The pasha’s only son was playing with golden ball when he saw an old woman fetching water from the well near his palace. He threw the ball and broke her pitcher. He wanted to make her angry but the woman did not say anything which aroused his desire win.

The next day, she came again to fetch water and he broke her water pitcher again. The same followed next day, the woman at last looked at him but instead of getting angry she smiled at him. Suddenly, she walked up to him and cursed him to fall in love with silent princess and left without another word, leaving the prince confused.

He did not know who silent princess was and where she is from. As he grew, he grew more and more curious about this mysterious silent princess to the point he fell ill. The prince knew he his curiosity will never end until he meets her so asked his father to get him go in search of silent princess.

His father wanted to refuse but on seeing his condition and agreed. The prince packed up and left for the trip with few attendants along and old butler.

After few months of travelling and asking around, he found the mountain where the silent princess lived. The palace was made of human skull and there was a rumour about how no suitor came out alive after entering her palace. The suitor needs to make the silent princess talk to marry her but no one had succeeded till now.

The prince still determined to meet her, asked for the visit. As he waited for the permission to enter, he thought about how to make her talk.

Suddenly, he saw a beautiful nightingale, he liked it so much that he asked his attendant to buy it. He held the nightingale and went back to thinking but out of nowhere he heard a voice asking him why he is so sad.

The prince paused and looked at the nightingale in shock. He realized it was the bird that just spoke, he answered her hesitantly. The nightingale understood his problem and gave him a solution.

At this point he was called into the palace. The prince walked into the room with nightingale while the princess was sitting in a couch hidden behind the seven veils. He tried to start the conversation multiple times and got no result. The prince stopped talking to her and walked to the lamp in the corner while saying since she is not talking, he will talk to the lamp.

When the lamp responded, the princess who showed no interest turned to look at them. The nightingale behind the lamp asked if he wanted to hear a story and the prince agreed as planned.

The nightingale began telling story about three suitors who asked for the hand of the princess. The king, princess’s father, asked them to learn a talent in six months and the most talented one would marry the princess.

The three went separate ways to learn different things. The first suitor learned how to travel a year’s journey in an hour; the second one learned to see things at a distance and the third learned how to cure any illness.

They met again six months later when the second saw princess was ill and dying from the distance. He immediately asked the first suitor to bring the third to heal her and the princess was saved.

The nightingale stopped and asked the prince who deserved the princess’s hand the most, the prince answered the third but nightingale disagreed and said the second one. When the prince still insisted the third one, they began arguing.

Suddenly, the silent princess interrupted and said it should be the first one. She realized she was tricked after speaking, she destroyed the lamp and changed the condition that he will have to make her speak for three days to marry her by using signs language.

The prince came again next day and turn to the pillar where nightingale was hiding. The pillar told him a story about a woman was seeing three different men. One day, while combing her hair she found white hair and decided to settle down but she wanted to marry the best one so she conducted a test.

The woman told the first suitor that her father had died and is haunting her, to make him go away the man had to lay in the grave three hours and the woman would be free of him. He agreed and laid down.

 The second suitor came and she told him that a wizard had taken the place of her father’s body in the grave; if he stood over the wizard with a stone and smashed his head if he moved, she would be free. He took the stone and stood on guard near the grave.

She told the third suitor that a wizard had taken the place of her father’s body in the grave, but if he brought him before her, she would be free. He went to find his body.

The nightingale asked would was the best, the prince replied the third but nightingale said the second. They again began arguing when the silent princess added, it was the first. She was tricked again and the pillar was destroyed so that he could not do the same trick again.

The third day, the prince talked with the nightingale behind the curtains. This time the story was of a carpenter, a tailor, and a student who lived in the same house. The carpenter made a statue of a woman; the tailor dressed it; the student prayed to heaven that she might become a living woman.

The prince and nightingale again began arguing whether the carpenter or the tailor deserved her more. The princess answered the student who wished for her to come alive deserved her the best. The princess talked for the third time and the prince succeeded in winning her hand.

SHORT INFORMATION

The silent princess is a Turkish folktale which includes three other stories-“The Magic Pomegranate”; “The Carpenter, the Tailor, and the Clergyman”; “Three Suitors at the Graveyard” from The Olive Fairy Book written by Andrew Lang and Leonora Blanche Alleyne, a married couple between 1889 and 1913.

The story of Silent Princess shows us the consequences of actions and the impacts of words on the communication. The punishment for the prince unexpectedly helped him find the true love.