Before my granddad was sent to the old people's home, which according to my mother "was the right place for that old bastard", he spent some time living at our place. Every night before going to bed, he came to our room in order to read a story for me and my sister Rebecca. He always brought the same old book with dark covers which seemed to hold an endless number of tales that we listened to as hypnotized. All these stories started with the usual "once upon a time" and ended with the same question that my sister kept repeating night after night.
- ... And that's the end of the story.
- And after that? - Rebecca said with the overwhelming logic of her six years.
Then my granddad, who could not help smiling at this, said goodnight with a kiss, turned off the lights and left humming a fragment of his favourite "zarzuela" (traditional Spanish operetta).
That scene repeated itself for many nights. In fact, this was the only time when peace prevailed at home, because for the rest of the day there were countless arguments between my mother and my father, my father and my granddad, and especially between my granddad and my mother, who dit not stand each other, but had to live together until my grandad's "fraking house" was sold so that he could afford spending the rest of his life at an old people's home "where he would die for once and for all". I was sure that if my mother had stopped for a moment to hear my grandad's stories, her opinion about him would have been very different. But mom never had time for anything or anyone: she spent the whole "fraking day" working in the family business and when arriving home she was always so damned tired that the only thing she could think of was putting Rebecca an me in front of the TV in the hope that we would leave her in peace.
- And after that? - asked my sister to my granddad the day he told us his last story.
- They all lived happily ever after, - he told her as he stood up ready to go to bed.
- And after that? - Rebecca insisted.
To our surprise, after hesitating for a few moments, he sat on the bed again and said that, as that was a very special night, he would continue the story, in which Siegfried, a very brave prince, had just defeated a huge dragon in order to break the spell that had imprisoned his beloved Princess Ludovica in the body of a very ugly witch. After his victory, which would have been impossible without the help of the great wizard named Balgor, a wedding in style was celebrated at the castle of Siegfrid's father, the great King Stephane II.
- As expected, - continued my granddad - the ceremony was attended by top leaders from all over the world. Not in vain, Siegfried, the eldest of three sons, would be the heir of that empire, which, after the defeat of the last of the dragons, could not have but a shiny future thanks to the "enduring freedom" that King Stephane II had succeeded in imposing after many years fighting against all his neighbours.
The celebrations lasted for several days, during which there were many events such as concerts, banquets, outdoor competitions, fancy dress parties... The king, well aware of the extreme happiness of his successor to the throne, went from one place to another greeting people with a wide smile on his face that made him look about ten years younger. However, fate wanted him to witness a terrible scene that revealed the true nature of his daughter-in-law.
Granddad told us that during the last day of celebrations, the old king had a terrible headache that forced him to retire soon. On the way to his chamber, which was in the wing opposite to the ballroom, he happened to go past Princess Ludovica's room, whose door was left ajar for some unknown reason. Attracted by the sound of whispers and some strange laughter, the king opened the door carefully and stuck his head in. He was terribly shocked at the sight of the princess, who was exchanging kisses and caresses with Balgor the wizard. Moreover, without her makeup and costume, the princess was still that same ugly witch who Siegfrid had apparently destroyed by defeating the dragon.
"She has never been a princess imprisoned in a witch's body!" said the king to himself. "She is nothing but a witch disguised as a princess!"
- Oh, nooooooooo! - my sister and I shouted in unison.
My granddad smiled full of satisfaction and continued his story saying that the king, deeply hurt by his discovery, sneaked out of there and went to his chamber, where he was unable to fall asleep. The next morning, after gathering all his courage, he told his beloved son what he had seen. Although he knew he would break his heart, it would be much better than letting that bad woman deceive him. However, the prince was so in love with the witch, that he could not believe a single word of what his father had just told him. He called the old man "old gaga" and fool and would not listen. Ludovica's spell on him was so powerful that poor Siegfrid could not distinguish good from bad any more. After that the father and his son stopped talking to each other and in the years that followed they only met at official events.
With the passing of time king Stephane II grew very very old and Prince Siegfried, who was not the happy young man he used to be but a sad and boring guy, succeeded him on the throne. When their eyes met on the day of the coronation, the old man realized that Siegfried had also discovered the truth about his wife's identity, but his pride had prevented him from admitting this in front of his father. Besides, now that Siegfried and Ludovica were the parents of two beautiful girls, he could not possibly let a divorce leave the girls in the hands of that wicked witch, who thanks to this marriage had become the co-owner of a profitable chain of hairdressing salons.
- Hey! - I said laughing. - The same as mom!
- When she became a queen - my grandfather went on while looking at our room's door, - Ludovica did not stop until she was sure that Siegfried's father, who remained a dangerous influence to her husband in spite of the distance, would be kept away from the castle . Moreover, she did not hesitate to make use of the most dirty tricks to ensure that the poor old man was locked in a lonely tower which would end up consuming him due to the loneliness and sadness. But what she did not know was that before his leaving, Stephane II had managed to let his son know that he still loved him and would accept his doom under the only condition that Siegfried would pay him a visit once in a while and also bring his beloved granddaughters, to whom he used to tell stories the same way as I have been doing... And they all lived happily ever after.
- And after that? - my little sister asked.
- The rest of the story has not been written yet - my grandfather told her as he was leaving the room.
When he opened the door, I had a glimpse of my father, who might have been listening to the story from the corridor. I remember asking myself how many times he had been standing there, hidden behind the door, while our granddad was reading from his book. That night, before falling asleep, I promised myself that some day I would put an end to Siegfried and Ludovica's story. It was not until many years later that I realized that in real life stories never have an ending.
The next day the cab arrived when the sun was right at the top of the blue sky. The king Siegfried put his father's stuff in the trunk and gave him a hug while saying to him something like "I got your message and I will certainly take care of that." Leaning on the castle's main gate, queen Ludovica watched the scene from the distance without saying a single word, just enjoying her victory over that "piece of old junk". And last but not least, the old king held the two princesses in his arms and got on the cab, from where he did a genuine royal greeting that the girls found so funny.
When the cab was just a little dot driving down the stony path, the princesses started crying like babies, so their mother had to put a powerful spell on them which consisted in making them watch some cartoons on TV that made them forget.
Siegfrid, who kept the promise made to his father, took his daughters to the tower on several occasions. But there were neither more stories nor any laughter, because, as mean Ludovica had foreseen, the old man did not but consume himself from visit to visit due to the devastating effect of that evil tower. When they saw him for the last time the old man, who was always holding tight his old black book, was only a shadow of the great king he used to be. He died one cold winter night at the age of 85 years.
Just a few weeks after his death, Sigfried came into her daughters' room one night holding his father's old book. After opening it ceremoniously, he started reading one of its stories. It was not so good as those of King Stephane II, but the girls listened to him with all their attention, grateful for this gesture of their father. Since then, and until they were too old for tales, he kept coming every night in order to tell stories that got better with the passing of time. Especially when he started putting his personal touch, including spacecraft, unexplored planets and "cylons".
Many years later Siegfried gave his eldest daughter this same old book, turning her into the guardian of that small treasure that held countless stories to be told to the next generation of children. When the princess opened it for the first time, she could not avoid a laugh because it was just a simple and boring manual about earthworms. On the first page his grandfather had left a note written with trembling hands:
"One day or another a spell will be cast on all of you. But always make sure the person casting this spell is not an evil witch."
That same night the princess went to his sister Rebecca's taking the book with her and told her little nieces the first of a long list of stories. However, as the first story had to be something special, she did not want to start it with the typical "once upon a time." Inspired by a photo depicting the nasty red worms from California, she said something like:
Note: "cylons" and the expression "fraking" have to do with the TV series "Battlestar Galactica".
Spanish Version.
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