The Story of the Lost Princess - 1

Rav Kluger has a two commentaries on each of the stories of Rebbe Nachman. The first one he calls דרך עבודה, it is meant to give us life lessons in how to conduct ourselves. The second one elucidates the kabbalistic concepts that lie behind Rebbe Nachman's stories. As has always been the case I will share Rav Kluger's words through my own eyes. By that I mean that I am not attempting to create a word for word translation, I'd much prefer restating his words in a way that is more palatable to an English speaking audience, and therefore I can only say that what I write is inspired by his commentary and may be, or may not be, what he intended.
Rav Kluger first brings down the entire story in Hebrew and Yiddish and then breaks it into pieces for the commentary. If you would like to read the entire story please look here. I will be primarily utilizing their translation:

There once was a king, who had six sons and one daughter. This daughter was very precious to him. He loved her exceptionally, and took great delight in her. Once time, he met with her on a certain day and he lost his temper at her, and an utterance escaped his mouth: "May the no-good-one take you!" In the evening she went to her room, and in the morning, no one knew where she was. Her father became very distraught, and he went everywhere looking for her.

The viceroy stood up, for he saw that the king was very troubled, and asked that the king  provide him with a servant, a horse, and money for the journey, and set out to ask for her. He searched exhaustingly for a very long time, until he found her. (And following is the account of how he searched for her until he found her). He went from place to place for a very long time, in deserts, fields and forests. And he searched for her a very long time. As he was crossing a desert, he saw a path to the side, and he resolved to himself: "Seeing that I've been going such a long time in the desert and I cannot find her, I'll try this path - maybe I'll come to a settled area." And he went a very long time on that path

It is evident that the lost princess is a metaphor for the neshama which falls to the No-Good-One when it enters the body and wanders like a lost sheep throughout a lifetime. Rebbe Nachman is pointing out that many people search for a lifetime and cannot find the path back to their neshama. Sometimes a person can search with great alacrity and deep down know that he is searching down the wrong path, as the story says, " He went from place to place, for a very long time, in deserts, fields and forests. And he searched for her a very long time." Non-stop searching and nothing found.

Rebbe Nachman is telling us that there is a way to get to civilization, "a path to the side," it's a path that long and narrow. Long in the sense that one who goes down this path must have great patience. Until now the viceroy was engaged in major undertakings that were very difficult, but he was certain that they would quickly lead him to the princess. But it became clear to him that they were not leading him to his destiny, it was not the right approach. major undertakings come from a lack of faith. the side path that leads him to his destiny is the one of patience and short (קצרה=נשמה) because it is built on faith and patience and connects him back to his neshama.

A person can spend years studying many seforim, listening to the lectures of rabbis and preachers and discover countless concepts that seem to sit well with him and that he is certain will bring him success. But when he takes each of these ideas he becomes disconnected because he is taking them to himself. He remains the same person as he has always been without the slightest change, but he takes all of these ideas and fits them in to who he is. The right path takes the opposite approach, "Make for yourself a teacher," give yourself over to the rabbi or sefer until you are like nothing before it and you give up your own view. Turn yourself into a receptacle for the path being shown, even if it is the opposite of what seemed right to you beforehand.

A genius has an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is obvious. The disadvantage is that he can grasp lofty intellectual concepts that do not truly sit well deep within himself. He is like a child trying on his mother's designer high heels. Inevitably he will trip and fall. This is why a child prodigy can have tremendous Torah knowledge and still be exempt from performing mitzvos. He does not have the maturity to really connect to what he is studying and is not an appropriate vessel.

One who spends years searching unsuccessfully needs to let go of the wide expanses of deserts, fields and forests and enter the path on the side. The path that is narrow and initially doesn't seem to be the right path. He needs to say to himself, "I've spent years searching, deep inside I know how miserable I am. I've searched all this time in the desert and I can't find her, let me go down this path, maybe I will find civilization."

Many people have received the light of a Tzaddik shining brightly in the absence of a teacher who can help them fit the light to themselves. Over time it becomes light without a container and they don't know how to integrate it. They have no interest or ability to seek out an alternative light, and they have no way to grasp the great light that they have. They are in a Catch-22 in that if they are not willing to give themselves over completely to a particular path they will never have the ability to integrate the light in a manner that fits who they are.

The Power of a Story

In the introduction to Rav Chesed, a collection of explanations on Rebbe Nachman's stories based on shiurim of Rav Avraham Zvi Kluger, Rav Kluger explains why it is that Rebbe Nachman often told the stories while traveling. What follows is my adaptation of what he says.
When a person is following his daily routine at home and work he usually lacks the ability to step outside of himself and take a good look at how he is conducting his life. It is only when he travels and enters into a situation where things are out of the regular order that he finds himself in unanticipated situations, he discovers ideas that he never knew about and sometimes realizes that while he thought the trip was for one purpose, it was really for another. This was especially true in previous generations when travel was dangerous and a person had no idea what would happen to him until, if, he returned home. Because of the poor communication in the past he could travel long distances expecting to meet with someone and discover that the entire journey appears to be for naught. And even in today's word of instant communication, we still recite tefilas haderech, because traveling still contains an element of the frightening unknown.
Telling a story can be quite trippy as well. Story telling, and listening, is an opportunity to take our minds out of the rote and mundane lives we live and to go on a flight of fancy and view life and existence from a very different perspective. We may still be physically in the same space where we were to begin with, but our minds can now travel across the universe and experience new paradigms of thought that would remain locked to someone who doesn't travel in a coach or in his mind.
רב חסד א' ט"ו