(based on russian fairy tale by T.S.Aksakov "Scarlet Flower")
Once upon a time in a far far away country, there lived three beautiful young princes. They played sports and video games and studied; life was good for them. Once their queenly mother decided to go on a business trip and asked every son what would he like her to bring him from a far-away country. The eldest son wanted the most expensive and powerful server farm his mother could possibly find. He wanted to start his own IT business. The mother liked the request and agreed to find the servers. Middle son wanted the Queen to find the most luxurious and profitable piece of property and buy it for him. He wanted to become second Donald Trump. Mother loved middle son's plans as well and gladly agreed to fulfill his wish.
- And what do you want, Joshele? - she asked youngest, most beautiful son.
- Nothing, mama, thank you, I already have plenty of everything.
- Come on, Joshele, I am bringing big things for your brothers, I would bring even better stuff for you, just tell me what you want!
- Ok, mama, if you insist, I want the scarlet flower.
- Oh, dear, I can't promise I will bring it, but I will try my best.
Older princes laughed at him: "hahaha! scarlet flower! Josh, you read about it in some self-help book or some girl told you?" But youngest prince didn't care about it, he wanted only scarlet flower.
So, queen departed. Three sons missed her very much. The oldest one read every system administrator's handbook he could find in anticipation of his new wonderful server farm. Middle son talked to every contractor in every village and read every book about real estate he could find. And youngest one was helping maids to maintain the palace during queen's absence.
Sooner or later, the queen returned. The oldest son got amazing servers of every technology available. He almost went crazy mixing and matching them. They were new, shiny, fast and reliable. They had built-in self-corrections and were totally wireless. Middle son got an envelope. The envelope contained title for most luxurious mansion in neighboring kingdom. The location was to kill for, and middle son's head was overwhelmed with amazing things he could do with this property; any of them would be spectacularly profitable. Queen was delighted her gifts fit so well. However, something saddened her. "Joshele," she said to the youngest son, "I did not forget your request, don't worry. But I am awfully sorry, I couldn't bring it directly to you: I was told you have to get it yourself, and they gave me address with street intersection."
- Mama, that's wonderful! Quickly, please, tell me this information!
- Ok, it's 9898 XYZ Lane. Close to intersection of Unknown Boulevard and 900th Street.
- Awesome, I wrote it down.
- Now dear let's go have dinner and then go to bed. Tomorrow we will go to maps.google.com and will figure the directions.
But the youngest son was already gone. He couldn't wait another day without his scarlet flower.
He walked all evening; it was bigger exercise than he ever endured, even while sweeping palace floors for a lazy servant. He was sweaty and started smelling worse, but he still walked and walked. Son he became thirsty and hungry, not just sweaty, but he kept walking. He was glad he didn't stay to figure out which trains go there, because none did. Eventually he reached huge forest. It was scary and lonely, but Josh kept walking like a brave young prince. Eventually he came to a big but poorly maintained palace. He was afraid, but still stepped in and decided to ask for his scarlet flower.
He entered the palace, and suddenly everything turned clean and well maintained. Burning letters appeared on the wall saying: "Welcome to the palace Joshy! Don't be afraid at all. No one will harm you here. There is a pool and tennis courts on the back; there is garden behind them and jacuzzi in the basement. Please enjoy."
Young prince also noticed all sorts of fine dishes magically appearing in the room.
- Thank you. But how do you know my name and who are you? - asked young prince.
"I noticed you long ago, you're such a fine young prince. Enjoy your dinner.", the letters on the wall read.
And wonderful dishes from most exclusive restaurants moved towards the young prince. Even being a prince, he didn't see such luxury before.
- I still want to know who are you!" the prince said. But the wall was blank.
Young prince ate and slept on a luxurious bed (tumperpedic mattresses or imperial goose downs all the way). When he woke up, the bed made itself and shower doors opened for him. When he went to garden, birds approached him and sang their songs for him. When he went to eat, he only needed to say what he wanted, and immediately that dish appeared, perfectly done in a way he liked. He swimmed in pool, played with animals, ate wonderful foods, had best gym all to himself. He enjoyed all that but soon started becoming more and more sad. One day letters appeared on the wall asking him:"What's wrong, dear prince? did not you like your food or your bed? or birds didn't sing good songs to you today?"
- No, unknown creature, everything was fine here, but I miss my family and I want to go home.
- Please, dear Joshie, please! stay for 3 more months, and then if you insist to leave, I will let you.
- At least tell me who are you, finally?! I am tired of this wall thing! Can you at least add audio?
And the wall said in scary female voice: "I will tell you in the end of 3 months, if you stay."
Reluctantly, the prince agreed.
Since then, whenever he wanted to talk, he not only read letters on the wall, but heard a scary female voice. But it was still more real than fire letters without any audio. So, young prince was determined to find out who that creature was, who treats him so nicely, but writes in fire letters on walls and talks in female voice. His stay in palace was even nicer, he could talk to unknown creature about different topics, and got meaningful responses; there were many interesting conversations. Eventually, young prince even started liking that unknown creature. The creature was kind to him, gave him everything he asked for and then some. She was also very interesting to talk to.
One day, Josh as usually returned from a garden, and the creature's voice came from the air:"Joshy, 3 months passed, so if you still insist on leaving me, you are free to go."
Young prince said "You're good to me, so I am in no hurry to leave at all. But you promised to show yourself. So?"
Suddenly thunderstorm loudly broke the silence. Skies were shaking; it became dark and cold. Josh found himself in the garden, and next to him was the ugliest scariest witch! She said: "Well, dear Joshy, you wanted to see me, so here I am. My name is Rhonda."
Josh's jaw dropped... how could such a nice and smart lady have such hideous look? But she was so sweet and kind to him, she's also smart and caring. He looked at the witch again. She was crying. "Every year, a young prince comes here just like you. He lives here for some time and when he sees me, he runs away scared. But I really liked you, because you are so kind. But now you will leave, too." The witch walked away to the woods. Young prince yelled, "I did not say I am leaving! Don't put words in my mouth!!! Come back!!" The witch turned around. Prince walked up to her and kissed her in lips. "Rhonda, I love you and always will! Even if everyone else thinks you're ugly! I don't care, you're great and I love you!" The moment it happened, the thunder stopped, sun started shining, birds started singing, and Josh found himself standing to the best looking woman he could ever imagine. He walked past her and screamed "Rhonda! Rhonda! where are you?". The beautiful woman said "I'm Rhonda. Princess Rhonda. I was under spell of a powerful witch. That witch hated all girls who wanted to study math and computer science. She turned us into hideous creatures, and until beautiful prince falls in love with us, we would all be ugly and lonely. But you saved me from such fate. Thank you, dear Josh."
He took Rhonda's hand and started walking towards his home palace with her. He couldn't wait to introduce his beautiful bride to his family. But now Josh was concerned. "How can I bring this beautiful woman to my family? My brother is doing this server farm, and he definitely needs someone like Rhonda. They may end up spending too much time together on his start-up business." When they arrive to Josh's parents' palace, everyone was very happy to see them. Queen's agents informed the Queen long ago about Josh's activities; so, she wasn't too worried. Everyone loved Rhonda, too, - beautiful, strong, smart, generous spirit -- true royalty. Clearly, she was excellent choice for Josh.
But what about older sons? Well, the oldest one became workaholic. Many young princesses left him, because he didn't think it was important to spent time with them. He thought they were a distraction from his start-up business. Then recession hit, and he's gone bancrupt. Now he survived on small consultancy jobs. In his free time, he went to bars and tried to seduce women. It was clear he would be single for life. Middle brother's business turned out amazingly profitable. He converted mansion to a casino. He married once, then again, then again. He was very smart, so he signed pre-naptual agreements, but his wives still sued him if not for property share, then for kids' custody. They tried to revenge him as much as possible for all the pain and humiliation he caused them by his playboy ways. Meanwhile, Josh spent his time playing with young princess - his and Rhonda's first child. She was beautiful like her mother and kind like her father. Josh and Rhonda opened their own restaurant, Rhonda wrote management software for it and did some accounting; so, her math and computer skills were not wasted. The royal couple had 2 more beautiful children and lived happily ever after.