Wizened..

Look to the shoe it is too small!
there's blood from cutting her foot to fit.
Prince, Prince, Look again!
She can't stand, she can only sit!

There was once on a time, a Fae princess who was extremely proud, and thought herself, extremely clever. If a wooer came she gave him some riddle to guess, and if he could not find it out, he was sent to her work shop to sew beautiful clothing for her. She let it be made known also that whosoever solved her riddle should marry her and have the riches of the Court.

At length three tailors fell in with each other, the two eldest of whom prized themselves great artists of tapestry. The third was a little useless but clever and thought he may have luck.

They all three lined themselves up to the princess, claiming the wisest of them had understandings so fine – it could be threaded in a needle. The Fae Princess smiled.

“I have two kinds of hair on my head, what color is it?”

“If that is all,” said the first, “it must be black and white; like cloth that is called pepper and salt.” The princess shook her head and waited for the second.

“If not black and white, then its brown and red, like my father’s coat.”

“Another slave for my closet,” mocked the princess, “let the third answer, for I see he knows for certain.”

The little tailor stepped forth boldly and said, “The Princess is Fae, she has a silver and a golden hair on her head, those are the two different colors.” The Fae turned white as sheets and nearly fell with terror, she had firmly believed that no man on earth could discover it. When her pride returned she said, “Thou hast not won me yet by that; there is still something else that though must do. Below in a stable is a troll with which though shalt pass the night, and when I get up in the morning if thou art still alive, thou shalt marry me.”

She expected, however; she should thus be rid of the tailor, for the troll had never left any one alive who had fallen into its clutches.

When evening came the tailor was taken to the cages. The troll set upon the little fellow with a welcome of its claws: “Softly, softly,” said the tailor, “I will soon make thee quiet.” Without a care in the world he revealed some nuts and cracked them and ate them. The troll was seized with a desire for some as well. The tailor felt and handed him a handful of pebbles. Try as he might the troll couldn’t crack the nut.

The tailor thus began to amuse himself on a violin. When the troll heard the music, it too wanted to learn. The tailor smiled at the beast, “Light enough for a child. Look with the left I lay my fingers and with the right I stroke it with the bow, merrily it sings a song.”

“If thou hast a talent for it I’ll give you lessons, but you’re claws are terribly long, I must cut them.” Then the tailor fashioned a thumbscrew upon the trolls hands and left it on tight and snug. “Now you must wait till I come with scissors.”

When the Fae Princess heard the troll roaring fearfully in the night, she believed nothing else but that the tailor was dead. But in the morning she realized with dread, she must fulfill her promise, made in front of the entire Court. She, who thought herself so wise, had been had by someone who knew not his wisdom.

Wizened are practical and talented. They are products of a capricious and giving faerie. These Fae brought help and wealth to the needy individual. However; when offended they remind us of our place. The Wizened were kidnapped by such faeries and have endured this strange malice. They were trained by unreliable faerie taskmasters and have become tireless workers carrying tireless spite. Theirs is a lesson in Desire and Pride.

Their escape from the faerie realm was fought using cunning and viciousness. They were bribed, chained and ensorcelled. They were threatened, cajoled and tricked. They escaped through a labyrinth of tasks which required multiple attempts before they broke free.

Many wizened make a point of rising above their Pride and Desires if only because it got them there in the first place.