The Taking Of The Golden Princess
Night One: Quests And Questions
I had a dream last night...
I saw the Prince, trudging through the woods at midday, and looking none too happy.
The Fox came hopping along, looking up at the Prince as he said "Good friend, I see that you have overlooked my advice yet another time–"
When the Prince angrily spun around. "What have you gotten me into?! I've become nothing more than a common thief! And not a very good one at that!"
The Fox looked around in confusion, uncertain of what to say. So the Prince continued:
"All my father wanted was the bird that belonged to this golden feather, and now I'm on my way to kidnap the daughter of a king!"
"My Prince," the canine began, "I tried to warn you of the way you should go. But ease your mind, I can assure you that all of this is to set things right. You know that those men are not the true owners of the horse and bird, they were merely given to them as bargaining chips!"
"And what of this princess?" asked the boy, turning away in frustration. "I suppose there is something I am to look out for here as well? And if she really to go to that scoundrel?"
The Fox closed his eyes and lowered his head. "I can assure you that the Princess will not end up with the Rider of the Golden Horse, for I am twice the gentleman as he! The Princess will go with you willingly, she has been waiting for you, and I know where to find her."
The Prince looked back at the creature, asking "Then where am I to take her?"
"That will come at its appointed time. For now, let's make our way to her castle. Here, sit upon my tail once more."
But the boy hesitated.
So the Fox told him "I have not steered you wrong up to this point, and I shall not start now."
The boy considered it for a moment.
"I want things to turn out right... far more than you know."
Finally, the Prince nodded. "I will do as you say. But promise me that this is the last time I shall every have to steal anything."
"The very last indeed." replied the Fox. "And on any account, a willing princess is not stealing at all!"
So the Prince sat onto the Fox's tail, and away they went, flying over stock and stone, until the wind whistled through their hair!
Nearing the castle, the canine stopped at the edge of the nearby forest, and let the Prince get back on his feet again.
Adjusting his hat, the Prince asked "Just tell me in which room I will find her."
"Oh, she will not be in the castle tonight. In preparation for her Birthday, she will be taken to the royal springs to bathe. You must hide near the springs until she appears, and quickly step out and kiss her on the cheek. Then she will know that you mean her no harm, and shall willingly follow you where ever you go."
"If it is as easy as that, I think I shall like this one most of all." declared the boy.
"But, my Prince, you still need be aware. I know the Princess. She will want to wish her parents goodbye. But you cannot let her. You must resist her pleas. For if she goes, you may find her beautiful golden dress to much to resist, and ask the maiden to try it on. Beware I say, or it may go badly for you."
The Prince nodded. "This time, I will follow your advice to the letter."
–Charles M Warren
Night Two: The Servant And The Song
I had a dream last night...
I saw the Golden Bird, perched in his wooden cage, late in the afternoon. When a male servant of the Hunter appeared, replenishing the food in the bird's cage.
The Golden Bird began to sing the most beautiful song, causing the eyes of the servant to brighten.
"Not only are you beautiful to the eye, but to the ear as well!" said the servant.
He looked out the window as he listened to the bird sing, saying to himself "I wonder where it is you went when I let you out all those nights ago?"
And suddenly the bird stopped, looking curiously at the servant boy, until he was looking back at him. When the Bird spoke:
"The old woman of the castle so bright, beckoned me to do her bidding one night. And though that castle was once where I belonged, she should not be there, its owners were wronged. O wonderful castle, of gold not of stone; why are you so empty, your halls so alone."
"The old woman?" asked the boy.
"She is not the first, but the second, it's true; a betrayal that happened not to one, but to two."
"Then, to whom does the Golden Castle belong?"
The Bird replied "When a queen almost died, birthing a child; a fairy came in, quiet and mild. She saved queen, so it was told; and out came a girl, with hair made of gold. And once she grew up, meeting a man of success; she had a babe like herself, the golden princess."
"The Golden Princess!" the servant exclaimed, "I've heard of her! They say she's the most beautiful woman ever to step foot in this land!"
Then the Golden Bird began to sing, producing a wonderful, otherworldly melody, that made one feel both sad and joyous at the same time. Until he suddenly stopped, reciting another poem:
"This girl, with hair of gold; will grow up kind, will grow up bold. She will see the castle, the horse and bird; until the time comes, with her brother is heard. Her prince will come, when her vulnerability is great; only to press his lips to her cheek, a nobleman's trait. And all of the Golden Creatures they'll gather; and live in that great castle, happily aver after."
–Charles M Warren
Night Three: The Rider And The Tailor
I had a dream last night...
I saw the Golden Horse, with the arrogant Rider on his back, racing toward the town north of the Golden Apple King.
They flew through the streets, past the butcher and the tanner, coming to a stop at the shop of a tailor, with expensive clothing hanging in the windows.
The Rider swung his leg off the saddle, and began to tie up the reigns, when the tailor came rushing out.
"Good day. Good day." he said.
The Rider turned to him. "Yes, yes. To you as well. I've come to buy–"
But he was interrupted by the shop owner: "Best not leave such a beautiful horse out here unattended." he said.
"What's that?" asked the Rider.
"It's those two rich hooligans." informed the tailor. "They'll sell anything they can get their hands on for another pint of beer and a song!"
"Well I've come for the fanciest suit you've got. One fit for a the groom of a princess on her wedding day!"
The shop owner's eyes brightened, seeing that the Rider was a rich man himself. "Well, we can do business right here." he told him. "I just got in two suits that match just such an occasion!"
The tailor disappeared into his store, as the Rider looked about the streets, wondering if he might catch a glimpse of the men the tailor was talking about.
The shop owner came back with two royal garment indeed, impressing the Rider as soon as he saw them.
Taking one of them up in his hands, the Rider said "Amazing! These could be nothing less than the clothes of a king!" He looked up at the man. "Where did you get these?"
"Actually, from those hooligans I spoke of." replied the tailor. "They sold them to me for half what they're really worth!"
"I'll take this one." instructed the Rider, of the yellow one in his right hand.
"So," began the store owner, watching his costumer count out his money, "Is this really for a royal wedding."
"Indeed it is, my good man!" he replied, swinging himself back up on his horse with the garment in his hand. "Mine! And with the Golden Princess!"
–Charles M Warren
Night Four: The Princess At The Springs
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
Night Five: The Prince's Task
I had a dream last night...
I saw the Fox, late in the afternoon, coming out of the woods near the Golden Princess' castle.
Slipping through a hole in the wall, he swiftly crept up to one of the windows, hearing the voice of the Princess herself:
"But Mother, I told you. He is my betrothed. The one the Golden Bird sang about!"
Yet the queen just shook her head. "We have no way of knowing that. He tried to take you away in the night! Your personal guards are lucky they won't be losing their heads."
"Then is it really necessary to give him such an impossible task?"
Her mother replied "If he really is your betrothed, then he will find a way."
"And if not?"
"Let's just wait and see what happens first."
Leaving them, the Fox went back through the fence, and across the front wall, looking for where the boy might be.
Finally, he found the Prince digging a hole into a large hill, one of about a dozen, scattered about.
"I have been looking everywhere for you." explained the Fox. "What happened with the Princess?"
The boy looked at him with a rather annoyed expression. "She has once again returned to the safety of her castle. I was caught yet again. But this I'm sure you already knew."
"Then what is this you're doing? Is this digging your punishment?"
"No." replied the Prince. "The king said that I must move this hill from his view of the valley by tomorrow morning. Only then may I gain the hand of the Princess, or else be charged with her kidnapping and endangering her life!"
The Prince wearily scooped up two more shovel-fulls of dirt, before crying out in frustration and throwing his utensil down, falling to his knees. "What kind of task is this?! The king will surely have my head for even touching the Princess."
The Fox calmly shook his head. "I did not speak my warning for no reason. But I know that you are a good lad, and I wish to help you." Looking up to see how low the sun was, he told the boy "Go lie down under that tree. Get your rest, and I will take care of this task for you."
The Fox waited until the Prince had fallen asleep, then began to whistle a most haunting melody, but of a different tune than the one that had put the guards to sleep.
And suddenly the trees and bushes nearby rustled with movement, as wolves, foxes, and bears emerged. Along with wild boars, hedgehogs, and squirrels. And out of the ground there even came moles and shrews.
"My brothers and sisters, aid me this final time, for the conclusion of my own quest is now in sight!"
–Charles M Warren
(Continued to Week Five)
