The Very Large Princess Read Online Free Page A

Sheela
Word are available wherever “The Very Large Princess” is sold. An
excerpt from “The Princess in the Armory,” is below.
The Princess
in the Armory (Excerpt)
    On the name day of her eighth year,
Princess Theresa of Alcedonia was presented with a poppet,
fashioned from alabaster and painted to resemble herself. It was
clad in a comely gown of yellow silk trimmed with lace and ribbons,
and it smiled graciously upon its mistress, yet it pleased her
not.
    “I would sooner have a culverin, a
falconet, or other such light cannon,” she murmured.
    “What sayest thou?” asked her mother,
Princess Gertrude, raising a hand to her ear to shield it from the
ambient din. Many were gathered in the solar chamber: the Queen
(Theresa’s aunt), the Dowager Queen (her grandmother), Prince
Antoine (her father), several other aunts and uncles, numerous
cousins, and assorted lords and ladies.
    “I would have a cannon,” said Theresa,
raising her voice. “Or mayhap a side-sword and buckler.” She cast a
glance at her cousin Mark, a lad of nine years, and saw that he was
plunged in melancholy. ‘Twas hard that all their expectations
should thus be o’erthrown. Mark had a crossbow of sorts, though
‘twas not well strung, and Theresa had fashioned a cudgel from the
limb of an oak, but what worth these against a monstrous horde of
Vandals? Their fortress, belike, would fall.
    “Sword and buckler?” interposed the
Dowager Queen. “These are not seemly gifts for a
maiden.”
    “E’en a halberd or a pike would be
most welcome,” said Theresa.
    Prince Antoine laughed, then bade his
daughter to hold her tongue.
     
    ~~~~
     
    On another day, eight years later,
Prince Mark left Court, to study abroad at the University of
Sautegna. His large family watched him board the ship, then
returned home in good spirits, for though they would miss their
kinsman, ‘twas a bright summer day, the carriage ride was pleasant,
and they looked forward to their dinner. Only Theresa was downcast:
the Prince was her favorite cousin and had long been her sole
companion.
    Like Theresa, Mark was bespectacled
and very fair. The two were doubly cousins, for their mothers were
sisters; and they resembled each other in temperament, as well as
in person. Indeed, the Princess viewed Mark as a brother, and
preferred him to her brother, Hugo, who was a bold and boisterous
lad four years junior to herself.
    Theresa was pale and small, with fine,
light hair that fell untidily out of its snood. Her large green
eyes were short-sighted and hidden by a heavy pair of spectacles.
In demeanor, she seemed older than her years, for she seldom
laughed or smiled, but dedicated herself with great ferocity to any
project she had in hand.
    The sociability of her family was an
affliction to her. She had a scholarly bent and was oft to be found
poring over a book or manuscript. Yet her tutors did not love her,
for her manner was distant and her knowledge sometimes outstripped
their own. They deemed her odd and uncivil, and in private,
compared her unfavorably to her cousin Bess, a robust and rosy
maiden with ebon curls and a ready smile.
    Court was ever lively and clamorous.
King Walter’s three brothers, Antoine, Hadrian, and Jack, dwelt at
the palace, and his sister Emilia spent several months of each year
at Court. The royal cousins numbered twelve: Bertram was the first
child of the King and Queen, William came second, and Mark was
third; Theresa and her younger brother, Hugo, were sired by Prince
Antoine; Bess, Charles, and Ronald were the issue of Prince
Hadrian; Colin and Helena (who was yet a babe in arms), were
fathered by Prince Jack; and Horatio and Julian were the sons of
Princess Emilia.
    Now, as they sat down to dinner in the
Great Hall, Horatio tipped a pot of fish sauce into Princess
Theresa’s lap. His mother scolded him, but the rest of the assembly
laughed heartily.
    “‘ Twas full of ginger,”
jested Prince Jack, the King’s youngest brother. “A hot