G is for Green, and some mysterious princesses

This post will be short and sweet, since I just tumbled home from a road trip down south to Tennessee. To honor the fact that I have seen green for the FIRST TIME IN FOREVER, G is for Green today.

First off, we have yet another one of the Seven Princesses to visit: The Tartar princess of the Green Pavilion. This princess tells Bahram Gur a story about a scholar whose only joy in life was his daily walk in the park; other than that hour or so, he spent all his time studying and reading, and was too busy even to take a wife and start a family. But one day on his walk a woman passed by him, and as a breeze lifted her veil he caught a glance at her face, and instantly fell in love. He spent weeks searching for the mysterious woman, but never saw her again. In his desperation he decided to take a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
When it was time for him to leave the holy city, a local scholar persuaded him not to wait for the caravan, but rather set out with him as a guide through the desert. As anyone can suspect, this proved to be a very bad idea. The scholar got completely lost, and after a few days tumbled into a well and died. Our man finally made his way home and went seeking the scholar's house to give the bad news to the family. And guess who opened the door... That's right.
Sometimes even these princess stories have a happy ending.

Another green story is a Hungarian folktale titled Green Peter. I have included it in my book on superpowers under "Heightened Senses" because it tells about a princess who could see through walls and as far as she wished. Green Peter, the tale's male hero, is challenged to hide from this princess in order to win her hand in marriage. Obviously this is no easy task, as anyone could testify who ever attempted to play hide and seek with Superman. Just when Peter starts to get desperate, magical things come to his help... and of course, all is well in the end, just for the single reason that super sight does not help you notice things that are too close to you.
I am sad to say for this theme, the story never actually reveals why he is called Green Peter. If you would like to see a colorful cartoon version of this tale, click here.

For a great (folk?)tale collection of Irish stories, read The Green Hero by Bernard Evslin.