The Fairy's Return and Other Princess Tales (12 page)

King Humphrey II wished there weren't so many courses. Another half hour of this and he'd faint.

The meal finally ended. King Humphrey II stood up quickly. “Sonora, sweet, show your guest the garden.” Get him out of here!

Sonora curtsied and led the prince away. Queen Hermione II headed for her daughter's bedchamber to see what Sonora needed for her trousseau. The king decided to take a nap.

Prince Melvin XX held the door to the garden open for Sonora. “My father says you're smart,” he said slowly. “And I believe him. He always tells the truth. If he were a liar, I wouldn't believe him.”

“That's reasonable.” Sonora tried to smile, but she couldn't. I can't smile because I'm sad, she thought. If I were happy, I would be able to. Aaa! I'm thinking the way he talks. “Our roses are over here.”

“I see them. The red ones are very red.” He went on. “I'm glad you're smart. When I'm king, you can write my proclamations. I'll tell you what to say.”

“If you tell me what to say, why—”

“Thinking gets in the way. People can be too smart. I'm a Man of Action. The fairies made me that way. I always know what to do. Father had to write a proclamation the other day . . .”

Sonora bent over to sniff a peony. Here was another person who would never want to listen to her.

The king couldn't fall asleep. His head hurt too much. Compared to the prince, Sonora was a pleasure to listen to. He rolled over onto his stomach.

In Sonora's room, Queen Hermione II began to take gowns out of the wardrobe and spread them across Sonora's bed. The child needed new ones for her trousseau. Five or ten new gowns. The prettiest gown Sonora had was blue, embroidered with seed pearls. Where was it? She turned back to the wardrobe.

Sonora and Prince Melvin XX stood next to the weeping cherry tree. He was talking as usual. She had stopped listening an hour ago. He was saying very slowly that he didn't see much use for flowers. Vegetables were different. He saw a use for them. He began to list all the vegetables he could think of.

Sonora wondered how bad sleep could be. A hundred years of sleep would be shorter than five minutes with the prince. As soon as she got away from him, she'd go to her room and prick herself.

No! If she did, he'd fall asleep too, and in a hundred years she'd still have to marry him. But then she wouldn't have a hundred years of sleep to look forward to. So she couldn't prick herself now. She'd have to wait and do it when he went back to Kulornia to get ready for the wedding.

“I especially like boiled corn in the . . .”

But meanwhile she didn't have to spend hours with him. She could think of an excuse to get away. She wasn't so smart for nothing.

“Do you like corn too?”

He'd stopped talking. He was looking at her, waiting. He must have asked her something.

“I'm sorry. What did you say?”

“I said do you like corn too?” Was she hard of hearing? That wouldn't be good. His own hearing was perfect.

“Not particularly.” Maybe he wouldn't want to marry her if she didn't like corn.

“Oh.” He shrugged. “I never met anybody who didn't like it before.”

“Sir, I fear I must leave you for a while. The king likes me to use this hour for quiet meditation in my room. I will—”

“Corn might be my favorite—”

She fled.

The queen lifted the last gown off its hook. Where was the blue one? Was that it on the floor of the wardrobe? She bent down to see. But it wasn't the gown. It was a pile of old nightdresses. How could the Royal Chambermaids have left them in such a heap? They could have been there for years. Queen Hermione II started pulling them out. She'd fold them up and shame the wenches with them.

Something underneath. What—

“Aaaaa! Aaaaa! Aaaaa! Help! Treason! Aaaaa! Aaaaa!” Have to get it out of here! “Aaaaa!” Protect Sonora! “Aaaaa!” She grabbed the spindle. “Aaaaa!” Had to run! She ran around the room, not knowing where to go. “Aaaaa!” The shed! She had to get it to the shed! “Aaaaa!” She ran out of the room.

Sonora heard her mother's screams and thought, Spiders! She started running. Tarantulas! The screams sounded like they were coming from her own room. She thought, Black widows! I warned Father just last week. I have to reach Mother! I'm the only one who knows what to do if she's bitten.

The king sat up in bed. Was someone yelling?

The prince lifted his head. Someone was screaming. Was there a dragon? He looked up at the sky. He didn't see a dragon, so one couldn't be there.

“‘A
AAA
!' T
HE QUEEN TURNED THE CORNER
.
“‘C
OMING
! D
ON'T WOR
—' S
ONORA TURNED THE CORNER
.”

“Aaaaa!” The queen raced down the north corridor, away from Sonora's room.

Sonora raced up the west corridor, toward her room. Let me reach her in time!

“Aaaaa!” The queen turned the corner.

“Coming! Don't wor—” Sonora turned the corner.

The spindle pierced Sonora's outstretched hand.

Six

I
n the meadow across the moat, Elbert watched his father's flock of sheep. It was a boring job. The only time it was interesting was when the castle drawbridge was lowered. Then Elbert could watch who was going in and coming out, and he could also see into the castle courtyard.

The drawbridge was lowered now. A team of oxen was crossing with a wagonload of peaches. Juicy, ripe peaches. Elbert's mouth watered. Inside the courtyard, a butcher was cutting up a spring lamb. Elbert's stomach rumbled. He could almost taste it—roast lamb followed by peach pie.

On the drawbridge, the oxen stopped, and the driver slumped forward.

Huh? Elbert stared.

The driver almost fell off his bench. The heads of the oxen drooped. In the courtyard, the butcher stopped cutting. His head lolled to one side.

Arrows! Had to be arrows! Elbert spun around. No arrows were flying. He spun back. No arrows were sticking out of the wagon driver. None stuck out of the oxen.

He jumped up. Maybe he could help! Maybe he could get a few peaches and that lamb.

What was that? Something was growing along the outer rim of the moat. He started running. Whatever it was, it was growing fast—as high as his knee already. But he didn't have far to go. He ran faster. The hedge was as high as his waist. He'd jump over, grab the wagon driver, and drag him to safety.

He reached the moat. But the hedge was now up to his neck. He could still climb it, but he'd never get the driver out, and he'd get caught inside too. He stood before the hedge, panting. In his last glimpse of the drawbridge, Elbert saw one of the oxen switch its tail to brush away a fly. The ox was alive! It was—it was—asleep!

The hedge zoomed up, taller than Elbert. Taller than twice his height. Tall as the old maple in front of his cottage. Tall as the church steeple.

Elbert turned back to his sheep. Now herding was going to be completely boring, without the drawbridge and courtyard to watch.

The queen's last wide-awake thought was: The child will spend the next hundred years lying on a cold stone floor.

The king's last thoughts were: Our headache's gone. We feel sleepy. We could sleep for a hundred years.

The prince's last thought was: I could take a nap. Sleep is good for you. My father told me that . . .

Sonora's last thought was: Oh no, I'll have to marry him. Aaaaa!

The fairy Adrianna appeared in the courtyard. The hedge looked good. It was high and dense and prickly, with thorns as long as her wand.

In the castle she stood over the sleeping forms of Sonora and Queen Hermione II. I can't leave them on the floor, she thought. She waved her wand, and the queen floated to the bed in the royal bedchamber, next to the king. Then she moved Sonora to her room and arranged her gracefully on the bed. She placed a wooden sign on Sonora's stomach. In flowing script it said,
“I am Princess Sonora. Kiss me, prince, and I shall be yours forever.”

Sonora wouldn't have liked that, not one little bit.

Prince Melvin XX was sneezing in his sleep, stretched out in a bed of clover. The fairy moved him to a wooden bench. Then she left without making anybody else more comfortable. They weren't royal, and they could make the best of wherever they happened to be.

In the next hour she appeared here and there throughout Biddle. She told everyone she saw that the royal family had gone on a journey. She said she had created the hedge to keep things safe while they were away.

Everyone believed her—everyone except Elbert the shepherd.

That night Elbert started building a very tall ladder, the tallest one in Biddle. A week later, when the ladder was finished, he dragged it to the hedge and climbed up.

The peaches were brown and rotten. The dead lamb was covered with flies. But everything else was the same. The oxen stood on the drawbridge, their heads drooping. The butcher leaned over his chopping block, the knife still in his hand. While Elbert watched, the butcher lazily reached up with his other hand to scratch his nose. They were all still asleep!

But why? Elbert wondered. Princess Sonora knows, he thought, but don't ask her. He laughed. Don't ask her because she's sleeping.

Seven

S
onora dreamed it was her wedding day. The great hall was filled with guests. Prince Melvin XX stood next to her. The Chief Royal Councillor was reciting the wedding ceremony. The prince hadn't moved once the whole time. He's like a block of wood, Sonora thought.

The ceremony was almost over. The Chief Royal Councillor said, “Prince Melvin XX, will you say a few words?”

The prince began to speak. Sonora saw a hinge at the corner of his mouth. She looked at his arm next to her. It was carved of wood! He was a big wooden puppet.

“Weddings are good. Everybody has fun at a wedding. There's always . . .”

Everyone clapped. Prince Melvin XX kept right on talking. Sonora screamed, “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa . . .”

When Prince Melvin XX didn't return to Kulornia, King Stanley CXLIV sent a messenger to Biddle. The messenger came back and told the king about the journey the royal family was thought to have made. King Stanley CXLIV reasoned that the prince must have left with them. He wondered where they'd gone and hoped it was a good place for an Honest, Traditional, Brave, Handsome, Strong, and Tall Man of Action who was also a Good Dancer.

Five years passed. King Stanley CXLIV died, and Prince Melvin XX's younger brother, Prince Roger XCII, was crowned king of Kulornia. His first act as king was to annex the kingdom of Biddle, the kingdom without a king.

The saying “Princess Sonora knows, but don't ask her” spread from Biddle to Kulornia.

Queen Hermione II dreamed that Sonora was a little girl again. She was in the queen's lap, talking about the hissing turtle. Sonora said that the turtle hisses to fool people into thinking it's a whistling teakettle. Then why does the teakettle whistle? the queen asked. Because it doesn't know how to sing, Sonora explained. And Queen Hermione II thought, She's an extraordinary child.

Ten years passed. The shepherd Elbert's son Elmo was four years old. Elbert dragged his long ladder to the hedge again. He climbed the ladder with Elmo in his arms. “See,” he whispered into his son's ear. “They're all asleep. Fast asleep.”

King Humphrey II dreamed that he was writing a proclamation making the beaver the Royal Rodent of Biddle. He wrote each word as clearly as he could. But as soon as he finished a word and went on to the next, the letters in the last word changed. For instance, “beaver” changed to “molar,” and “rodent” changed to “jerkin.” It was very annoying.

“H
E CLIMBED THE LADDER WITH
E
LMO IN HIS ARMS
.”

Every few years, Elbert's sons and grandsons and great-grandsons climbed the ladder to look at the sleeping court of Biddle.