Paradise Garden

In a far off kingdom, there once lived a princess, fairer and kinder than any other. One day, the princess fell sick. Her father, the king, brought men of medicine from all the lands, but none could heal her. After many moons, the princess succumbed to her illness.

The king wished to bury her in a place as impossibly beautiful as her. However, there was not an inch of land in his kingdom of which he did not know, and he had never seen such a place. He thought to reach out to the nearby territories, but he dared not let her leave his sight, for he was soon to follow suit himself.

Thus, he resigned to bury her in the palace gardens' dull grass plains. He dug the grave himself and placed her body in it. When he had laid her to rest, he began to dig another next to it. He would make sure that, when he, too, succumbed, that was where he would lay.

As the days passed, he visited her grave every day. And every day, he ensured that his own was ready. Slowly, almost carefully, flowers began springing up around the princess's resting place.

At first, merely the most common flowers appeared, dithering the area with small, white and yellow petals. Soon, however, the previously plain grass gardens had begun blossoming purple flowers with petals like silk, which seemed to shimmer in the sunlight. And still, it all seemed to emanate from the spot where the princess lay. The grass seemed to grow faster than ever, covering up patches of dirt with a solid layer of green. Somehow, despite its intense growth, the grass remained short, as though freshly cut.

The people of the capital began to take notice of the magnificent palace gardens, its many vibrant colors illuminating the faces of the passersby. The king soon took notice and opened the gates, which had encapsulatd the palace gardens for many years. As more and more people came to see the fair garden, it seeemed to grow with more vigor than ever before, as though spurred on by the adoring crowds.

One morning, the entire capital awoke to find that a stream of the clearest water had appeared in the garden from seemingly nowhere. It flowed between the many flowers with ease, settling as a small lake close by the two graves located in the center of the massive bouquet.

Though new and unique plants still blossomed, the growth of the flowers seemd to slowing. The king knew that his time was soon to come. With the passing of the second equinox, on the day that his daughter died, the king did not rise from his bed in the palace. Nor the next. Nor ever again.

As he had requested, he was placed in the grave next to his daughter. Over the years, people have continued to visit the magnificent garden. New flowers still appear, placed by people from all walks of life, coming from all across the world to witness the impossible beauty of the garden.

Now, every year, on the anniversary of their deaths, the people celebrate the girl and her loving father by gathering in the paradise gardens and placing the prettiest flowers from the garden on their graves.