once upon a time there was a woman whom nature and fortune had blessed with everything that one person could possess: beauty, wealth, wit, & to crown it all, a precious jewel. but although she had everything that one person could possess, she did not have what no one can possess alone: love. that’s not such a damning lack in a young woman, and princes and poets vied to fill it for her. but she took no notice of their charms. she was too gnawed by worries of how they might fuck her over. love is slippery & sheer & how could she tell if they were honest when they offered it to her? she had so much that they might lie to gain.
everyone noticed how this modest & quiet woman never wore her jewel, & praised her more for it because she could so easily have dazzled & commanded all attention. they understood her very little.
her fascination with the jewel thief surprised her circle more than it surprises us. if someone could steal my jewel without counterfeiting love, she didn’t quite think, i could trust him if he said he loved me. let’s not go into how they played cat & mouse. describing the reversals would take too long. just know that one night she met him in a very plain white dress that reserved all attention for the sparkle at the hollow of her throat.
without touching it he smiled and told her he knew it was a fake. when she woke up alone, she checked her safe and found the jewel was gone.
when he came back he brought a robin’s-egg-blue ringbox. but—he didn’t expect this, he thought she was playing his game—the betrayal had made her so angry she sent him away without even opening it to see what gem was set there.
she wasn’t quite aware she was relieved. she didn’t quite know that she had made a deal, or that the trade (at least for her) was fair. she had worried so long about whether the love that others promised her was real or false. it distracted her attention neatly from her own power to love. better to lose one jewel and have everyone understand why she swore love off, than to trade half of everything she had for something so unknown.
poor girl.