Meg, nick name Little Sparrow, has been living with her Mom, Moon, all alone in a remote countryside village of the Middle Kingdom in the past 16 years. Meg never knows who is her father until the week before her mother died.
“My darling daughter, come over and promise me something.” Moon speaks, her voice weak.
“What promise?” Meg sits at her mother’s bedside, a little bit confused.
“I have a feeling, I won’t be able to live for more than one week. I must tell you who your father is, and after I die, you have to find him, you have to love him rest of your life…”
“Mom, my father, he is alive….?” Emotion erupts in Meg and her body begins to shiver.
Meg grows up being told that her father is dead…Now her mother is offering her dying wish and it is too sudden for her to accept the reality.
“YES!” Moon answered, her voice sounds like soft music all of a sudden, her face is as pale as paper.
…
“Seventeen years ago, when I was making a living by singing in a bar in nearby town, I met your Dad. I was not a general singer, I entertain customers but never sell my body. I was clean…I learned literature myself and was able to write my own songs, I sang from my bottom of my heart and became famous because of my lovely voice, unbeatable beauty, and …”
Moon pauses to take her breath.
“Then on this beautiful May day, I was invited to sing for a special customer. On a fancy boat in the most beautiful West lake in town, I was in a shock to see a man who was dressed with the most elegant clothes and sat at the table feeling miserable.”
“Who is he?” Meg holds her breath.
“It turned out that he had lost a child and had been on vacation with his family.”
“So?” Meg looks at her mom pitifully, guessing the rest of the story.
“YES. On that fateful day when we met, he fell in love with me. He found excuses keeping visiting me in the bar. He always paid me three times tips and got himself drunk before his servants took him away.”
“Did his wife know what he was doing?” Meg is curious.
“I don’t know. What I remember was that on the day before he left my town, we had a night together. He wrote a poem on a paper fan with his signature on it, and I fell for him because he is so intelligent and his love for his son truly moved me. He was sad that he felt helpless in saving his child’s life, he felt lonely because his wife only cared about money. She blamed him for the loss of their beloved child. “
Moon seems smiling when she reveals the secret that has been buried in her mind for such a long time.
“Does he know about me?” Meg seems out of breath.
“NO. As you know, in our times now, a man can have more than one wife. Your Dad promised me that he would get back to me so that I became his second wife. But he never came back.”
Moon swallows hard.
Meg seems knowing why her Mom has refused to talk about her father, who happened to be a man who betrayed her mother.
Silence.
“Meg, I am dying. I must let him know that he has a child with me. He needs to love YOU, because after I am gone, you will be alone and I won’t allow you to follow my footsteps.”
Moon reached out her left hand, placing it on Meg’s.
Tears well up in Meg’s eyes, she is confused and lost.
“After I am gone, please take the blue willow plate from the safe and carry it with you when you go finding your Dad.”
“The blue willow plate?” Meg’s eyes opens wide.
“YES. On the plate, there is a picture, and that’s where you Dad lives. Show him the paper fan with the poem and his signature, and give him the blue willow plate. He will have to recognize you.”
“Where does he live?” Meg cries.
“The Forbidden City.” Moon’s voice grows weak…She turns her head away.
…
Meg is sleepless. She is a princess at large, this is what she has never dreamed about. She loves her mom, and she has learned how to bead, weave, knit, read and write poetry, compose and sing folk songs under the love of her Mom.
“Mom is strong, she must have missed Dad so badly….” Meg is full of tears.
…
One year later, Meg is crowned formally by her father as The Pearl Princess, who will live with the family in Forbidden City the rest of her life. The whole country has cheered and celebrated under the order of the King.
Some people have questioned about Meg’s true identity, and this is the King’s response:
“From the first time I saw Meg, I knew she is a princess, she looks exactly like her mother at the age 16. How can I ever forgive myself for being so selfish? I never knew Moon had my child. But at lonely nights, I missed Moon and recalled her beauty. The taboos in our system did not allow me to marry Moon because of her profession at times.”
Signs.
The King has built a beautiful tomb for Moon, father and daughter together have been visiting Moon’s tomb at least once a year to mourn and honor her.
And Meg the princess is loved by the king unconditionally; she becomes the most beautiful, the best mannered, and the most beloved princess in No time. Because Meg understands ordinary folks and she is always ready to help the poor, the disabled, the disadvantaged, and the needy.
And she gets married to a prince a few years later; they have lived their life happily after.
*****
This post is for Magpie Tale at magpie tale
Jingle‘s tale is inspired by a movie she has watched last year and she has changed the name, setting, and details to tell her own or adapted tale.
Thank You for Reading!
Wishing You A Mindful Monday!
The following is one of Jingle’s favorite princesses in the movie.
The Actress’s Name is Vicki Chao.
Jingle Nozelar 
