Children's Fairy Tale: Prince imprisoned by rival kingdom when he accidentally crosses border, they think he's just a criminal. Falls in love with princess in garden by dungeon window. Old trad. illustrations. Read around 1999-2003. Read English/ Spanish.

[Heisy]

Hi! I’ve been looking for a fairy tale I read as a child. I’m really hoping someone else has read it and that it wasn’t my very active imagination.

Book details:
I read it in elementary school and it could have been in English or Spanish.
I would say I read it during the early 2000s (1999-2003) but it seemed like a fairy tale with old traditional illustrations. I think it was a small book that was part of a collection that came in the same box.

Plot details:
A prince goes hunting and accidentally crosses over to the rival kingdom. He is imprisoned and believed to be a criminal (they do not recognize him as a prince). He is locked in a dungeon with a window that faces a garden. The princess of that kingdom visits the garden and starts talking to the prince without ever seeing him. They develop a friendship and fall in love.

I could be wrong about this, but I think the king finds out that they had imprisoned a royal and now needs to make amends. Whatever the reason, the King owes the prince for imprisoning him, and the prince asks for the princess’ hand in marriage. The King does not want to agree to the marriage because the prince has been locked for so long that he looks awful and is rude to him (which the King deserved, imo).

So the king has the princess and all her maidens dress the same and wear a veil and only agrees to the marriage if the prince can figure out which one is the princess. The prince has all the maidens drink wine and figures out which one is the princess because her skin is so pale and translucent that he can see the red of the wine traveling down her neck.

Since the princess had never seen the prince and did not know he was their prisoner, she is sad. But when the King begrudgingly agrees to the marriage, the prince cleans up and talks to her letting her know she is the friend she’s been talking to. And they lived happily ever after.

That’s about everything I remember. I think there might also be a scene with a bee that flies around the princess because she is so sweet and lets the prince know that it was her disguised as a maiden.

[Kris]

Heisy, what was the prince doing when he was captured - e.g., hunting with a small group, by himself, etc.?

I copied a few book details to the topic header. Feel free to edit it.

[Heisy]

Kris wrote: "Heisy, what was the prince doing when he was captured - e.g., hunting with a small group, by himself, etc.?

I copied a few book details to the topic header. Feel free to edit it."

Hi Kris!

I think he was hunting by himself.
Thank you so much!