★ɛpiɕ ʈɑɭɛs ʋotiɳɠ★

Please read the stories below and vote for your favorite author here!

mechreyonman	12.5%	[ 2 ]
KimCare	12.5%	[ 2 ]
Hikari Myst	12.5%	[ 2 ]
Oreotd	25.0%	[ 4 ]
BasiWolff	37.5%	[ 6 ]
Total Votes:			[ 16 ]

[Princess Angelishia]

Look at the entries in my posts below and vote for them in the poll above! This is for the Price Palace room!

WARNING: Some of these stories are quite long. A few of our entrants entered much, much longer stories than we originally intended. Please give them a fair shot!

Remember, voting closes tonight at 11:59pm EST!

Please look at the five posts below this!

[Princess Angelishia]

The King's Pride
By: mechreyonman

There once was a great land, in which all lived in harmony, but after years of peace, a man demanded that the other obey him. When this was demanded other claimed that he should obey them. This spread until the land split into three kingdoms. These kingdoms where ruled by the kings and Queens of humility, pride, and war.The king war, wishing to expand his beliefs and land, challenged the king of pride, The king of humility being to kind to attack. When the king of pride heard of this he declared," This king is a fool, to think he could even breach our wall, he obviously has an unknown death wish." To this the queen replied," My king, you have not seen what I have, at night the king of war trains his troops, they once pinned a fly to our tower by the wing from a mile away. If we do not get the help of the king of humility, we will surely be doomed." The king did not heed her warning and went to bed. The next day the troops had invaded the kingdom. The king then realized just how wrong he was, so he sent his best knight to the king of humility. When the knight arrived at the gates to the humble kings castle the royal army emerged, for the king was wise and had gathered his troops for this fight. He respected both kings but knew it was wrong to try and claim another kingdom from it's king. as the war king's army seemed to have won, the humble army from across the way burst in and threw back the attacking army, restoring the balance they had.

[Princess Angelishia]

By: KimCare

Once in a simple village, a young farmer’s girl carried a fresh container of milk to sell in the marketplace. She had all kinds of plans with the money she was to earn from the sale.
With this milk I will buy some eggs.
With the eggs I shall grow plump chickens to sell to buy some fine fabric.
With the fabric I shall have made a beautiful dress to go out walking to catch the eye of a handsome man…
A rich man! So that if he does not strike me as rich as me - I shall just shake my head NO to refuse him!
I shall shake my head like… the milk was dumped from the bucket in her carelessness!
So the milk was spoiled.
No eggs.
No fabric.
And no dress.
But the lessons the farmer’s girl were more valuable…

No use crying over spilt milk, don’t count your chickens before they are hatched and even in daydreams - pride often occurs before a fall…

[Princess Angelishia]

By: Hikari Myst

There once was a man of great pride,
Who had but one mule and no bride.
But small as it may, he was quitefully famed
For the tales that he gave to the dames.
And as he travelled with his mule and his charm,
There came a young lady who had cause for alarm.
For as soon as he saw her, he wanted her,
Whilst she only wanted to be unheard.
He began to boast of his deeds, which were lies,
And she began to dread of his wiles.
And so with a sniff, she got up and said,
" 'Nary will I want to see a bit of your head,
Even if 'twere near dead;
For you fool, don't you see,
You're no good for me.
And I would rather your humble mule
Than to deal with you."
The mule, delighted and honored, turned into a man,
And there, man and woman, left with a plan.
And then, that prideful fool, sat upon a stump,
And looked down on the dumps as he said,
" 'Tis clear that humility is better than pride,
For any good man to catch a good bride."

Moral: 'Tis better to be humble and true, than to brag and be a fool.

[Princess Angelishia]

By: Oreotd

Once upon a time, just as all good tales start, there lived two lovely twin girls, Harmony and Hope. Some said the twins were identical, and I guess on the outside they were. But I will get to that in a bit. These two twin girls were quite ordinary; after all they were born on a farm in the country. They had two very loving parents. The family was not rich. The family farm was all they had, but as children Harmony and Hope wanted for nothing.

Now all that changed as they grew. Over the years Hope started refusing to help with the farm. The girl insisted that she was better then that. She felt that farm work was below her, even though the rest of her family worked hard tending to the farm. Harmony tried to speak to her sister once about Hope's feelings.

"Hope, my dear sister, why must you make life so hard for yourself? If you do not help on the farm, how will we ever be able to earn money for your dowry?" Harmony asked her sister one night after the sun had set.

Hope huffed and shook her head. "Why should I help on the farm? After all, isn't that your job? Mine is to be social and to just be me. And that is just as much of a job as working in the fields all day," the girl stated with her chin in the air. "Working in the fields all day will ruin one's fair skin, and ruin one's chance of stay young and beautiful forever." It was true enough, as the girls had grown they were no longer identically. Harmony was tan, now, and had calloused hands from working all day. While Hope was a pale as a girl could wish to be, with soft hands and a delicate manner.

"Taking care of the farm is all of our jobs. After all, we all are family and it is our family's farm. But if you wish to remain in here all day, alone with no chance of earning enough for a decent dowry, suit yourself," Harmony stated. She had tried, but her sister's attitude was not a pleasant one. Why bother when her twin would end up alone because of her pride? Harmony shook her head, but left her sister alone.

Months past and still nothing could change Hope's mind on how important and special she was. Harmony still was working hard in the fields, but as winter reared its head she had taken to working more in the house, causing Hope much distaste.

A storm was coming, the temperature outside was dropping and the wind was rising. Harmony collected brought in more firewood then normal that day, something told her they would need it. Just as she managed to make it back to into their home it started to snow. In an hour it was snowing so hard that no one in the house could see very far out their window. Hope was seated in a chair brushing her hair by the fire, while Harmony and their mother worked on supper. The girls' father was busying working on some new wooden bowls for the family.

Supper was almost ready when a faint knock came from the door. How was it possible for a person to even have found their home in this blizzard? But the girls' mother was not about to leave someone stranded in the snow. She sent Harmony to the door to invite the person in. As Harmony pulled the door open she wasn't sure what to expect. But a group of four men stood outside their door, all looking like that had been stuck in the snow for days.

"Come in! Come in! Before you catch your death of cold," Harmony stated stepping back to let the men inside. She watched as all of them stepped into the house and carefully stomped off their boots near the door. They certainly where not from around here, they actually tried to keep the place clean!

"Thank-you, for inviting us into your home," stated one of the younger men. He spoke as if he was in command, which made Hope turn her attention from herself to this handsome man. "My name is Jonathan. And these men are Thomas, Arthur, and James. We have been traveling these last few days trying to return to the capital, but it appears that there is no chance to make it through this snow. Your house was the first we found, and we would be very grateful if we could stay here, or in your stables, until this storm passes.”

Hope was impressed, men from the capital? With a young handsome leader? How could she not be impressed? This could be her opportunity to show the world how important she was! She looked up at them through her eye lashes in such a delicate fashion. She wanted to catch the attention of the leader, she didn’t know a think about him, but he sounded in command.

“Of course you may stay here, stay as long as you need to. We may not have much, but we have enough to share. And there is plenty of room in the house for you to sleep. Supper is just about finished, so make yourselves at home,” the girls’ mother stated with a smile as she turned her attention to the group of men. “Harmony, come, help me serve the soup.”

Harmony closed the door quietly as she glanced over at her twin. She shook her head. The girl was going to make a fool of herself. Harmony took the bowls from her mother, carrying them two at a time, and started to pass them around to everyone. Once she made sure everyone had a bowl she sat down with a bowl of soup and everyone dug in. The men were surprised by just how good the soup was; they weren’t expecting much being so far from the capital. They had never been this far from the city before and hadn’t known what to expect.

Sleeping assignments were made, with the men sleeping in one room on the floor by the fire, while the family slept in the only bedroom in the house. Soon the house was asleep, the men, Hope, even her parents, but Harmony couldn’t sleep. She was worried that there was something she hadn’t done. True enough she always worried that she had forgotten something, but tonight the feeling was worse and kept her from sleep. And because of this she decided to check on the men to see if they were awake, and if they were if they needed anything.

She stood up from where she was sleeping on the floor and crept out of the room making sure not to wake up any of her family. She headed into the other room and glanced around. The fire had died, but the room was still warm. She glanced at the men on the floor, they looked so peaceful. But she noticed there were only three sleeping there. That was odd, one of the men, Thomas if she remembered correctly, wasn’t sleeping with the rest of the men. She had to figure out where the man was.

“I didn’t expect anyone to be awake at such a late hour,” a voice came, softly from behind her.
“I am quite sorry if I woke you up.”

Harmony turned around, nervously. She took a breath before speaking; she hadn’t noticed him on the other side of the room. “No, you didn’t wake me. I couldn’t sleep, that’s all. Is there anything I can get you, Thomas? Isn’t it?” she asked him.

“Yes, Thomas. You remembered, that is quite good you know. Few people could remember that. Which is normally how I like it,” he stated. “But if we are going to spend our time talking, let us at least be comfortable,” he added nodding towards the table and chairs in the kitchen.

“Of course,” she stated as she took as seat at the table and was soon joined by him. “Why do you like people not remembering your name? It seems odd.”

“I would prefer people not to remember me. At least not out here. Back home, in the capital that is, everyone knows who I am and everything I do. I don’t wish to be that important. I am proud of who I am, but I do not wish to let that pride cause me to forget the people around me,” the man told her.

Harmony studied him for a moment, she couldn’t figure out why everyone would care to know all of about this young man in front of her. He seemed normal enough. True, he seemed very kind and caring, but that couldn’t cause everyone to know everything he did. She remained silent for some time thinking. “Thomas, why does everyone know what you do? I just don’t understand why people would care to know so much about one person,” she stated.

Thomas looked at her and knew she wasn’t like her sister. The other girl had left him unnerved. She had been looking at Jonathan like a piece of meat to be used. He had seen that delicate look before; it was one of a girl who wanted to be someone and who didn’t care to know a person. A girl who thought status was more important then anything else. It was one thing he hated about the girls in the capital. But Harmony was different; she seemed to see people as people, nothing more and nothing less. “Everyone knows about me because it is who I am. My father is king, and someday I am supposed to take his place. To be honest, right now, it is a scary thing to think about. That is actually why we were all out this far. I was sent to visit different major cities in the kingdom. This is the first place that we have stopped when no one recognized me, or even thought to ask what title any of us held. It is a nice change. And I thank you for that,” the man told her, trying to stay quiet so he didn’t wake anyone.

“Well, your highness, here we never see anyone with a title, which is why we didn’t ask. I hope you find your stay here pleasant. But I should really let you sleep now, I don’t want to keep you up,” Harmony stated quietly as her eyes dropped to the table. She was blushing. She wasn’t expecting to ever meet the prince and to be honest she doubt it was even her that the man in front of her wished to speak to. She could just imagine how happy some with such a title would be to speak with Hope.

“I’ve upset you, I am sorry if I told you too much. Please stay,” the prince added as he watched her start to rise. “You never told us your name, but I if I am right your mother called you Harmony.” He watched her nod slowly to state he was correct.

“Harmony?” came soft voice from another room, almost mumbled.

“It was a pleasure talking to you, your highness,” Harmony stated as she stood up. She had a reason to leave and she took it. She bobbed a slight curtsy before starting to leave.

Thomas shook his head at her retreating back. “Harmony, wait, before you leave. At least promise me that you will not tell your parents…or your sister…who I am. Please. I don’t want to deal with any formalities while I am away from home and I really don’t want you to have to curtsy either,” he told her. He watched her freeze as he spoke, but she didn’t say anything more and she didn’t look back. Sometimes life was frustrating, the man thought as he put his face in his hands.

A few mornings later and just like the other mornings the make-shift beds were cleared away. There was not much to do in the home that morning. Breakfast was made by Harmony as Hope decided to talk to Jonathan again.

“Good morning, Jonathan,” stated a bubbly Hope as she sat down next to him gracefully. “You are looking well this morning,” she stated with a charming smile.

“Good morning, miss,” the man stated slightly confused by her sudden presence. “What is your name? You did not introduce yourself yesterday,” he added.

“Oh, how silly of me! My name is Hope,” she told him almost bursting with glee. Well, it was clear the girl knew how to woo a boy.

“It is nice to meet you, Hope. You are looking well yourself this morning,” he responded, not quite sure what to say to her.

“Oh, why thank-you! My beauty is just stunning, isn’t it?” Hope told him. Her beauty was the source of her pride and it was quite easy to see that.

“Well… Yes, I guess it is,” Jonathan stated starting to squirm uncomfortably.

“Breakfast is ready,” Harmony called. She hadn’t spoken to Thomas yet and she hadn’t spoken of their conversation the night before either.

She passed around bowls of warm oatmeal to each person one at a time. She froze for second when she reached Thomas, her eyes met his and he spoke his thanks. To anyone else they would have thought it had been for the breakfast, but Harmony knew it was about last night. She couldn’t stop thinking about what he had told her.

Hope had given up on Jonathan for the moment and was eating her oatmeal carefully. She had plans to get Jonathan to notice her. But that was for later, seeing as the man was currently sitting as far from her as possible. She also wished to learn his actual status back in the capital; maybe she could learn it was from the quiet boy, oh what was his name? It began with a T. Tristan? Terry? T.J.? Teddy? Theo? Tony? Well, it looked like she would either have to ask, or just not use it… She was going for the second one. “So, who is Jonathan, back in the capital? Is he, like, a lord, or something?” she asked the man next to her.

“Jonathan? He is one of the king’s advisers and he is friends with the prince,” Thomas told Hope quietly. He didn’t want to give too much away about who he was.

“Are all of you advisers and friends to the king and his son? Does that mean you know the prince?” Hope asked, even more excited. Was there anything better then being queen someday?

Harmony glanced at her sister hearing the girl mention something about the prince, before her attention turned to Thomas.

“Not all of us are advisers or friends. Some of us just work as guards. And yes, I know the prince,” Thomas told the girl next to him. Harmony bit her lip and glanced back at her food.

“Oh! How exciting! Is there a way for me to meet him?” Hope squealed with excitement. Harmony was expecting Thomas to tell her she already had and to take her away like they did in fairy tales.

“No, I can’t get you to meet the prince. He really isn’t interested in girls such as yourself,” the prince stated bluntly.

“How do you know that? If you can’t get me to meet the prince then how do you know what type of girls he likes? After all, I am the most beautiful girl a man could lay his eyes on,” Hope stated pouting. Her tone was demanding and harsh.

Harmony flinched when she heard her twin’s tone change. This never went well when the tone changed, never. Did Thomas know what he had gotten himself into? He couldn’t keep such things from Hope.

“How do I know?” he asked her. He glanced around, almost searching for help. How did he answer that without lying or revealing to her who he was?

“Hope, calm down and lower your voice. You will upset our guests if you do not,” Harmony stated, intervening.

“Harmony, I do not care if I upset our guests. They have upset me. They should all leave, now. Look, the snow has stopped, they can go. I never want to see these miserable people again,” Hope stated, quite loudly and quite rudely in front of everyone. She didn’t even move from her seat next to Thomas.

“Hope, you must learn you can not get everything you wish. And we cannot just turn travelers out in such weather. They could catch their deaths out in that cold. Try to see reason and let them stay for a bit longer. True, the snow has stopped, but it is still very deep,” Harmony told her sister in a calm voice, trying to soothe her sister’s temper.

“Of course, Harmony. Let us do everything your way. Let us keep these wretched strangers in our home and waste our food on them. We always do everything you want. But today, they leave. There is nothing you can do to stop me. I swear to you they will be out before lunch,” Hope stated storming to her feet. Her eyes burned with anger, at her sister, and at everyone.

“I wish you luck, because I would like them to stay. But as always you must get your way. And today I would like to see you get your way on your own,” Harmony stated calmly as she watched Hope coming towards her. “Go, you have a lot of work a head of you. You must make them some lunch to take with them and you must prepare warm blankets for them to take with them.”

Hope’s eyes grew, but she went to the bedroom to pack blankets.

Harmony stood up and collected the now empty bowls from everyone, with the help of Thomas who stood and carried his men’s bowls to the kitchen after her.

“I’m sorry you had to see that. She isn’t too bad of a person, and she is beautiful,” Harmony stated as she worked on washing dishes. She still expected him to leave with her sister, for him to take the girl away to new and happier life in the capital where her pride would fit her new status. “Someday she’ll have a husband that will care enough to either help her learn or to let her have what she wants.”

“Harmony, it is alright. I promise. I expected this reaction from her. Your sister let’s her pride control her. I saw that when I first arrived here. It is not your fault that she does,” Thomas told her as he leaned on the counter next to where she was watching the girl’s face as he continued. “But your sister is right. It is time for my men and I to take out leave.”

Harmony’s face fell, and she bit her lip. She focused on the dishes in front of her while she composed herself. She couldn’t cry; she had known they would have to leave. They couldn’t stay forever. She nodded before speaking. “Will you be alright? It is still so cold out and the snow is still very deep,” she told him. She had enjoyed have these capital men around the house, it made things interesting and she had learned from them.

Thomas wanted to reach out to her and tell her that she would be alright. But he knew he shouldn’t and couldn’t. He knew that this was the last time he would see the simple and humble girl. “I’m sorry, Harmony. We will be alright; my men and I have been through worse before. And your life will be easier if we leave.” She didn’t speak again. It was too hard for her to. “I have to pack and prepare to leave,” he told her softly before he left.

She didn’t leave the kitchen until they were almost ready to leave. She grabbed her scarf from the shelf and brought it with her. She knew it would be a long journey for them and who knew when they would be back inside again. “Thomas,” she stated quietly before he turned to face her. She stepped closer to him. “Please… Stay safe,” she told him as she carefully placed the scarf on his shoulders.

He smiled down at her. “I hope we meet again and Harmony please stay just the way you are,” he told her as she nodded and brushed a tear away.

“Hey, Jonathan, I hope we meet again as well,” Hope stated with a smile. She made sure to give each man a blanket and stopped at Jonathan, batting her eye lashes at him.

Jonathan nodded and smiled, tensely. But he didn’t say a thing.

Then just like that the group had departed.

Almost a year past and life returned to normal for everyone. Hope was back to her normal proud self and Harmony was back to work. Thomas and Jonathan were back in the capital along with Arthur and James.

But an unexpected visitor knocked on the twins’ door once more. And once again Harmony opened the door and invited the visitor in.

“Oh, not another one,” muttered Hope from her seat. She was studying herself in the mirror while trying to figure out the best way to leave her hair.

“How can I help you?” Harmony asked. There wasn’t a blizzard, so he couldn’t need a place to stay.

“I have a message for Miss Harmony and Miss Hope,” the man stated. Harmony nodded for him to continue. “You have been cordially invited to the prince’s ball. A coach will come to take you to the capital in a week’s time, where someone will meet you to find appropriate attire. And Miss Harmony, the prince added that he would like to finally keep his promise.”

“What promise?” Hope demanded from the messenger who shrugged. She had stood up in anger and frustration. “What promise?” she asked now turning to her twin for answers.

Harmony bit her lip remember that day. “He promised he would see me again. And he remembered.”

“When did you meet the prince? And why would he want to see someone like you? You are so plain and are not nearly as beautiful as I,” Hope stated, her voice growing louder and angrier.

“Thank-you. Tell him I will be there,” Harmony told the messenger before sending him on his way. She turned back to face Hope after closing the door. “I met him last year while working. And I don’t know why he wants to see me again, he just does.” Harmony was smiling again. In a week she would see him again.

“I don’t believe it. That boy you gave your scarf to let you meet the prince, but he refused to let me! I am glad I kicked them out. Maybe you’ll see scarf boy again in the castle. And while I marry the prince, you can have scarf boy.” Hope was determined this time. She would get the prince. She was the only one good enough for him.

The week came and went. Then for the first time ever the twins left home in a coach. Off to the capital to a ball. They were overjoyed.

Once they arrived in the capital just as announced they each met with someone from the wardrobe. The girls were separated and for the first time they each were able to find a gown. They had never worn something so fancy.

Harmony’s gown was a beautiful blue color and it was simple in design. Hope’s gown was a rose color that was well adorned with jewels.

The night of the ball both girls had attendants working hard to get them ready. When they were deemed beautiful the girls were sent on their way in a carriage.

It was overwhelming. The front steps of the palace were huge! So was the rest of the palace! Neither girl had seen something this big or this beautiful.

They entered the ballroom together, following their names being announced. Every eye was upon them. They were both stunning. The prince smiled when he saw them, and his eyes never left Harmony in her blue dress.

Harmony glanced down when she felt his eyes on her. She was terrified. There were so many people and they were all watching her. She had never been around this many people before. But Hope was drinking it all in, and enjoying every minute of it. Hope nudged her sister. “Look! The prince is starring at me!”

Harmony glanced at the prince with a smile and a light laugh at what he sister had said. For once Hope, you will realize just how wrong you are.

The prince made his way towards the twins with a smile. He bowed to both before taking Harmony’s hand as she curtsied. “It is lovely to see you again, Harmony, Hope,” he told them kissing Harmony’s hand and nodding to Hope. “I miss the country, who knew a prince could miss living in a house with only three rooms?” he told the girls with a smile.

“You’re the scarf boy. Not the prince. I remember you,” Hope stated angrily as she accused the man in front of her of lying.

“Oh, but Hope don’t you see Thomas is the prince. And always has been. Because of your pride you only looked at the surface. You didn’t get to know him because you only look with your eyes. He told me as we spoke. I learned who he was before I learn he was a prince. But with your pride all you see is the surface of a man. Such as Jonathan, do you even know who he is?” Harmony asked her twin. Her twin’s face was burning in fury and embarrassment.

“Jonathan is a happily married man, with two beautiful children. And his wife, well she is one of the sweetest people you could meet. He didn’t care about beauty or delicate manner when he married her. She is a good person and a loving wife,” Thomas explained.

Hope’s jaw dropped when she noticed Jonathan and his wife. His wife was not beautiful at all! How could he have picked her over someone as beautiful as Hope?! The girl turned on her heel and stormed out of the ballroom. She didn’t understand, at least not just yet.

“Would you care to dance?” Thomas asked Harmony after Hope left.

“Oh, but Thomas! I don’t know how,” Harmony stated with worry.

“Worry not then. I shall teach you,” and with that the two were off to dance the night away.

Thomas and Harmony were married a month later and the two lived happily ever after. Hope returned home and turned her life around. She took care of the farm and her parents before marrying a local farmer. And they too lived happily ever after… Well, mostly they did.

[Princess Angelishia]

By: BasiWolff


A long time ago, there were two kingdoms. Both were equally large and wonderful, and were ruled by brother kings. Indeed, they were so similar and close that the two nations were called by the same name by everyone in the countries, their capitals formed one metropolis with the boundary , and citizens of either could cross into both lands at any time. To the west ruled the younger brother, named Simon, who was intelligent and well-read; he was strong in muscle and in mind, as his country reflected. He ruled his country carefully so literature and learning expanded swiftly. His lands were rich and well organized, everyone with their own place and keeping to it.
Only a moment away was the elder brother, Castor, and in every way his sibling was large and strict, he was small and flexible. He angered quickly and laughed loudly along with his nation. Not a diplomat of any value, Castor was seen as much in the local pubs as in his throne. Even so, his people loved him dearly for his free spirit and vigor, and regarded him to be a better ruler than any other. Where he failed to lead wisely, he ruled cleverly, finding ways to squeeze money out of any enjoyable task for his people. His people were poor but happy; they found fun and entertainment in everything.
Neither population envied the other, for each was certain that their method was the only one that could bring happiness. Though each populace was serene, Simon worried about the stability of his brother’s position. He frequently visited Castor to gather information about the elder’s eastern country. One such evening, he was told that his brother had gone to bed even though it was still light outside and dinner was steaming on the table. Simon expected to find Castor ill, but as soon as he entered the room it was obvious this was not the case. Simon sat sternly on the bed, waking his sibling.
“Castor, you know that your people are poor. Nothing comes from your country but music and drink. You must bring order to your realm before you are ruined.”
Castor, not liking being woken from sleep, snapped at his junior, “My people are happy and well-fed. Whether they have money for jewels or not doesn’t matter to them. Your people work all day, work all night, and have no time for living.”
Simon thought this was not so and was outraged. “You must not care for your people, to not care for their wealth and welfare!”
“And you must not care for yours, to enslave them as you do!”
“Your kingdom would crumble were it not for mine!”
“Your kingdom would riot!”
“Even were that so, at least my kingdom would be more than half starved drunks and harlots!” Simon snarled.
Castor pointed at the door silently, but Simon only stood. Castor gestured again to the door, and howled, “Get out!” Once the door had closed, Castor threw things around in rage, attracting the attentions of his advisors. They pieced together the situation through Castor’s violent outbursts of screaming and smashing, then deliberated while Castor destroyed his palace in the background.
“Perhaps it is best to break away from King Simon’s country,” one nobleman counseled.
Another - a general - nodded sagely in agreement, “perhaps even better to name his state an enemy one.”
The oldest and most trusted for his ability to please everyone bobbed his head, “doing one is impossible,” he wheezed, “so doing both is advisable.”
Castor tossed one more vase out the window and nodded, giving the nobles permission to do whatever they‘d just suggested. He stormed out of the room and went straight to the edge of his land, and started building a low wall right down the middle of the street. At first his people simply looked at him in confusion, but they joined in as the word spread of what Simon had said, every retelling of the story making his words harsher and more monstrous. The wall spread along the border along the street, over fields and a house, straight through a church, in the front door of a school and out a back window. It stretched from the northern point of the two countries to the border of the southern neighbors. Though only so high as an infant’s knee, it was a definite border. Simon looked over it several times during the day, and did not even notice it until he was finished with his long day of reign. He walked across his favorite road towards Castor’s home to apologize, but wound up tripping over the little wall. Several people noticed this, and the king’s tumble turned into a hidden assaulter turned into an attacking mob and his scuffed boot turned into a flesh wound turned into a critical loss of his entire leg as the story spread. Simon fumed over his brother’s impertinence, and declared the tiny wall a national hazard. His people then rose up and built another wall next to the first along the street, over fields and a house, straight through a church, in the front door of a school and out a back window. The new wall was as high as the king’s hip. Simon was proud of his resourceful and sensible people, and sat back to finally accomplish some proper politics with nations other than his eastern border.
When the people who had not been a part of the building woke, they looked at the wall in confusion on both sides. Many shrugged and walked away once informed of what they’d missed. The only two who stayed were a pair of lovers who lived on opposing sides of the street and wall. They leaned on the wall and chatted about it for a while, then The young man, an eastern soldier by the name of Louis, hopped onto the wall to take his western companion for lunch and give her the gift of a spool of bright red thread. She ran into her father’s shop to give the aging tailor the thread. He thanked his daughter, Felicia, for having the sense to know generous people. The young easterner calmly waited sitting on the wall while the seamstress looked for her hat, whistling the eastern anthem as he waited. Westerners started coming out of their shops for lunchtime, and watched the eastern man in his eastern uniform with their western wariness, muttering about how their king had been attacked by a mob led by a soldier from the east. The two went to lunch, unaware that wherever he went, Louis was watched by the western guards and women pulled their children into houses with locked doors as he passed. After the outing, the soldier went back over the wall. In the west, Felicia returned to find that her mother had woven the red thread into cloth and her father had cut the cloth into a pair of pants. She stitched the trousers with her quick, neat stitches, and left a pair of fine trousers on the work table to be finished.
The next morning, Louis brought his seamstress a long string tied with shiny brass buttons he’d gotten from some distant place. He noticed that it was harder to jump the wall that morning than the previous afternoon, but thought nothing of it. When Felicia saw the buttons, she clapped and left them on the work table for her father, then spent the day in town with her soldier. He returned home when she had to go back to work. The wall was up to his belly. Felicia sat up late, sewing the buttons onto the red trousers. She left the finished pants out to please her father when he opened shop in the morning.
When morning came, the soldier bore nothing but his company for Felicia. He jumped onto the chest-high wall, then looked down at the ground in wonder.
The girl in the tailor shop saw him sitting on the wall, and came out calling to him, “Get down! You look like a hooligan sitting up there!” but she was only teasing.
“No! Put on a comfortable dress and sit with me!” he laughed. Felicia, not wanting to miss out on good company, hurried into the shop to change her clothes. While waiting, Louis took out and polished his watch patiently. The people who saw him couldn’t see what glinted in his hand, but they knew from the rumors that it was his weapon and he was going to attack the king again. Several men rushed out of the grocery and at Louis, who fell off the wall in surprise. Felicia saw it from the window, and went to the wall to peer over at her soldier.
“Are you all right?“ she whispered anxiously.
Louis looked up at her with a red face, “I’m unharmed, but the seat of my trousers and my pride could use repair.“
“You wait there, I’ll see if my father has anything in his shop for you,” and with that, Felicia went into her shop and brought out the red pants with the brass buttons. Louis went to his home to put them on. When he returned, they fit the young soldier so well that Felicia knew her father would not mind him having them. She sent him off to the tavern to heal his bruised pride, and returned to work herself. Louis’s story spread through the east, and in the stories the wall become so high he couldn’t even reach the top, and the grocery boys got bigger and uglier with every sentence. The wounds became more intense, and all the while, no one noticed the young man’s handsome new clothes. The boy himself did not know that giant trolls had thrown him off a wall as high as the heavens, only that he had a comfortable pair of trousers from the whole adventure. When he woke up, he had to hop up to get onto the wall. He hung there to talk to Felicia for a while.
“The wall is growing, you know.” the man of the east told his western company.
“I know it!” Felicia replied, “though there is never any noise of construction.”
“It’s peculiar.”
“It’s unnatural.” the girl said, and she stamped her foot in punctuation.
The young man thought for a moment, first about how the edge of the wall was uncomfortable to dangle from, then about what to do about the pesky wall. “Maybe we should tell someone. Tell your parents and the priest… they are all smart and older than us. Perhaps they’ll know what to do.”
With a nod, Felicia agreed, “I’ll go do it now! You get down before the wall grows so you hurt yourself getting down.”
“It’s just a little hop off the ground. Nothing to fear,” but the soldier slid off anyways.
They told their friends, and the news spread, but each side blamed the other for building it up. In the morning Louis took a running start and leaped up to catch the wall, then hoisted himself up. Felicia told him to get down before he hurt himself, and they tossed letters back and forth over the wall instead.
The next day, the soldier received a new pair of military breeches. Outside, a letter waited for him on the street by the wall.
This wall is getting higher yet! I had to ask a child to leave off playing ball to help me get this letter across.
Louis read the letter with a smirk and tossed one back to her.
If you westerners would play more, that wouldn’t be a problem. I’ll find a different way for you to get your letters across.
The letter fluttered up and over the wall, coming down just on the other side. An idea already in place, Louis went to find string, but no one had gotten any wool or cotton from the west since the wall was built, so there was none to be found. Instead, he pulled a loose thread from his red trousers. When he got to the wall, he found several of the brass buttons had been pulled off his pants from jumping on the wall. He tied one to the thread and tossed it over the wall for Felicia to put her letters on. She tied a knot in the string in such a way that it became a loop and they could simply pull one side of the loop to bring the letters to either side. The loop was much longer than it needed to be for the wall, but by the next morning it was a breath above Louis’s head. He cut out the knot and tied another loose thread from the pants onto it, but the thread he chose was not actually loose, so the pants unraveled whenever the thread was tugged. Not a single letter came over the wall, as Felicia was at the church that day for a wedding. Louis’s note told her to tie the thread to her finger so it would not become lost to her. She did so when she got the message. In the morning, an entire leg of the pants was unraveled, but no one had tugged the string. The wall was vast, and no sound went from either side to the other. Faster and faster the pants unraveled all day, but Louis was not home to witness it because he had business to attend to on that day. He saw what had become of the seamstress’s gift upon returning home for dinner and sadly realized he’d have to unravel it himself so the other end of the thread did not go over the wall and get lost. He tied the thread to his thumb, and was careful not to get it tangled around the town. Throughout the days, the wall grew, until the entire country to the west was darkened for a half of the day, while the eastern land was dark for the other. The lovers devised a code of tugs on the string while their countrymen wondered how the enemy was managing to build such an enormous wall.
“The eastern children are as monstrous as their parents’ gluttony, and they are being used to make the wall to block out the sun!” cried a priest
“No! They are as lofty as their country’s sloth!” replied the altar boy.
The eastern churches cried in rage of demons.
“The Westerners are trapping us so we will starve!”
A cook on the west side howled at a gossiping pair, “The easterners are jealous that I can cook their food better than they, and are walling me off from their recipes!”
A barkeep on the eastern side crowed, “The western king must be furious that my tavern shines more gloriously than his palace!”
“The children to the west were hurt that we beat them in games on the day before last!” yelped the children from the east.
Soon the wall was so tall that the separated couple couldn’t go very far, and then they had to stay right by the wall.
“Soon the thread isn’t going to be long enough,” Louis tugged to his companion, “have you any more thread?”
Felicia shook her head, then remembered he couldn’t see her, “No; my father has sold all the clothes in his shop and the only thread spinners are on your side of the wall. Have you any?”
Sadly, Louis jerked his message over the wall, “Not a scrap. All the wool and cotton comes from the west.”
“I suppose the thread will break soon, then?”
The easterner didn’t reply, as they both knew it was true.
“You should get another job when it does,” Felicia messaged.
In quick response, Louis told her, “You ought to learn to spin thread when it does, so your father can make clothes and not go to ruin.”
Neither of them messaged much for a while, since both were standing up as tall as they could, pressed to the wall to give the string enough slack to not break.
“Remember me by the red pants, please.”
Louis tugged a light affirmative, not wanting to tell his lover where he’d gotten the string.
They were both on their toes, their fingers raised as high as possible, clinging to the last moment of the thread.
The thread went taut, then slackened on each side. On each side of the wall, a lover sat on the ground and looked at the thread tied to their fingers. Neither untied it.
To the west, a girl sat by the wall day and night and taught herself to spin thread, and on the other side a young soldier looked for a job to occupy him while he wasn’t on duty. He found one in the tavern. He was polishing a table as usual, when he saw a sad man peering into his glass. He leaned over the back of the booth and caught the man’s attention. “What’s your complaint?” he asked, in the graceless manner of the easterners to each other, but gently, in his own way. The frail looking man took a sip of his drink, which revealed itself to be nothing more than milk, then met the soldier’s eye.
“I used to be a king, but I doomed my people and estranged my family.”
Louis sat down at the table with his ruler, then held up the thread. “This thread was tied to a smart little seamstress on the west. The wall grew right through it.”
Castor looked pained, “I’m sorry.”
Louis knew he wasn’t just talking to him, but to everyone both east and west of the wall. “You’re here a lot,” he finally remarked, changing the subject.
“So are you,” Castor noted, “Where did your red trousers go? I meant to compliment you on them, but you left before I had a chance.”
The younger man just held up his thumb with the red thread. Both men nodded and looked into the king’s cup for a while, until Louis’s thumb jerked. He looked at the taut thread curiously, then pulled it a bit himself.
On the other end, Felicia dropped her armful of spools in surprise at the tug on the string. She pulled harder to see if a bird had gotten it, but it didn’t budge.
Louis narrowed his eyes at the thread and followed it out of the pub, back to the wall with his king following behind him. He looked over the wall, pulling the string to him until it went tight. He pulled out a message on it.
“Is anyone there?”
The response was immediate, “Louis?”
Louis yanked an affirmative, looking up at where the wall ended, just below the roofs on the street. He could see the top of a tall building across the wall, and birds were flying well above the top of the wall, which was visible for the first time since the thread had gone slack.
Castor looked at the string in confusion. “What is-” then saw the string disappearing over the top of the wall. “The wall? Is it truly-”
Louis grabbed his king in an irreverent hug. “It’s lower! The wall is smaller than it was!” Realizing who he was holding, Louis stepped back and snapped a salute. Castor simply laughed and drew his loyal soldier back.
“I’m not such a stiff as my brother, Soldier.”
Louis nodded, and tugged questions back to his seamstress on the condition of the Western lands, and she joyfully answered. All the while, the two kept tightening and tightening the thread as it rained down to them and people kept leaving their homes to watch the wall in wonder, until the wall was so low that, with a bit of a sprint and a jump, Louis cleared the wall and tumbled onto the road on the Western side of the city. He held Felicia tight to his chest, then helped the king over the wall even as it shrank to the height of a horse, then a man, then a child, then an infant’s knee. Then the stone wall disappeared entirely, and only a small dent in the land was left, running along the street, over fields and a house, straight through a church, in the front door of a school and out a back window, from the northern reaches of the country to the southern borders. With a small fanfare, King Simon of the West arrived to see the commotion, and found, instead of a silent street and an eerie stone fence, neighbors greeting neighbors and catching up on small talk, barkeeps hawking their drink specials and refilling their casks, and his brother, who he’d missed even for his loud mouth at dinner and carefree manner. Families once separated rejoiced, and every address in the two countries hosted a party, though even the hosts attended the one in the street.
Those who remembered the day to their children often said that the two kings joined together, and both kingdoms enjoyed prosperity, but the truth was that each kingdom was only happy to cooperate, but continue living as they had. The East still pinched every penny they could out of fun endeavours and was nearly beggared, but had the finest jesters and bards in the world; the West still worked from sunup to sundown and enjoyed riches, but year after year failed in international game tournaments. Louis and Felicia were content to move to her father’s house and sleep under a red blanket made from a pair of trousers. Louis fathered children and told them wild stories of his youth and travels, and Felicia bore and supported them all by making all the clothes for both kings. Her fingers and mind were often tired, but she took pride in her humble job.