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A Beautiful Lady Saves the King A Traditional Taiwanese Folktale Retold by Yu-Ling Hsieh from Taiwan This is the story of a kind who was saved when a loyal staff officer sent a beautiful woman to the palace. Image: Clipartheaven.com The staff officer sent the beautiful lady to the palace, hoping the foreign ruler would fall in love with her. Thousands of years ago, there was a country that was ruled by another country. The king was a slave who worked for the foreign ruler of this country. His staff officer was trying to save the kind and his country. While the staff officer was walking along the river, he saw a beautiful lady washing clothes. He thought maybe because she was so beautiful, the foreign ruler would fall in love with her, so he sent her to the palace. Once she was there, the foreign ruler fell in love with her and didn't care about anything else, not even ruling the country. So, the lady and the staff officer saved their king and their country. In the end, they went away with their king and lived together at a place no one knew. Explanation of this story If the lady hadn't been beautiful, the staff officer wouldn't have sent her into the palace, and the foreign ruler would not have fallen in love with her. If the ruler hadn't fallen in love with her, they wouldn't have been able to save their country. So, is beauty important? I think so, even if we always deny it.  Return to: More Folktales | It's International | Home Page TOPICS Online Magazine ©1997-2008 - Sandy and Thomas Peters - topics.mag@gmail.com