Princess and the Orc

Andraous (Discontinued)    Culture    Legends/Myths      Princess and the Orc

Summary

The story begins in an unnamed kingdom that has fallen on hard times. A king and queen lives here with their only daughter, who they loved very much. One day the king and queen receive a letter from a neighboring kingdom. The letter promises to aid the struggling kingdom, so long as the prince has their daughter's hand in marriage. This saddens the royal couple, for it means they'll basically never see their daughter again, but the kingdom was in such dire times that they had no choice but to agree to the terms, and send their daughter away.
The princess had no desire to leave her home and get married, but she was soon tucked away in her carriage and was being escorted to the other kingdom. They had been on the road for several days when the bandits ambushed the carriage. There were a lot of bandits in the ambush, and the guards had their hands full defending the carriage. In the confusion the princess left her carriage and escaped in the woods, not wanting to be kidnapped by the bandits.
She wandered the forest for several days, becoming cold, wet, and hungry. Her dress became torn and muddied, while her hair became tangled. The princess had no idea what to do, she had no idea how to get back to either the carriage of the castle, and even if she did she would be sent straight back to the neighboring kingdom, forced to get married and live in a foreign land.
As she wandered she was found by a small Orc tribe. The princess was scared, for their had been many stories of Orc raiders, but she stood her ground. The man of the tribe knew her language, due to spending much of his young adult life within her kingdom, and after hearing her story, offered to let her stay with them for the night. In the morning they would help her back to the main road, and wait for a passing merchant or soldiers to escort her home.
She eventually decided to stay with the Orcs, enjoying the sense of freedom with them that she did not have being a princess. They taught her how to fight, hunt, what plants were safe or medicinal, and so much more. She fell in love with the man of the tribe, and by the spring of her second year with the Orcs, bore him a son.
It was the dead of night when the tribe was attacked. The king and queen had learned of their daughter's presence in the tribe, and assumed she had been kidnapped. They send a squad of soldiers to the area to rescue her, and eliminate the tribe, not knowing that she had joined them willingly.
The man of the tribe and several of the older woman, were quick to jump to the tribe's defense, but it was quickly obvious that there were too many soldiers. The princess and two of the younger women had just enough time to gather up the children and babies and flee the camp.
Its said that the princess looked back just in time to see her lover struck down, before disappearing into a nearby cave. The soldiers tried to follow, but the caves were a maze, and the princess was never seen again.