I had a dream last night...
I saw the Golden Bird, singing before the Golden Princess in a lavish room of the Golden Apple King, when the King himself joyously burst in.
“Princess! Princess! You must come see the horse!” when he saw the Bird in song, and the girl happily walking about. “What is this? How lovely it is to see you so merry. Just what has happened to bring this about?”
“I do not know.” she replied, cheerfully springing over to him. “It is as if my bridegroom himself has come to me!”
The King thought back to his two sons who had brought her to the castle, hoping it was one of them. “And do you know... who your bridegroom is?”
The Princess turned away, reminded of the threats the evil brothers had made. She plopped down onto a cushion, and looked up at the King, “I... I must tell you what really happened, along the journey that brought me here. It was your youngest son that proved himself before my father, and showed to me that he is my true betrothed. And along the way, a kind, talking fox even helped him to get the Golden Bird and the Golden Horse. But on the way back to you, we came across your other two sons, who had been causing much mischief in the town north of here. My betrothed helped them out of danger, only to be betrayed by them, being left for dead as they took his treasures as their own!”
The King couldn’t believe it. “But...”
“That was why we were all so sad in coming here.” the girl explained. “We feared the young Prince’s death, and resented those who betrayed him.”
“Then... What changed, just now?” asked the King.
The Princess leapt up, and hopped over to the window. “I am not certain... I can only describe it as the return of hope,” then looking back at the King, “And the reuniting of two destined hearts.”
This caused the King to wonder if his youngest son had survived after all, and was even in the very same castle walls as himself!
“Guards!” he called out, summoning four strong soldiers. “Send out a decree to have every unwed gentleman in the castle come before my throne.” Then turning to the girl, he said “Now, dear Princess, if you will join me in my throne room, we shall hopefully see if any of the men among us really is your true bridegroom.”
The girl nodded, turning to the Golden Bird, deciding to take him along, hoping he would identify the young Prince if he really were among them.
Passing through several chambers, they entered into one end of a large room, with an ornate chair that faced a set of steps, which led to a long hall, where several young men had already lined up.
The King sat down in his throne, asking the Princess “Is this first lad your betrothed?”
But she was caught up in looking among them all, leaning right and left, until she decided she had to get a closer look. She leapt down the stairs, and let the Bird fly rise up into the air.
The group of men before her parted to each side, revealing someone she instantly recognized. “My Prince!” she exclaimed, jumping on to him, with the Bird circling around over their heads.
It was the young Prince indeed, whom the girl led to his father, while the guards ushered the other men out.
The King rushed down the steps in front of his throne, embracing his boy. “My son! I knew I shouldn’t have let you go!”
“Father,” the Prince began, “I’m afraid... I must tell you some most disconcerting news about my brothers.”
The King looked over at the Princess and nodded. “So it is true.”
“I wouldn’t have believed it myself,” the Prince explained, “But they left me to perish in the woods. They pushed me into a well, stole the Golden Bird and Horse, kidnapped the Princess, and even came up with a story to shoot anyone wearing my clothes in the event that I had survived!”
Leaning around his son, the King signaled to some of his guards, sadly saying “Find my other two sons, and arrest them. They must be placed into the dungeon.”
The Prince looked at the Princess in his arms, then at his father. “I don’t know what would make them do something like this, but there was definitely something different about them.”
The girl raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Almost like they were ill, and not like themselves at all.” he replied.
When the Golden Bird, perching on the King’s shoulder, cried out:
“Golden Apples, I was made to take;
a witch’s cauldron, does poison make.
She sent them to the cheerful inn;
hoping they would do you in.
A potion not to drop you dead;
but darkens your heart and clouds your head.
For once the prince would find his mate;
she knew that next would come her fate.
Knowing the Bird, Horse, and Castle will go;
to the Princess golden, pure as snow.”
None of them could believe what they were hearing.
When the Prince noted “He must be talking about the Witch of the Golden Castle.”
So the Princess asked the Bird “But is there a way to cure the other princes?”
“A lock of her hair, is what the Witch used;
combined with the apple, a bite not refused.
So the creatures must gather, each one of gold;
and the prince with his apple, in the castle foretold.
This shall be the time, the Fox’s wish to come true;
then the Witch will be gone, and the poison will too.”
–Charles M Warren
