3 Dead Princes: An Anarchist Fairy Tale Read Online Free Page B
Author: Danbert Nobacon
now, in going north to the mountains. Trying to make his world work better. But enough of politics and pumpery … for hark, fellow travelers, the cock crows forth already. And there are many early risers in Bald Mountain Castle.
Chapter 5
GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS
Q ueen Gwynmerelda was already up and doing yoga. She was a striking figure, even when stood on her head, which allowed the blood from her feet to refresh her brain and temporarily squish her face. Righting herself, and passing from the bedroom to the bathroom, Gwynmerelda was neither as ugly nor as evil as our traditions might have led us to believe. Not even when she sat on the toilet. For if the jury was still out on whether the Wangod had bodily functions, the queens in this world, unlike those in our own, most certainly did go to the toilet.
Naturally, the King did not find her to be either ugly or evil, or any such trad stepmother things. While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and evil doings can rapidly diminish first impressions of beauty, Queen Gwynmerelda (at forty summers) still held the King enthralled. Furthermore, she was a practical, active woman, and these are very good traits for a wife as well as a queen. Gwynmerelda could be self-centered and insensitive at times, but these are hardly unusual attributes among humans. And if she lacked tact, beneath it all she did have a heart.
Of course Stormy was a teenage Princess who had lost her own mother, Queen Ursula, on the night of her birth. And things being what they were, it wasn’t likely that the stormy Princess and her stepmother would get along. And they didn’t. But even Stormy had to admit, at least to herself in secret, that Gwynmerelda ran a tight ship in Bald Mountain Castle.
For example, Gwynmerelda believed in everyone pulling her or his own weight. While traditional kings and queens had serving people to satisfy their every whim and fancy, at Bald Mountain Castle the Wilson family fended for itself. The Queen made sure Stormy was well versed in washing up, and was quite able to make her own omelettes, bake bread, roll her own pasta, and shoot, skin, and cook a rabbit.
“It’ll come in handy,” Gwynmerelda would say sternly when Stormy groaned, “Do I HAVE to?” “You’ll see.” And if a Queen can say that to a Princess, it’s probably true.
While the Wilsons sometimes did have helpers from the town to cook and clean, this was in return for hands-on services provided by members of the royal household themselves.
Gwynmerelda taught yoga and ran a women’s group. Walterbald was called on for advice on any number of things. If anything mechanical needed fixing, he rolled up his sleeves and got dirt under his fingernails.
There was a tradition of service in Stormy’s country. All Morainians over the age of twelve, for example, trained with the Morainian Defense Guard. And for such a small and isolated kingdom, the home guard had seen active service down through its history more than you might think. The previous summer, Stormy had trained with the Cliff Scouts. The Cliff Scouts patrolled hidden trails in the steep forest above the Bald River, from where they could monitor the Falls Road without being seen. Stormy had particularly enjoyed the training runs from base to summit of the Falls Road, which suited her natural talents.
Stormy also volunteered at the library. There were reading books there, but it was mostly picture books, because most people could not read. Stormy, who could read quite well (trust Gwynmerelda for that!), sometimes read aloud to children and adults. Each book was hand-crafted, and hand-written or drawn, as the printing press, let alone the computers which most children in our time use the library for had not been imagined. No eating sweets while reading or dog-earing the pages here!
Today, in fact, was her day to volunteer. And because she had chores to do, Stormy was up, as usual, as early as the
Chapter 5
GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS
Q ueen Gwynmerelda was already up and doing yoga. She was a striking figure, even when stood on her head, which allowed the blood from her feet to refresh her brain and temporarily squish her face. Righting herself, and passing from the bedroom to the bathroom, Gwynmerelda was neither as ugly nor as evil as our traditions might have led us to believe. Not even when she sat on the toilet. For if the jury was still out on whether the Wangod had bodily functions, the queens in this world, unlike those in our own, most certainly did go to the toilet.
Naturally, the King did not find her to be either ugly or evil, or any such trad stepmother things. While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and evil doings can rapidly diminish first impressions of beauty, Queen Gwynmerelda (at forty summers) still held the King enthralled. Furthermore, she was a practical, active woman, and these are very good traits for a wife as well as a queen. Gwynmerelda could be self-centered and insensitive at times, but these are hardly unusual attributes among humans. And if she lacked tact, beneath it all she did have a heart.
Of course Stormy was a teenage Princess who had lost her own mother, Queen Ursula, on the night of her birth. And things being what they were, it wasn’t likely that the stormy Princess and her stepmother would get along. And they didn’t. But even Stormy had to admit, at least to herself in secret, that Gwynmerelda ran a tight ship in Bald Mountain Castle.
For example, Gwynmerelda believed in everyone pulling her or his own weight. While traditional kings and queens had serving people to satisfy their every whim and fancy, at Bald Mountain Castle the Wilson family fended for itself. The Queen made sure Stormy was well versed in washing up, and was quite able to make her own omelettes, bake bread, roll her own pasta, and shoot, skin, and cook a rabbit.
“It’ll come in handy,” Gwynmerelda would say sternly when Stormy groaned, “Do I HAVE to?” “You’ll see.” And if a Queen can say that to a Princess, it’s probably true.
While the Wilsons sometimes did have helpers from the town to cook and clean, this was in return for hands-on services provided by members of the royal household themselves.
Gwynmerelda taught yoga and ran a women’s group. Walterbald was called on for advice on any number of things. If anything mechanical needed fixing, he rolled up his sleeves and got dirt under his fingernails.
There was a tradition of service in Stormy’s country. All Morainians over the age of twelve, for example, trained with the Morainian Defense Guard. And for such a small and isolated kingdom, the home guard had seen active service down through its history more than you might think. The previous summer, Stormy had trained with the Cliff Scouts. The Cliff Scouts patrolled hidden trails in the steep forest above the Bald River, from where they could monitor the Falls Road without being seen. Stormy had particularly enjoyed the training runs from base to summit of the Falls Road, which suited her natural talents.
Stormy also volunteered at the library. There were reading books there, but it was mostly picture books, because most people could not read. Stormy, who could read quite well (trust Gwynmerelda for that!), sometimes read aloud to children and adults. Each book was hand-crafted, and hand-written or drawn, as the printing press, let alone the computers which most children in our time use the library for had not been imagined. No eating sweets while reading or dog-earing the pages here!
Today, in fact, was her day to volunteer. And because she had chores to do, Stormy was up, as usual, as early as the
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