The Maiden and the Angel

Once there lived a beautiful country-maiden called Floradale. She was the possessor of a breathtaking beauty if compared to the other maidens. She used to gather strawberries from the forest nearby her little hut. One day, when she was roaming in the forest, she became thirsty. As she went to the nearby stream, she saw the most amazing sight of her life.

She saw a man; not just an ordinary man, but a man with two pearl-white wings. He had the most beautiful face Floradale ever saw a man to have. He was glowing, and that was how she understood that it was none other than the prince of the angels - Kyanus. He did not wear a halo like the other angels. But behind his ears, he wore a pair of floral wreaths. Floradale got planted in her position when she found that Prince Kyanus was also staring at her from the other side of the stream, with the same fascination. He smiled and bowed, making her curtsy involuntarily.

The two of them instantly fell in love with one another, and both of them felt it at the same time. But, they knew that their love was impossible, since they belonged to two different worlds and they also knew, the more they would long for each other, the more painful it would get. But, they were young and it was their instinct to make mistakes. The biggest mistake they committed was to let themselves fall in love with each other, when both knew what the end would bring them - nothing but crucial pain in the heart. 

Giving several causes to their worlds, they started to come to the forest every day at the same spot. Kyanus pretended that he came to the forest to roam around and to play his harp; while, Floradale pretended that she was collecting berries. Though they never spoke to each other, Floradale knew that Kyanus played the harp for her – to cheer her, to make her happy and mostly to express his emotions for her. Once or twice, the sweet tunes of the harp brought tears to her eyes. Then, Kyanus would have stopped the harp and would stare at her helplessly, while Floradale stared back with tears in her eyes.

One day, Kyanus did not find Floradale on the other side of the stream. He waited for a while; yet, she did not come. Poor Floradale was sick and asleep back in her hut. This was the reason she could not come to meet Kyanus. As she did not come, Kyanus thought of calling her by playing his harp louder. He played his harp the loudest. The sweet tunes of the celestial harp reached Floradale's ears and she woke up immediately, remembering about her routine-meeting with her love. She walked for the forest as fast as her weak legs could carry her.

The music of the harp did not just reach only Floradale's ears, but, Kyanus's step-father, Lord of the angels heard it, too, and he knew it was the harp of his step-son, Kyanus. Sitting on the seventh sky, he bent over to see why his son was playing the harp so loudly. He saw Floradale, then, and he understood what was going on. Out of his uncontrollable wrath, he sent two angels from the hell to kill Kyanus, who being the God's angel could dare to commit such a sin.

The two angels swiftly came to the forest and informed them what the Lord of the angels had ordered them. When Floradale heard them, she pleaded to them to take her life instead of her love's. The two angels agreed at this and took her life instead of Kyanus's. But Kyanus, who loved Floradale more than his life, pleaded to his father to turn his love at least into a tree in exchange for his most precious possession - his angelhood. The Lord felt pity for him and fulfilled his wish. He turned the corpse of Floradale into a tall and slender strawberry tree in exchange for the angelhood of Kyanus. Kyanus, getting his love in the form of a tree, started to live under her shade. Floradale showed her gratitude to Kyanus by providing him with strawberries; and Kyanus, to show his unconditional love and gratefulness to her, spread the seeds of the strawberries all-over the world for people to know their tragedy. Legend says, a strawberry is soft and sweet, because the heart is soft and true love is sweet.

So dear readers, the next time you eat a small heart-shaped red strawberry, please, do try to remember the tragedy of Floradale and Kyanus.

So, guys, this is the story I promised to give you. Hope you enjoy it. Please let me know and I will be encouraged to post more stories up soon. Love! :)