Of Witches and Princesses

 Once there were two sisters who diverged upon different paths. One sought to become a witch, for she loved study, the other a princess, for she loved the idea of power and pretty dresses. It is a far simpler thing to apprentice to a witch than to apprentice to a princess. Indeed, the latter seemed hardly possible at all. Try as the second sister might, she could find no princess who would take her on. She found, instead, that the princesses she queried thought her high and mighty to think she could try and attain such a high position. 

    At her tenth attempt, a courtier took her aside and explained that a princess was not a position to be achieved, but rather one to be born to, or, in the sister's case, married into. It was not so hard to marry a prince, the courtier said. All it would take was one spell from a witch. 

    How often, the sister asked, do princesses ask for the help of witches?

    More often than the sun rises, the courtier said.

    It was then that the second sister decided to become a witch. There was far more power there.

    And whose to say a witch can't wear a pretty dress?

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