹¹ and seemed very cross¹² and tired.

The third wise man thought that every little girl loved their playthings, so he went to the princess's room and stamped¹³ on the dolls. But the princess said, "What funny! What funny!" The princess went into the room and began to throw the dolls¹⁴ too.

The three wise men all failed, so the king and the queen thought that it's impossible to let their little daughter cry. Everyone in the country won't try to do that again because those wisest men have already failed.

Could anyone be smarter than the wisest man in the world?

At the same time, there was a poor family in a little village¹⁵. A poor little girl lived with her sick mother.

The girl's name was Molly.

Molly was a girl who was always kind, smart, and merry¹⁶.

Molly and her mother worked hard to earn a little money. Since her mother was sick, they didn't have enough money to buy any medicine¹⁷.

Molly also knew the news about the princess, and the reward was a bag of gold if anyone could make the princess cry.

One day, Molly got a good idea while she was cooking a soup for her sick mother.

On the next day's morning, Molly put on the cape¹⁸ and hood¹⁹. She came to the king's castle, and the servant said, "We don't have any food for you; go to the back door; that belongs to you." Then she came to the back door, and the other servant laughed at her after listening to the reason Molly came there. He said, "What a smart girl! How can you be smarter than the wisest man?" The queen walked past the door, and she saw the little girl with a nice face.

"I have got a good idea that will make the princess cry without hurting her," Molly said.

The queen looked at the little girl who had a nice face for a while, and she thought that this little girl wouldn't hurt the princess. So she let Molly go into the room, but the princess wasn't happy to see a little girl with a nice face. There was always an older queer woman who was taking care of her. So the princess shut the door and only left the children in the room.

The king and the queen were waiting outside the door, and everyone heard that there was a little girl, who was trying to make the princess cry. After a while, there was a great crowd²⁰ of people outside the door.

"Nobody could make the princess cry," whispered²¹ the people.

The king and the queen could wait no longer, so they bumped the door and saw a surprising insight²²: the princess and Molly were peeling onions²³. The princess felt sad and had tears in her eyes.

Molly did it.

The king and the queen laughed, saying that their little daughter had become normal.

The servant laughed, saying that the princess wouldn't laugh at them anymore.

And the cook said, "That's an easy way; I can do it myself."

The princess finally became normal. She was laughing while she was happy, and she was crying while she was sad.

I am pleased to say, though, that she always laughed more often than cried.

And for Molly, she got a bag of gold, so she bought some food, and her mother felt better and stronger quickly.

That's really a good idea—just peeling onions, which lets the princess cry without hurting her.