We Did Not Live Happily Ever After by Ishani Agrawal

Our stories should have continued

After that “happily ever after.”

Our lives still went on, and so did our struggles.

They still breathed vicious air 

And watch our every move. 

There was happiness after our supposed end, 

For some time at least, but marriage 

Did not prove to be the cure to every poison. 

Snow White, the vibrant woman,

A young girl of seven at the beginning of her story,

Married away by a prince (now a king)

Whose heart was entranced by her form inside the jewel-encrusted glass coffin. 

Dwarves would not deter him, he must have her!

Now, years later, and Queen Snow White is

Deathly afraid of corsets, combs, and apples— she will not emerge from her chambers. 

Her King has forgotten about her.

Alas for Sleeping Beauty, radiant even asleep.

After her awakening one hundred years later, 

the bloodied corpses of many fallen princes encircling her kingdom, 

she did not go completely unharmed. How could

her prince expect her to be healthy? She should have been

an old crone. Instead she had narcolepsy. 

What King desires a queen tainted with incurable illness?

Rumor has it that she will be put to eternal sleep next week.

Even Cinderella, the rags-to-riches Queen,

Beloved, friend to everyone, born to wealthy blood.

She should have been the perfect wife.

Yet, how ridiculous was her story: 

“Shake your branches, little tree, 

Toss gold and silver down on me” is what she said.

Lunacy. The King will take a new wife tomorrow,

for the throne must not be contaminated by an insane.

And then there’s me. The One they called “Red Cap”

Then “Little Red Riding Hood.” No one even got my name right.

I don’t think I know my name anymore.

I didn’t get a Queendom, I wasn’t whisked away by a prince. 

Grandmother died two days after my story ended, 

then so did Mother. Even the huntsman left.

Then the huntsman’s wife died, and

My mother’s house was confiscated by the bank.

I was left alone with my red cap.

Look at us, hear us, all of us.

The ones who became queens, the ones who did not.

The ones who killed ogres, witches, trolls.

We did not live happily ever after.