I had a dream last night...
I saw the Golden Horse, with the arrogant Rider on his back, making their way toward the castle of the Golden Princess.
The Rider requested that he enter the castle grounds, and was allowed in. He rode to the castle garden, and found the Princess sitting under a tree with her maid-servant.
“Good day, lovely ladies.” he said, slowly riding up.
“Quite the beauty, isn’t he?” said the Rider.
“You know,” the Princess began, without even looking up, “we have a pantry that you’re welcome to, if you’re hungry.”
“Ha ha ha. That’s quite all right.” he replied. “Actually,” and he dismounted, “I came to ask for your hand in marriage.”
She turned to him in shock. “Marriage?! I hardly even...” then pulled herself back together, “My parents, they wouldn’t approve, you know.”
“But I talked to your father.” he explained.
“And.”
“And he said... whatever makes you happy.”
The Princess gave a sigh of relief, as the Rider went on.
“And I know that this horse will make you happy.” he told her.
“Then I’ll marry the horse!” she joked.
“Would you like to ride him?” he asked.
Her eyes grow wide with excitement. “May I?”
“Of course, of course.” replied the arrogant Rider, extending his hand to help her up.
But she moved around to the opposite side of the horse, and quickly swung up by herself.
The Rider, seeing that he had reached out in vain, merely stroked the top of the horse’s head, saying “You’ve heard how I obtained such a beautiful horse, haven’t you?”
The Princess looked at her servant with concern, replying “No, I suppose I have not.”
“It was three bears.” he explained. “Three bears had captured this darling little girl,” suddenly turning to the Princess, “With hair, almost as beautiful as yours.” trying to act as charming as possible. “They were threatening to cook the little girl, but couldn’t decide whether they wanted her rare, medium, or well done.”
“Where is the horse in this story?” she asked.
“Well, uh. I’m getting to that.” he assured. “Actually, to make a long story short, I saved the little girl by mixing up the bears’ dinner forks, and giving them poison apples. So her father gave me the Golden Horse as a reward!”
The maid-servant stepped out from the shade of the tree. “You just made that up on the spot!”
The Princess looked at the Rider curiously. “What kind of apples?”
“Great big golden ones!” he replied, gesturing the size with his hands. “See there! You know the sort!”
“And just where did you get them?” the maiden asked.
“Well, uh. The girl’s mother, she gave them to me, for me to use!” he explained. “And they all lived in this big golden– er, uh, house. Big golden house.”
But the Princess wasn’t convinced, deciding she had had enough. She looked down at the horse’s rider, “And you don’t mind if I take the horse out a little beyond the castle?”
“Anything to please you, my dear. Absolutely any–” but he was interrupted by the maiden.
“Thank you so much!” she exclaimed, guiding the horse over to her maid-servant. “How about a ride?” she asked, extending her hand out to her attendant.
She didn’t know how to respond, with the Rider just as puzzled, when the Princess grabbed her maid-servant’s hand, and swung her up behind herself.
Pulling the Golden Horse around, they galloped out of the garden, and flew out the front gate of the castle, racing faster than any normal horse could go.
–Charles M Warren
