I had a dream last night...
The Princess rode the Golden Horse to the north, with her maid-servant sitting behind her. They flew through thickets and valleys, and jumped over streams and stones, until they trotted out onto a tall hill that rose above the forest.
The maid-servant couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Have you ever seen such a structure?!”
“No.” she replied. “But I’ve heard stories about it.” She pulled the horse around, and led him back down into the woods.
“What stories?” the maid-servant asked.
“My brother, before he died, was trying to retrieve for me the Golden Bird, as a Birthday gift. And he and his wife sought the help of the old woman that lives in that castle, who was the last one to see either of them alive.”
“Oh, I see.” she replied. “So your brothers wife? She was also..?”
“Well,” the Princess began, guiding the horse through a small stream. “At first we had hoped that she might have escaped the woods around Golden Castle, but no one has seen her since my brother was taken away from us.”
Then, whipping the horse’s reigns, the Princess urged the horse to race off again.
They zig-zagged around trees, leaped over fallen logs, and ran through the spray of majestic waterfalls.
Until the Princess pulled back on the reigns, and got the horse to slow down, leading him into a dark patch of woods.
“This is where it happened.” she explained, pointing to a patch of leaves on the ground. “And there,” she began, pointing out at some thick foliage above them, “Is where the Golden Castle is.”
“Could you tell what happened?”
“Yes. All we could find was the shredded pieces of his riding cloak.”
“Wolves?” the maid-servant asked.
“Most likely. But we could never be certain. The only thing that can be certain, is that I’m going to find whoever left my brother out here to die, and ensure that they pay for what they have done!”
The maid-servant looked around nervously. “Then maybe we should get back to OUR castle.”
“Yes. I suppose you are right.” the Princess replied, turning the horse around and urging him to go faster.
–Charles M Warren
