THE WINNER TO MY CONTEST IS...................AEG52998!
YEAH! WOOHOO! Here is the story that she wrote!
“ZzzzzzZZzzz... ZzzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzz.....”
“No! I want RAISINS in my oatmeal!”
“Look! The hyperactive Sodium Hydrofloride has dissolved in the flyoxon!”
“Eeeek! A mouse!”
“Hacho! Hachoooo! Oh, dear. Does anyone have a six foot long tissue?”
Those are the sounds coming from the royal palace of Sylvestria.
“Not raisins! I want cranberries!”
That is Princess Pumpkina. She is not your average princess. Instead of being sweet, kind, and dreamy, she’s loud, demanding and snobby. Everyday she fires at least ten of her personal servants when they fail to meet her demands, which includes a pet koala bear that sneezed on the hour, a toaster that is part chickadee, and a sock that could tell her the future.
“Mouse, mouse! Get it away from me!”
That’s Sir Bubba. He is a absolute scaredy-cat. He gets freaked out by the tiniest things. When you first look at him, he looks rugged and tough. But when he glances at a spider, you’ll know his true character. He’s even afraid of his reflection in the mirror.
If you hear any explosions in the castle, don’t worry. That’s only Queen Murna Carburna. You could call her a mad scientist. Instead of going to balls and ruling the kingdom she spends her time in her “Laboratory” mixing chemicals and gases. No fancy gowns or a crown for her! She wears a lab coat and safety goggles as her usual outfit.
Also, look out for fires in the castle of Sylvestria. Thistle the Dragon has allergies - bad allergies. Many a topiary has he burned to ashes as he sneezes, but he knows what he does is wrong and does his best to fix it. He really is a softie, not the mean, man-eating dragon you would picture. He is allergic to any animal, including himself!
Then, of course, is King Dudly! He is pretty much a good king... Until he falls asleep. He can sleep for hours on ends; through a hurricane! He’s slept through four important meetings, seven festivals and sixteen banquets (if you don’t count the Itchy Iguana celebration two years before). His right hand man, Special Counsel High Notifier Of Our King Under Majestic Sovereignty, (or SCHNOOKUMS for short) is the most serious, sober, dullest man you’ve ever met, despite his nickname. Still, to the entire court “SCHNOOKUMS” is funnier the the funniest jester. His grim attitude makes it perfectly hilarious, and I don’t blame them for thinking so.
Yes, Sylvestria has quite a interesting and unique royal family. But, unfortunately, the kingdom a few miles south has much more attention from tourists. “Happy Ever After Land” has all the average fairy tale characters. There is a beautiful, charming, sweet princess and a brave, strong, handsome prince. There are evil dragons and witches, but there are brave knights ready to protect anyone from harm. They king of Happy Ever After Land is constantly mocking and taunting King Dudly when he will stop goofing off and start making his kingdom just as good as his own Happy Ever After Land. Dudly, when he isn’t asleep, likes to lie in his bed and dream of what it would be like to rule a normal kingdom.
Once, when Queen Murna Carburna was studying her chemistry book, another book fell out. She picked it up and read the cover. “Grimm’s Fairy Tales. A collection of favorite stories,” she read. Queen Murna Carburna opened it up and started to read. She planned to stop at the second chapter, but then a story called “Snow White” caught her eye. When she finished it, she thought “Wow! I never thought it possible! That queen has jewels and wears fancy gowns, but still, in the end, is actually a chemist! I bet that poisoned apple had gythonstride and a bit of quoxozon in it!” The queen ran upstairs to tell her husband. A few minutes later, a sulking Princess Pumpkina made her way to the Library to read her favorite book: “Insults for Dummies”. Not finding what she was looking for, she sat down on the sofa with a Hummph! Suddenly, she spied the Grimm’s fairy tales book. Thinking it was what she was searching for, she grabbed it and started to read. When she realized it was a fairy tale book, she started to put it down, but then saw a story called “Rapunzel”. Thinking that she might as well give it a try, she read it, and thought “Well what do you know! That princess is beautiful and spoiled! she made her father go through a whole lot of trouble for her, and then the witch kidnapped her and gave her a whole tower to herself! I bet she was just as snobby as I was.” she smiled and ran as fast as she could to see if her servant had returned from the grocery store. She couldn’t wait to tell him about Rapunzel.
King Dudly and Queen Murna Carburna stepped into the Library along with Sir Bubba, Thistle the dragon, and SCHNOOKUMS. Sir Bubba pointed out a story in another book called “Saint George and the dragon”. Him and Thistle read it together and were almost finished when Thistle sneezed and caught it on fire. Sir Bubba ran out the door, screaming something about how castles catch on fire easily. Thistle apoligized but then said “That dragon sure didn’t have any allergies. And boy, was he mean! I bet he could burn down a whole city and just laugh when it turned to ashes.” A tear rolled down his cheek. “I would never be that great of a dragon.” Meanwhile, Queen Murna Carburna and King Dudly were reading a story named “Cinderella”. “Wow! That king is so.... so....” He didn’t get to finish his sentence. He was asleep. SCHNOOKUMS flipped through a book called “King Arthur”. He snorted and tossed it aside. “Humph! No royal advisor? How could that king make his desicions? Thistle could write a better book!” It was then that Queen Murna Carburna had a idea. It was perfect.
“I have a idea!” Queen Murna Carburna shouted. No one heard her. King Dudly was asleep. Sir Bubba was still screaming. Thistle was crying because he thought he was a very wimpy dragon. “I have a idea!” she repeated. Thistle looked up and saw her. “What is it?” he asked. “Let’s face it. We haven’t exactly been average fairy tale characters, now, haven’t we?” Thistle shook his head. “Well, if we want to be a popular as Happy Ever After Land, we better start trying to be real characters.” The queen told him. “How?” Thistle asked. Queen Murna Carburna smiled. “We’ll start by getting rid of your allergies.”
The whole castle was a buzz with excitement. Everyone, even Princess Pumpkina, was trying to be a proper fairy tale character. Queen Murna Carburna had been working all day and all night for a cure for Thistle, but the only time she got even close to sucess was when she gave him a huge aspirin she had made; after trying to shove it down his throat, Thistle choked, coughed, and fire came flying out of his mouth, burning the pill. After no medicines worked, Princess Pumpkina started to help him become mean. “Keep thinking in your mind that everyone is dust compared to you,” She told him. “But what about my friends?” Thistle asked nervously. “You won’t have friends when you’re a perfect dragon. Everone will be fearing you. And if they don’t, you can just eat them.” Thistle looked like he would cry. King Dudly tried very, very hard to keep himself awake. He tried slapping himself every time he started to get sleepy, but it didn’t help at all. He just ignored himself until he was sleeping peacefully. Sir Bubba tried toughing himself up by going into the garden and squashing ants, but ran away terrified when one of them crawled up his arm. He then wanted to fight Thistle, but was scared to death when Thistle sneezed and sprayed fire all over the topiary shaped like a hippo. Queen Murna Carburna read the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales book over and over, trying to figure out what a real queen was like. She, for the first time, tried on one of her ball gowns and crown, but was disgusted when she spilled “Sodium Quoride” on it and it exploded. Still, no one got any better at being normal at all.
King Dudly was getting sleepy, but he knew that if he was to become a good king he had to stay awake. He trudged up the stairs and came to his bedchamber. His bed looked so comfortable, and he felt the urge to lie down and relax, but Dudly refused to nap. He had kingly stuff to do. He sat down at hs desk and opened his book, “How To Become a Perfect Ruler”. “Step one. Go visit a fellow king or queen and ask what they do to become a good ruler.” He read. Then he had a idea. “Visit a fellow king or queen. Hmmmm...” He ran downstairs to tell his wife his great idea.
King Dudly, Queen Murna Carbura, Princess Pumpkina, Sir Bubba, SCHNOOKUMS and Thistle walked down the road. The were going to pay a visit to Happy Ever After Land. “Bah! This is rubbish!” said SCHNOOKUMS angrily. “Well, it’s the only way we’re ever going to be normal. We have to do this,” replied Thistle. “My feet hurt!” grumbled Princess Pumpkina. “But we have only been walking for few seconds! We’re still on the drawbridge!” said Queen Murna Carburna. “Oh.” They walked on in silence. Unfortunately, the group had no idea where the castle of Happy Ever After Land was. So they did what no other fairy tale character thought possible. They walked out of their own book. Don’t ask me how they did it, I’m just the writer! It was Sir Bubba who noticed that they were in a large room instead of a forest. “Hey, where are we?” he said. The king looked around. “I think....” he started to say. “What?” Princess Pumpkina asked. “We fell out of our book.” Sir Bubba started to cry.
“Okay, nobody panic. I think I see our book over there!” Queen Murna Carburna shouted. Thistle started running over to it. “Is our book called ‘Charlotte’s Web’?” he asked when he got there. “Um, I think so....” said King Dudly. They all ran over. “How do we get back inside?” wondered Sir Bubba. Princess Pumpkina wasted no time. She lifted up the cover and yelled “Everyone get in!” One by one, the group climbed onto the book. “Now what?” asked Thistle. “We’re doomed.” SCHNOOKUMS grumbled. “Try closing the covers.” suggested Murna Carburna. Princess Pumpkina and SCHNOOKUMS slowly closed the cover. Instantly, they were all standing in the middle of a barn. When a small grey spider came out from a shadow, Sir Bubba screamed. The scream woke a little pig, who trotted over and said, “Good morning, I haven’t seen you before. Are you new to the barn?”
“Um, I think this is the wrong book. Sorry.” King Dudly said, confused. “Do you have any idea how we could get out of this book and into our own?” The spider smiled and said “I didn’t know it was possible, but since you did it, you should just do what you did to get in here.” “Of course! We need to get lost again!” realized Princess Pumpkina. “Let’s go!” The small group ran into the forest. Soon, they were back in the big room they were in before. Thistle walked over and found a book called “The Fellowship of the Ring” “Hey, you think this is our book?” he called. “It’s worth a try, as long as we know how to get back if it isn’t ours.” SCHNOOKUMS lifted the cover and they piled inside. Suddenly, the were in another room, much different than the one they had started in. It had a low ceiling and a round door. Books and knick-knacks were every where. “Wrong again.” said Sir Dudly as they ran out the door and into a clumber of trees. Again, they were in the huge room filled with books. “Oh, we’ll never find our book!” Cried Princess Pumpkina. “Maybe we should split up. We’ll cover more ground that way.” said Thistle.
So everyone went their own way. Thistle found a big thick book called “The Super Thesaurus” He (after some difficulty) got the cover open and slipped inside. Unfortunately, there was nothing inside but a bunch of words, most of them all meaning the same thing. “How will I get out of this book, volume, or puplication?” he cried. Meanwhile, Princess Pumpkina had found a book of her own. It was named “Pride and Prejudice”. “Pride? I bet this is our book. I’m full of pride.” So she crawled inside. She was very surpised at she found. She was in a large ballroom, where lots of people where dancing. In the corner stood a tall man with dark, curly hair. She walked up him and asked “Hey, curly, have you seen a dragon or a sleepy king around here?”. He looked at her with a confused face. “Guess not, then.” she sighed. Another man walked over to them. “Mr. Darcy, my friend, why aren’t you dancing? There are many beautiful girls here, and it looks like you’ve already found a partner.” the man said, winking at Pumpkina.
SCHNOOKUMS had also found a book to explore. His book was entitled “Pat the Bunny” and it was on the top of a mountain of books. “Might as well give it a try.” he thought. He pushed up the cover and walked inside. Inside was a large, grassy field and in the center was a small animal with large ears and white fur. He stooped down to read the words under it. It said ‘Pat the bunny.”. SHCNOOKUMS figured the only way to become normal was to “pat the bunny”. So he knelt down and petted its soft fur. Suddenly, it leaped up and scampered away. He ran after the rabbit, but, unforunetly, slipped out of the pat the bunny book and into another, “Alice in Wonderland”. SCHNOOKUMS and the bunny landed in a heap at the feet of a pretty blond girl. SCHNOOKUMS fell in love almst instantly. “Who are you?” he asked. “My name is Alice. Have you seen a rabbit around here?” “Yes, yes, in fact, I’m looking for it too. Would you like to look together?”
Queen Murna Carburna had stumbled apon a book called “Poetry”. She thought this was a strange name so she slipped inside. In it, there were beautiful flowers and a lake with a water fall. Several people were sitting on a bench, all reading. “Excuse me,” she said. “It would be wonderful to if I could find a book of fairy tales. Have you seen any?” One of the people looked up. “Sorry. No fairy tales here.” They replied. The queen sighed ad started to look around.
King Dudly had spent over ten minutes trying to find the right book. Finally, he found one called “Curious George”. On the front was a monkey. King Dudly once had a pet monkey, so he climbed inside, thinking it was the right book. He was suddenly in a thick jungle. He could see no one, except one man who was wearing a bright yellow hat. He thought this was very unusual, so he walked up to the man and asked “Have you seen a castle anywhere around here?” The man shook his head. Dudly noticed the man was carrying a monkey. “What are you going to do with that monkey?” Dudly asked.
While King Dudly talked to the man in the yellow hat, Sir Bubba had also found a book. It was called “100 Ways To Cook BBQ”. Bubba didn’t know where to strart, so he climbed inside. Like Thistle’s Thesaurus, Sir Bubba saw lots of words, but also he saw a chubby man in a big white hat, who was grilling meat on a barbeque grill. Sir Bubba screamed and the man turned around. “Charlie!” the man said. “You’re early, but that dosen’t matter. Put on the apron and we’ll start cooking.” Sir Bubba was very confused, but he slipped on the apron anyway. “Could you start making the sauce? I need to finish the meat.” The man motioned torwards a bowl. Next to it were lots of different kinds of food, such as artichokes, bananas, and some sliced turkey. Bubba didn’t know what to do, so he just started putting all the food into the bowl.
Thistle however, had absolutely nothing to do. “I’m trapped, stuck, and can’t get out!” he cried. Then, he had a very good idea. He flipped through the book and found the letter E. He then found ES. Eventually, he found the word ESCAPE. Instantly, he was back in the room filled with books. Princess Pumpkina, feeling very bored talking to the two gentlemen, rudely interupted their talk and said “It’s nice talking to you guys but this conversation is BO-RING! I need to get out of this book, so bye.”. she walked out of the room and after a few minutes walking around, got transported back to the room of books.
SHCNOOKUMS had no reason to go back. He and Alice were searching for another bunny. SCHNOOKUMS was kind of tired of all the white rabbits but he was willing to do anything for Alice. They were searching through the woods when suddenly poof! Him, Alice, and the bunny he was suposed to pat were all in the large room. “What have you done?” cried Alice. Queen Murna Carbunra was also trying to get back. She really hated that poetry book! Nothing scientific at all, beautiful words surounding her, she totally despised it! She tried and tried to get out but she had no idea how. Then she decided to ask the people on the bench. she looked around, but could not see them anywhere. The queen raced over to a big clump of oak trees to see if they were there. Not seeing them, she started to turn back, but suddenly, was back in the book room.
King Dudly excused himself from the man in the yellow hat and walked over to a forest. He took a deep breath and started looking around. He needed to get back to the room filled with books! After searching for over half an hour, he fell asleep. When he awoke two hours later, he was in the room of books. Sir Bubba had put twelve un-peeled bananas, three slices of turkey, a jar of horse radish sauce, cups and cups of peanut butter, some grape jelly and fourteen bread-and-butter pickles in the bowl. A few minutes after he had finished the man in the big white hat looked at Bubba and said: “That sure was fast, Charlie. I can’t wait to taste it.” The man picked up a spoon and walked torwards Sir Bubba’s glop. The man sniffed it, and took a bite. Sir Bubba held hs breath. “I’m ruined!” the man cried after spitting the stuff in the sink. The man poured out the smelly glop and yelled “Charlie! Get in here!” Sir Bubba looked at his feet and started walking torwards him. “Charlie....” the man growled. “This-this glop, this stuff, it is-” Bubba was so frightened he did not know what to do. “-so DELICOUS!” the man cried. “Charlie, you must serve this at my restaurant! I have never tasted anything so delicous!” Sir Bubba nodded but ran out the door as fast as he could. Soon he was back with the others in the room of books.
“So, what kind of fairy tale characters did you meet?” Princess Pumpkina asked King Dudly. “I saw a man - I think it was a king - wearing a yellow hat and carrying a monkey.” he said. “I didn’t see anything. Just a bunch of words, and they all meant the same thing.” Thistle told them. Then everyone started talking at once. “I cooked something that tasted good.” “I saw a pretty fountain and a bunch of people reading.” “I found a beautiful girl, and-” “I need to get back to my book!” “I saw two guys and they were talking, I guess. But it was very boring.” “QUIET!” Thistle shouted. “We should all write down what we saw those other people do. Then we should start doing what they do so we can start being normal!” Princess Pumpkina suggested.
So they did. Soon, about a month later, everyone had changed. Princess Pumpkina had started to where a men’s suit and tie, and stood around talking about the most boring topics. Thistle had started to be very redundant. He, when the sun was shining, would say “It’s a wonderful, beautiful, lovely day.” Queen Murna Carburna had given up all of her chemistry habits and started sitting around and reciting poetry. This bored her very much but she knew that this was what she had to do to become a proper queen. Poor King Dudly was now wearing a large bright yellow hat and carrying a little brown monkey. He treated the monkey as if it were human, letting it eat at the Royal Table, smoke the Royal Pipe, and sleep in his own Royal Chamber. SCHNOOKUMS was constantly petting the bunny and talking in a sweet voice to the girl called Alice. “Alice,” he said to her once. “There is no need to go back to your own book. You can stay with me, and I’ll take good care of you.” “No!” Alice cried. “I need to get back to my sister! This is nice, and you are very kind to me, but please, let me go!”
Sir Bubba spent all of his time in the Royal Kitchen mixing strange foods and cooking them together. However, his fear of everything had not faded, so every time something burned or caught on fire, or even froze, he would scream and run around in circles. Everyone hated copying what they saw in the other books, but they really thought it was the only way to become normal. If people in other books did it, well, they could too. Secretly, each one despised doing it. One day, when King Dudly’s monkey had just finished taking a bath in the Royal Bathtub in the Royal Bathroom, King Dudly decided to pay a visit to Happy Ever After Land to show off their “Normal” abilities. Dudly couldn’t wait to see the look on the king’s face when they marched through the Royal Gates.
“That’s it! I’m done!” cried Princess Pumpkina angrily. “No more suit and tie! No more boring topics! I’m done!” “Me too! No more repeating myself!” yelled Thistle. “You must. Your lives depend on it. Be normal. Be average. Be the same. For nothing is more important in your mind.” said Queen Murna Carburna poetically. “But we’re going to Happy Ever After Land soon!” King Dudly said as his monkey pulled his hair. “You can’t give up!” Princess Pumpkina and Thstle sighed. He was right. “Let’s go to Happy Ever After Land. The fresh air will cheer you up,” said King Dudly. And he was right. The walk freshened their minds and they even remembered to take a map so they would not get lost again. Soon, they caught sight of the beautiful castle of Happy ever After Land.
“Now, remember, we’re normal now, but that dosen’t mean we can goof off. We are here to proove to the people of Happy Ever After Land that we are just as good characters as they are.” Thistle said to everyone. The group agreed and the walked inside the kingdom. They all gasped. The kingdom was amazing. The village didn’t look very fancy, and the people sure didn’t look very rich, but the people all looked happy in a way. Miles away, but still in plain view, was the palace. In was baby blue with butter yellow towers. Banners hung on the walls with guards lined up near a drawbridge and a sparkling moat. “Boy, I wish my castle looked like that.” King Dudly sighed. They walked up the drawbridge and knocked on the huge, bolted door.
When they got inside, they realized the inside was just as breathtaking as the outside. Banners, flags, and suits of armor were eveywhere, and in the center of it all, were four thrones, side by side. Sitting on them was a king, queen, prince and princess, all of them looking perfectly normal. Princess Pumpkina looked at the Princess Flora, who smiled at her. She had beautiful golden hair, unlike Pumpkina’s stringy black hair. She wore a sky blue gown and a tiara incrested with diamonds. Pumpkina began to feel jealous. Sir Bubba gazed at one of the knights, Sir Fightsalot. He had shining silver armor on, but Bubba only wore rusty, dented armor. In the knights helmet was a prefect peacock feather that was straight as a arrow. Sir Bubba’s feather was plastic and painted red. Queen Murna Carburna saw that the Queen Felina was much unlike herself. The other queen wore a red dress and a cape lined with faux fur. Murna Carburna had on a lab coat and goggles. The other queen had strongly encouraged her daughter to marry the prince, but Murna had even thought about Princess Pumpkina marrying.
King Dudly thought the King Regalo was awesome. He looked old, but he did not havve wrinkles or white hair. He looked wise, in a way, and wore and tall, shiny crown and a red robe. King Dudly’s crown was not as shiny and wore pajamas everywere so he could sleep comfortably anywhere he went. Thistle couldn’t see any dragons so he wandered around the castle. Soon, he came the dungeon. He could hear something moving around in there, but what could it be? He leaned torwards the door and said, “Hello? Anyone in there?” A sly voice came through the door. “Yes, someone is in here.” “Who are you?” Thistle asked nervously. “Fireball, the dragon. I’ve been kept here against my will,” came the reply. Thistle, after a few minutes, opened the door to the dungeon and looked inside. There was a green, scaly dragon lying on the floor. It was smiling evilly. “Why are you here?” asked Thistle. “I’m here because I burned down most of the city and ate a lot of the people.” the dragon replied. Thistle was very scared.
“Welcome, travelers from the kingdom of Sylvestria. why have you come here?” King Regalo boomed. King Dudly stepped forward and said, “We are here to show you how normal we are.” The other king laughed and said between giggles, “So you think a normal king would wear a yellow hat and carry around a monkey?” Dudly felt embarressed. The queen laughed as well and pointed at Murna Carburna. “And a real queen would wear a lab coat and goggles?” The princess snorted at Princess Pumpkina. “What kind of princess are you? What’s with the suit and tie?” One of the knights gazed at Sir Bubba’s armor and said, “This knight isn’t too bad, except his armor is rusty. Why don’t you help me cage the dragon this afternoon?” At the mention of the word “dragon” Sir Bubba yelped and hid under the queen’s throne. The other knight rolled his eyes. “And who is that old man? A wizard? Your grandfather?”the king said, pointing at SCHNOOKUMS. SCHNOOKUMS grew angry and said to the king, “I am the Special Counsel High Notifier Of Our King Under Majestic Sovereignty. I serve the High King of Sylvestria.” The King rolled his eyes and the princess giggled. “You mean SCNOOKUMS?” she laughed. Suddenly, the dragon Thistle had met bounded over to the group and beathed fire around the thrones. He roared, picked up the Happy Ever After Land knights and gobbled them up. He ignored Sir Bubba, however. The princess screamed, but Princess Pumpkina took action. She grabbed a sword that was mounted on the wall and flung it at the dragon.
The dragon roared in pain. The sword was stuck in a dragon’s only sensitive spot: the belly. He groaned and fell over, dead. Princess Pumpkina smiled and stuck her tongue out at the Princess Flora, who was still recovring from fright. The king of Happy Ever After Land was very surprised. “Um, good job, uh, Princess Pumpkina.” the king said, shocked. “But who let the dragon out in the first place?” Thistle came into the room sheepishly. “It was me. I wanted to see a real live dragon.” he admitted. Queen Felina patted his scaly back. “Aren’t you a real dragon?” she asked him. Thistle laughed. “No, not at all. A realy dragon would be very mean, just like that one. To be honest, I’m not very mean at all.” he said.
Princess Flora looked around to see if anyone was watching her, then walked over to Pumpkina. “I need your help,” she wispered. “I’m afraid I’m not a very good princess. You seem so brave and daring, even more than our best knights! We’ve tried for years to kill that dragon, and you killed him in a few seconds!” Princess Pumpkina smiled. “Maybe I was meant to be a knight instead of a princess,” she said. Flora laughed, and soon Pumpkina joined in. And from that moment on, Princess Pumpkina and Princess Flora were the best of friends. Even though Pumpkina never thought about giving up her rude ways, and Flora would never stop being kind and sweet, they “learned” things from eachother. Flora once interupted her father’s speach, and Pumpkina actually said please when she asked for Sir Bubba to pass the salt. Queen Murna Carburna was worried about Pumpkina. Was she sick? She would have never been nice to anyone if she was healthy. “Honey, are you feeling okay?” Murna Carburna asked Pumpkina one day. “I’m fine,” she replied. “Why?” “Just wondering.” the queen said. Queen Felina also noticed how Flora was different. “Flora, why are you acting so strange?” Flora was surprised. “Acting strange? I am NOT acting strange! What made you think that?” Flora said, a bit insulted. Queen Felina shrugged.
King Regalo agreed to let the small group stay for a few weeks. King Dudly had talked him into it. Dudly had said that when they came home, then Regalo’s court could come to his own kingdom. The kings both thought that this was a very good idea, and left it at that. Sir Fightsalot had offered to teach Sir Bubba how to be a good knight. Sir Bubba was, at first, very enthusiastic until Sir Fightsalot brought in a baby dragon for him to fight. Bubba quit at once. Still, everyone had a very nice time at Happy Ever After Land and they were sad to leave. It was Thistle who suggested, “Why don’t we switch kingdoms for a while?” And they all thought it was a great idea. King Regalo and his family packed their bags and headed for Sylvestria, while King Dudly and the rest stayed behind.
“It’s kind of peaceful, isn’t it?” said Queen Murna Carburna. The rest of them nodded. “What do you think we should do?” asked Thistle. “I guess we should just make sure that nothing happens to the kingdom,” King Dudly said. So they did. But it got boring pretty quickly. Sir Bubba yawned. SCHNOOKUMS kept pacing back and forth. “There’s nothing to do here!” Princess Pumpkina complained. Late one night, King Dudly thoguht about how he could keep everyone busy. He sure didn’t want them to be bored. “We need a little excitement,” he thought. Excitement. How could he make things get exciting? They’ve already toured the castle and most of the kingdom, and besides, that wasn’t very exciting. Then he smiled. “Real fairy tales sure are boring.”
Princess Pumpkina, wanting someting to do, walked into the courtyard. She looked around to see if there were any frogs or toads in the Royal Pond. Seeing a especially fat bullfrog, she picked it up and popped it in her pocket. Then she climbed up a large oak tree and waited. She planned to wait there until someone passed by. Then she would throw the frog at them. Soon she got hungry and reached for her sandwich, which was in her other pocket. She reached into her pocket and pulled out what she thought was a mustard-and-red-pepper sandwich and raised it to her mouth. She then realized what she just picked up and screamed. The bullfrog’s body was twisting and turning. The frog had turned into a man in a beautiful red suit and wearing a crown. “Princess!” he cried. “You have freed me!” Pumpkina squealed and climbed down the tree. “Wait! Princess!” the man yelled after her.
“Help!” Princess Pumpkina shouted when she neared the castle. King Dudly heard her cry and raced down to help her. Seeing a strange man, he drew his sword, and even though he knew nothing about sword fighting, waved it wildly at the stranger. The man did not draw his sword, so Dudly knew he had come in peace. ‘Who are you and what are you doing here?” Dudly asked him. “I am Prince Ethelburt, and, well, a evil witch turned me into a frog, and your princess saved me. Shouldn’t I, I don’t know, marry her?” Dudly was surprised. “Why did you kiss a frog?” the king asked Pumpkina. “I didn’t!” she screamed. “I thought it was my sandwich!” Dudly winced at the thought of biting into a frog. “Your highness, um, will I marry your daugter?”
King Dudly thought. “Well, I will talk to my wife. I need to know what she thinks.” Prince Ethelbert at once started looking around in the castle of Happy Ever After Land, saying things like, “Wow! A fountain with water from the Himalayas!” and “Fourteen suits of armor. That’s rare, usually there’s only about ten.” and things like that. He also was constantly flirting with Princess Pumpkina. “Darling, when we’re married, we will be the happiest couple in Happy Ever After Land.” he said one day as he took Pumpkina’s hand. The princess would pull away, yelling, “Y-you keep away from me, froggy boy!” Ethelbert didn’t take any notice to it at all. King Dudly had interduced the subject to Queen Murna Carburna, but the queen refused to have her daughter marry at only sixteen years old. King Dudly just shrugged and went to tell the Prince Ethelburt, who ignored him and pointed to the tapestry from east of Bologna Bay. “Oh my! Is that tapestry from Brisket Land or Barbecue Beach?”
About two weeks later, the group originally from Happy Ever After Land returned, but came back with lots of complaints. “We never even made it to your castle!” said King Regalo. “We slipped out of our book and into another: ‘The Cat in the Hat’.” Princess Flora complained. “It was entertaining, but we had to get back into our own book!”
To be continued...
~Sarah~ |
Luckily I remembered them pretty quickly but we only have ONE more practice! :( 
