吾中生友

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There has been a long time for Shrek to come to realize that he himself is his best friend. Being an ogre physically different from other ordinaries, he has developed his own psyche ever since he was a little kid. An ogre is not meant to stay compatible with the humans, for he has as much his own business to care for as they do.

That day when he read that tale from the book, he was struck by that sheer epiphany. It must have been written by a fortuneteller, a witch, or someone with a familiar profession, and it must have been transcribed from a crystal ball with the visions of the future life. It was inevitable for him to cast his eyes upon it: totally it would change the track and detour him from bumping into the other direction. Now he gets the oracle from the tale and begins to pursue his own fortune.

The tale tells him in a faraway place there is a tower, in which a princess named Fiona lives under the constant threat of a dragon that spits fire underneath the tower. The princess is under a constant yearning for someone to rescue her out of the danger by keeping standing alone on the balcony, looking straight ahead towards some mysterious unknown depth of space. The tale also tells that an ogre is destined to be her rescuer, and they shall live happily ever after. Shrek is not a moron, but he incredibly throws himself into the fanciful possibility of being the brave one.

Thousands of miles he has traveled, hundreds of days he has left behind, eventually he comes to the tower about which the fire-spitting dragon lurks and the beautiful princess awaits. According to the tale, he should murder the dragon with his blade and unlocks the gate of the tower to fetch Fiona safe and sound down to the earth. That is the tale. Sometimes tale happens, sometimes not. When Shrek stands there down the tower, weaponless but staring upward at the bright and shiny cheeks of the princess, the tale does not happen. He forgets about the tale and concentrates on Fiona. But the dragon is awake and aware, with his flaming anger approaching and burning in front of the invader.

There is a sudden tremor of the earth, and the princess out of negligence falls off the balcony. The tremor is so great and so abrupt that the dragon ceases to fire and runs away to find a shelter against the collapsing rocks from above. With his giant body sticking to the ground, Shrek stares at the falling Fiona down into his arms. Pump! He has not done that heroic slaying of the dragon and the plot skips into a similar development. Perhaps the tale has been mistold and this is what it ought to be.

“Are you the prince who comes to rescue me from the tower and the dragon?” beaming Fiona cannot wait to pose the question when Shrek is running all the away from the collapsing tower.

“Oh honey, I am not a prince, and I shouldn’t have been a prince according to what the tale says about me. However, there’s no doubt that I am the one who bears the mission to save you from the danger.” Shrek answers while hugging Fiona tighter in his arms.

Smiling Fiona thinks of what she has read from the tale—a tale which is slightly different from the version that Shrek has read—there will come a hero to save her, and that hero should be an ogre, who has been cast a spell upon by some wicked witch and needs a proper moment to shake off that curse and return to the human form of a charming princess. There is no doubt that this one is the prince, and what she has to do now is wait for him to return to the human form.

Shrek is also waiting ever since the day of the rescue. He gets along quite well with Fiona just as Fiona gets along quite well with him He is waiting for the day when Fiona will become an ogre as much as he is. In the tale he has read, that happens when they two hug and kiss in the sun. Fiona is the unlucky princess who has been cast a spell upon by a wicked witch. As soon as she finds the one she loves and feels contented to spend the rest of her life with, she will turn an ogre. How pathetic it is to shatter the reasonable hope of perfection! And he waits. And she waits.

There has been a period of time when both of them are very happy. Shrek takes Fiona as his princess and Fiona literally takes Shrek as her prince. They stay compatible and never question again about the tale, for they are strongly convicted that whatever will be will be. The elapse of time gradually pushes the suspicion up to the throat from the heart, and later from the throat to the lips:

“What’s the matter, darling? Why don’t you turn into an ogre? You are supposed to be…”

“Yet why are you still an ogre instead of the prince? Aren’t you bewitched and the spell should be out of power since I’ve been so long with you?”

There seems some misunderstanding and misexpectation between the two of them, obviously. They are acting according to the two different versions of the tale: an ogre with another ogre, or a princess with a prince. Without the awareness of it, they are perfectly happy: love burgeons against all odds. Shrek is converted into believing the possibility of an ogre falling in love with a human princess, and Fiona also feels the thumping of her heart when the ogre looks into her eyes. No, but the book doesn’t say the tale should happen like this; it doesn’t. In a hurry, Fiona and Shrek respectively turn over those pages of the tale in their book, and seek for reassuring answers.

Definitely Shrek is not the one that is going to turn into the prince, and neither is Fiona turning into an ogre. The book is false! says Fiona. The book is false! says Shrek. The books are false. Nothing is as true as the heart, and they can feel it. But the book exists, or rather, the books exist. They have to follow the instructions of the book as if it is their bible; it was the book that bound them up in intimate connection.

“Am I going to find Fiona the princess-turned ogre? I doubt. ”

“Does the ogre-turned prince really exist as the tale suggests? I’m not sure.”

They still have a chance to try, for it is not the end of the world. They should return to their former status and state of mind, although it is not so completely possible. When Fiona gets back to the balcony of the tower, stretching out her arms for the prospective arrival of the heroic prince, Shrek keeps standing down there watching attentively. He stands, as if Fiona is sun and he is the flower. Reluctant to leave, or unaware of leaving, he stands. Perhaps deep in his heart there are concerns about the princess, and the scenario of another tremor haunts him. He remains there to provide a sort of protection lest Fiona should fall again and there will be his arms, lest the fire-spitting dragon should make its return and there will be his fight. He has deserted the tale and thinks of writing one of his own, in which he has a third plot. The story should be written more than it should be read. He stands and she looks. Together with the tower they form a statue. They are a statue. They are.