Annie Oakley and Frank Butler
Annie Oakley and Frank Butler
The lead characters of the famous Irish 1940′s musical Annie Get Your Gun, were inspired from the true love story of Annie Oakley and Frank Butler. Annie Oakley was a skilled rifle shooter. In 1881, the famous Baughman and Butler shooting act was performing in Cincinnati. Star of the show, champion Frank E. Butler, boasted that he could beat any local marksman and challenged the gathering. Butler was amused to see Annie Oakley taking his challenge. After missing his 25th shot, Butler lost the match and the bet. She not only won the competition but also his heart. He began courting Oakley, and they married on June 20, 1882. Butler abandoned his career to manage hers. They both joined the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Annie died in 1926 and her heartbroken husband died 18 days later after 44 years of togetherness.
Salim and Anarkali
Princes Salim, the son of The Great Mughal emperor Akbar and his wife, Mariam-uz-Zamani was a spoiled and rude boy who fell in love with a maid of the palace, a beautiful maiden Anarkali. The mesmerizing beauty of Anarkali captivated and charmed the prince and soon they were deeply in love. But the emperor could not bear the fact that his son was in love with an ordinary courtesan. He started pressurizing Anarkali and devised all sorts of tactics o make her fall in the eyes of the prince. Salim was sent by the king on a mission and Anarkali was entombed alive in a brick wall. The tragic story of the couple brings tears to the eyes of every couple.
Tristan and Isolde
Isolde of Ireland was the daughter of the King of Ireland. She was betrothed to King Mark of Cornwall but fell in love with Tristan, the nephew of the king. She continued her affair with Tristan after her marriage with King Mark. Soon the king came to know of the affair. His love for his wife made him forgive her but he banned his nephew from Cornwall. Tristan went to Brittany and met Iseult of Brittany. He was attracted to her because of the similarity of her name to his true love. They got married but he couldn’t forget her true love. This made him ill. He wrote a letter to Isolde in hopes that she would be able to cure him. If she agreed to come, the returning ship’s sails would be black, or the sails would be white if she did not intend to come. Isolde couldn’t bear separation from Tristan and lied to her husband ,but on seeing the white sails, tristan ,died of grief before Isolde could reach him. Isolde died soon after of a broken heart.
Prince Edward and Wallis Simpson
A sacrifice of wealth and power was made by Prince Edward for his beloved Wallis Simpson. Prince Edward of England fell in love with a charming American married woman, Wallis Simpson. Wallis divorced her husband and the two started living together and their romance grew rapidly. Wallis could not be a British queen due to her American nationality. Edward became King of England in 1936, but he soon abdicated the throne to be married to the woman he loved. Edward passed away on May 28, 1972. Wallis lived for fourteen more years, many of which were spent in bed, secluded from the world. She passed away on April 24, 1986
Pyramus and Thisbe
Babylonia’s most famous and inspirational love story is of Pyramus and Thisbe. Their love story started in 331 BC. Pyramus was the most handsome man and was childhood friend of Thisbe, the fairest and most attractive maiden in Babylonia. They both lived in neighborhood and their love grew along with them. Their parents were against their marriage. So one day they decided to run away and meet in the nearby fields near a mulberry tree. Thisbe reached there first and saw a lion coming near the spring close by to quench its thirst. Its jaws were bloody. She was frightened and ran away. In her fright she dropped her veil. The lion came and picked up the veil in his bloody jaws. At that moment, Pyramus reached near the mulberry tree and saw Thisbe’s veil in the jaws of the lion. He was heartbroken and forlorn and pierced his chest with his own sword in his grief. Thisbe couldn’t live without her beloved and died using the same sword. They were partners in life and partners in death.
Eloise and Abelard
In a letter to Abelard, Heloise wrote:
“You know, beloved, as the whole world knows, how much I have lost in you, how at one wretched stroke of fortune that supreme act of flagrant treachery robbed me of my very self in robbing me of you; and how my sorrow for my loss is nothing compared with what I feel for the manner in which I lost you.”
This is the true love story of a beautiful couple of a teacher and his disciple. The couple lived in France in 12th century. Peter Abelard, a professor and theologian, fell in love with his own disciples who was a young girl in her teens named Heloise. He was boarding at her residemce and was greatly admired by the uncle of Heloise who was also her guardian. Both were charming and intelligent making them an exemplary couple. Their secret relationship resulted in the wrath of Heloise’s uncle Canon Fulbert. They eluded and Heloise gave birth to a baby boy. Circumstances separated them. Heloise became a nun and Abelard lived the life of a monk. After few years they started writing long and passionate love letters to each other. Both Peter Abelard and Heloise continued to go on living, to write, to love, to contribute to our literary history. They didn’t kill themselves, or marry anyone else (unless you count the fact that both married the church). It is believed that their love letters still exist. They were buried together in Paris. Heloise speaks of losing Abelard:
“But if I lose you, what have I left to hope for? Why continue on life’s pilgrimage, for which I have no support but you, and none in you save the knowledge that you are alive, now that I am forbidden all other pleasures in you and denied even the joy of your presence which from time to time could restore me to myself?”
Napoleon and Josephine
Napoleon was immediately smitten when he saw the beautiful Josephine, but it took him years to woo her. Once they were together, theirs was a stormy romance full of infidelity and drama. When Josephine could not produce him an heir, Napoleon left her for another woman, and she died of a broken heart. Napoleon never got over Josephine - rumor has it that he carried violets from her garden in his locket until he died.
Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra Federovna
Nicholas, the future Czar of Russia, fell in love with the lovely German princess Alexandra. Against the wishes of both families, they were determined to be together, and were well-known for their public displays of affection! When the Bolsheviks took the Russian royal family captive, Alexandra and Nicholas were executed. Together.