I had a dream last night...
I saw the Golden Princess, in a thin white gown, entering a trail through the woods in the moonlight, having left two guards behind to await her return.
Wandering down the narrow path, she came to a place where the trees opened up into a pool of water amongst the forest.
She made her water toward the water, when someone grabbed hold of her hand. Knowing it must be her maidservant, she turned to see what she wanted, when the Prince leaned up to her and kissed her on the cheek!
It was he that had grabbed her, saying to the girl "Princess, please, come with me."
Seeing that he was awaiting her consent, she nodded. "I will go with you."
So he began leading her down a stream through the thick forest, when she suddenly stopped.
"Oh, but my parents." she explained, reminding herself of the conversation she had with her mother. "I must say goodbye to them first!"
"But Princess... We cannot. We must leave now. Before your guards realize you are gone."
"But..." she began.
"We have to keep moving." he instructed, pulling the girl along after him.
The poor princess couldn't help but start to cry, thinking about the promise she had made to her parents. "Please! Please! You must let me say goodbye to them. It would take but a moment. I will go anywhere you take me, if you just let me do this one thing."
The Prince stopped, and looked back at the Princess, seeing the tears in her eyes. "I'm truly sorry, dear princess, but I have promised to take you with me without stopping. I fear it may go badly for me if I don't."
"Dear boy, they are but my own guards. Yet, even if you must fear them, I know a way into my castle where we can avoid them. Only please let me bid my parents farewell."
The Prince could resist her pleas no longer, bowing his head as he told her "Very well, Princess. You may lead the way to them."
The Girl took him back to the springs, and into the woods on the other side. After a short hike, they came out to a wide field, with the wall of the castle on the other side.
Leading him along the castle wall, she stopped at a spot that looked no different from the rest, yet pulled open a secret door. Slipping inside with the Prince, they passed a young boy whose duty it was to watch that very wall, with the Princess merely raising her finger to her lips.
They make it inside, and as far as the kings chambers itself, when the Prince grabbed the Princess by the arm. "You aren't going to actually wake them, are you?"
She looked back at him, and shook her head. "Only tell them goodbye and give them a kiss."
So the Prince let the girl go, waiting by the doorway.
The Princess crept up to her mother first, carefully giving her a kiss on the cheek and forehead. Stepping over to her father she did the same thing, whispering to them "Goodbye Mother. Goodbye Father. I will come visit."
But her mother began to stir, seeing her daughter and asking drowsily "Darling? What's going on?"
"Oh. Nothing Mother." the Princess replied. "You can go back to sleep if you wish."
And as her mother drifted back off to dreaming, the girl made it back to the doorway with the Prince, as he said:
"That was close."
They walked back up the hall a little ways, when the Princess seemed to remember something, turning to the Prince. "Oh, might I just get one thing from my room? A golden apple that I found on my windowsill."
"A golden apple!" he replied, too curious not too see it for himself.
She led him into her sleeping quarters, where she lit a lamp to illuminate an old dresser, opening it up to reveal the apple on a shelf, and a beautiful golden dress hanging nearby.
The Prince couldn't believe she had ended up with one of the Golden Apples. "And were there four in total?" he asked.
"No. Just the one."
The boy started to ask her further about it, when he noticed their reflection in a full-body mirror, with himself in his stately clothes, and the wonderful Princess in such a flimsy thing.
When the girl took the golden dress off its hook, and held it up to her body to show him. "Isn't it beautiful?"
The boy nodded. "Yes. Do put it on. I should like to see how it looks on you. But be quick, I fear we have stayed too long already."
She disappeared behind a folding screen, and quickly emerged in the gown fit for a queen.
"Truly beautiful indeed!" remarked the Prince, backing up and bumping a small table. He looked to see if it would fall, and watched as a whole porcelain tea set went crashing to the floor, with the clatter echoing across the room.
In rushed the king and a dozen guards, imediatly siezing the Prince, and standing between him and the king's daughter.
The Princess tried to plead with them, saying "It's quite all right! I wish to go with him!"
But this concerned the king all the more, as he ordered "Take the boy to the dungeon! We will discuss what to do with him in the morning."
–Charles M Warren
