The king placed a strange iron helmet on his daughter’s head and locked it with a heavy padlock so that no one in the
kingdom would ever see her real face until the day of her wedding: but when a groom was finally found and the
helmet was removed during the ceremony, the entire palace froze in horror at what was hidden underneath
When Princess Elina turned six years old, something strange happened throughout the kingdom, something people
would remember for many years afterward. On that day, the king ordered the finest blacksmiths and carpenters to be
gathered at the palace, and that same evening a heavy wooden-and-iron helmet mask was carried into the little
princess’s chambers. It completely covered the girl’s head. At the front there were only narrow slits for her eyes and a
small opening near her mouth so she could eat and drink.
A massive iron lock hung from the helmet, and the king always carried the key around his neck without ever showing
it to anyone. Only the queen knew why he had done this to his daughter. A few months later, she became gravely ill
and died, taking with her the last person who knew the truth.
From that moment on, the princess always walked around wearing that strange helmet.
The most terrifying rumors began spreading throughout the palace. Some said the girl had been born with a horrible
deformity that the king was hiding from the entire world. Others were convinced an ancient curse had been placed
upon her. Some whispered that the king had seen something horrifying in his daughter’s face and had hidden her
away from people forever after that.
But no one knew anything for certain.
The servants were afraid even to look in the princess’s direction. Whenever she walked through the palace corridors,
everyone immediately fell silent. The girl almost never spoke, rarely went into the garden, and always kept herself
apart from everyone else. Only sometimes late at night did the servants hear her quietly playing an old piano in the
empty hall of the palace.
As the years passed, the fear surrounding her only grew stronger.
Several times the royal courtiers tried to discover the truth. One blacksmith once attempted to make a copy of the key
while the king was asleep, but by morning he had been banished from the kingdom. A young maid tried one night to
peek beneath the helmet when the princess had fallen asleep in a chair beside the fireplace, but the next day the girl
disappeared from the palace without a trace. After that, no one dared to risk it again.
The king always repeated the same phrase:
— She will remove the helmet only on the day of her wedding.
But the years passed, and no groom appeared.
No prince wanted to marry a girl whose face no one had ever seen. Many feared that something terrible was hidden
beneath the helmet. Some openly said they did not want to tie their lives to a curse.
The king grew older and more gloomy with every passing year. He understood that one day he would die and his only
heir would remain completely alone.
Then one day, a young prince named Richard arrived in the kingdom. He was the son of an impoverished ruler and
understood perfectly well that marrying the king’s daughter could change his life forever. Many considered him
insane when he announced he was willing to marry the girl in the iron helmet.
People in the city argued day and night.
— He’s only doing this for the throne.
— No, he simply wants to know the truth.
— What if he sees a monster?
Yet despite everything, the wedding was arranged.
On the day of the ceremony, the enormous cathedral was packed with people. Beneath the towering stone arches,
hundreds of candles burned, and along the red carpet stood the richest and most powerful guests in the kingdom.
Everyone was waiting for only one moment.
When the doors finally opened, it became so quiet that the crackling of the candles could be heard.
The king himself led his daughter toward the altar.
He wore a heavy dark-red fur-lined robe, while the princess walked beside him in a luxurious white dress embroidered
with silver patterns. But her head was still hidden beneath that same wooden-and-iron helmet with the lock that she
had worn her entire life.
Even the prince looked visibly nervous. When the girl approached, he could not take his eyes off the strange mask for
several seconds.
The priest began the ceremony with a trembling voice, and then came the moment everyone had been waiting for.
Slowly, the king pulled the old key from beneath his robes.
Whispers instantly spread throughout the cathedral. Some guests even stood from their seats to see better.
The old king’s hands visibly trembled as he inserted the key into the lock. A heavy metallic click echoed through the
cathedral.
Then the king very slowly removed the helmet from his daughter’s head. And in that very second, the entire cathedral
froze. Someone gasped. A woman dropped her glass onto the stone floor. And the prince himself stepped backward
in shock. Because beneath the helmet was… The continuation of this incredible story can be found in the first
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Beneath the helmet there were no deformities, no scars, nothing horrifying.
Quite the opposite.
The princess was unbelievably beautiful. So beautiful that for several seconds people simply stared at her in silence
as if they could not believe their own eyes. She had long golden hair, pale skin, and unusual light-colored eyes that
immediately captured everyone’s attention.
But what frightened the guests most was something else. There was not a single emotion on the girl’s face. She
looked at the people with a cold, empty stare, as if something inside her had died over all those years.
The prince tried to smile at her, but the girl did not even look in his direction.
Then one of the old royal advisors could no longer hold himself back and quietly asked the king:
— But why… why did you hide such a daughter her entire life?
The old king remained silent for a long time before answering very softly:
— Because I saw the way men looked at her mother. Wars, betrayals, and murders began because of her beauty. I did
not want such a fate for my daughter.
After those words, he suddenly dropped to his knees in the middle of the cathedral and began to cry.
And for the first time in many years, the princess spoke of her own will. She slowly looked at her father and quietly
said:
— You did not hide my face… You hid my entire life.
After that, the girl turned around and walked out of the cathedral alone, leaving behind the prince, the guests, and her
own father.
They say that only a few days later, she left the palace forever. Some claimed they saw her in distant northern lands,
while others said she lived among ordinary people under a different name.