The History of Pinky Swear

Once upon a time in a great, huge kingdom, there’s wise Princess. She’s so pretty so Princes from all over the world came to propose her. At the end, five handsome princes made it to the final pick. To see who would be the best match for her, she gave them a test. She hid her right hand behind her back and folded her finger but one. And the princes had to guess which it was.

The first prince she saw is totally a rich. He wore gold in every inch in his body—golden tunic, golden hat, golden shoes. He lifts his thumb and offers her a big, beautiful golden ring. The Kingdom would be so rich if she marries him, but the finger wasn’t match so she walked pass him by.

The second prince looks so clever. He’s got bold eyeglasses in his face. He lifts his index finger, as he always did to his teacher. The Kingdom will be a developed Kingdom, but she passes him because the finger didn’t match.

The third prince is the strongest one, she presumed. He’s so tall with big muscles in his arms. The Kingdom will be more powerful, she thought. But he lifted his middle finger. The Princess stays in freeze in a while, slap him and pass him by as it wasn’t the same unfolded finger.

The fourth prince is the most talkative prince. He always admired her, flatter her with those sweet words and praise her. It makes her happy. However, he lifted the ring finger. It probably a good meaning of marriages, but she pass him by cause that’s not the unfolded finger she hides.

Then she made a step to the last prince. He wasn’t the strongest, richest, genius or Casanova prince like the others. It’s her last hope, the Princess said to herself. The prince raises his hand in silence, everybody waiting in suspense. Then he lifted his baby finger, the smallest one all over the fingers. Surprisingly, the Princess show off her unfolded finger and it match. And that’s the sign that she finally found someone. Soon they get married and they live a happy life. They couldn’t be any happier.

But the Crusade began and the prince had to go to war. Before he left, he promised her that he will come back alive. He crossed her pinky to her, and that is swear he made to her wife.

Days, months and finally years pass away. There’s no news from him and she couldn’t tell whether he still alive or dead. And because she was still beautiful in ages, although so many men came to the palace and asking her to remarry them, she has a faith. She believes that her husband would come back and turned them down.

But at some time, she couldn’t turn them down anymore. She decides to remarry suitors who would cross his pinky with hers. But nobody understand the pinky swear she aim.

One day, a filthy beggar came and showed up at the palace. The guard tried to throw him out, but the Queen tells him to come in because everybody’s should be given an opportunity. She lifted her pinky finger and the beggar cross his pinky to hers. The she realized that the beggar was the Prince. The Prince comes back! She was so glad and relief that finally her husband came back. The Princess and the Prince live well then.

Until there’s one day, In the middle of the night, she wake up and find out that the Prince had disappear. The truth is, the Prince got killed in his way home from the battlefield. The ghost, the folks believe, will stay for 49 days. That was the 49^th days after his death. It’s the last night, and the Prince was come back to fulfilled his promised. A pinky swears is his promise to come back alive. He had to come back even as a ghost to keep his promised he’d made to his wife.

After a big search, she finally found his body. As she cross her finger to his, she drank a poison. She fell asleep in his arms and never wakes up again.

P.s. I wrote this story by myself but I don't make this story. When I was younger, I watched a late-night movies and there's a part when the women told this story to her boyfriend. I google it and found out the title of the movie is Windstruck. It's Korean and I don't remember how the story goes but this fairy tale.