There are two basic types of 'Farie Tales'. There's the Disney sweetness and light and everyone lives happily ever after kind, and then there's the Brother's Grimm not always a happy ending type.

Have you ever considered that the only thing that separate the two are the two words "what if"? For example, what if the Singing Sword had missed the mark and the dragon queen had destroyed the young Prince? Princess Aurora would still be sleeping.

Here's another farie tale that has a "what if" ending. I'll begin it as all good farie tales begin, but be warned, this is a sad tale.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a child was born. This was a beautiful child yet something was wrong with the child, but not so wrong that the doctors couldn't fix it. Now the parents of this beautiful child wanted to make sure that the "wrongness" that was found on their child would never be known to the world, so they swore the doctors to secrecy and hid all records of what that wrongness was.

The years went by and the beautiful child grew more beautiful each day. The child had hair so blonde that it was almost white and in the sunlight one could hardly gaze upon this child. The child's eyes were as green as clover and always laughing. The family was happy.

But as in all farie tales, the care free happy times become less care free and less happy. You see, when people would gaze upon this beautiful child for the first time, they would say to the parents' things like, "what a lovely little girl you have" or "your daughter is very beautiful." Hearing these words would fill the child with joy, but the parents weren't filled with joy. They'd correct these statements with, "This is our son, not our daughter" or "He's a boy, not a girl." These statements would make the child sad.

The sadness of this child, this 'boy' never stayed for long, she, I mean 'he' had too joyful of a spirit for any sadness to stay with her, I mean 'him' for long. Soon he would be playing again. He would weave flowers into his beautiful hair, until his father or mother would make him stop. Sometimes he would play with his sister and they would play with her dolls or play house. At least until the father or mother would stop them and make the girl, I mean 'boy' go out and play with the other boys.

Time moved on but not much really changed. This child, this beautiful child, didn't really mind too much when his parents called him a boy, he knew he was really a girl. He watched his older sister grow and when his sister started to turn into a woman, this beautiful child couldn't wait for the changes to start within her, I mean him.

The days passed into years and one day the father and mother took their children to see a powerful lord. This powerful lord praised the mother and father on their beautiful family and praised the beautiful child above the others as being "one of the most beautiful little girls" he had ever seen.

Such a statement filled the parents with dread and the father with anger. Upon the families return to their home, the father ordered that hence forth the beautiful child's hair was to be shorn off and kept as short as possible, that the child could only wear clothing that was unmistakably boy's clothes and the child could only play boy games and never again with girls.

This pronouncement saddened the child and much of the joy left her, I mean him, as well. The child became shy and introverted. He would stay alone and not play with anyone unless forced to. But the child still had hope. You see the child knew that she really was a girl, and just like her sister, soon she too would change into a woman and then everyone would know.

The days passed and eventually the time came. The child started to change but not in the way she had anticipated. Soon the child was growing, growing rapidly and with much pain. Bones grew at an alarming rate, stretching tissue and joints to the point that the child was in constant pain and at times could hardly move. There was a storm going on in the child's body and the only advice the doctor's could give was to ride it out.

Days, weeks and months passed and the child grew inch by inch and pound by pound. The white blond hair turned a dull brown. The soft gentle features became angular and bold. No longer did people say to the parents 'what a beautiful daughter you have' now they said 'what a big son you have.' This made the parents very happy but filled the child with sorrow.

Time passed and the child grew into a large, strong man, yet deep inside he always felt that he really was a girl.

As the child grew into a man, his actions became more self-destructive. When he was in the Army they even gave him a medal for bravery when all he was really trying to do was get himself killed.

The years passed and this quiet man got married and raised a family. He'd look upon his beautiful daughters with pride and joy, and also with a bit of sadness for what he yearned for all these years.

One day the man received word that his father was gravely ill so he flew to his side. As he sat with his dying father, the father said to the man, "I'm sorry son" then he died.

Over the coming days the man went thru his fathers papers to help his mother organize things. In the back of one of the locked file cabinets the man came across a very old file. It was the medical records covering the birth of the man and the first years following his birth.

The man settled himself down at his father's desk and began to read. As he read the file, tears began to fall from his eyes and soon he was weeping. The file covered the corrective procedures that were taken to remove excess tissue and internal organs, seal the partial vaginal opening and make sure that the child would be fully male.

So dear readers, we come to the end of my tale and the time to ask "what if". What if the parents of this beautiful child had decided to have different tissue and organs removed, to have the vaginal opening altered to be normal? What would have happened then?

This child went thru her, and I'll stay with that now, she went thru HER life knowing that she was really a girl, that for over half a century she had been trapped inside the body of a man. If that other 'what if' had happened, would we now have the Disney version farie tale? How different would her life have been?

Just something to think about.

Love,

Connie

P.S. — I did warn you that it was sad. — C