Shrek prequels
Once Upon A Beginning
Once upon a time, there was an ogre named Shrek who was quite unique. He was a good guy as far as ogres go, and his life was pretty ordinary until he met a talking donkey, then went on the adventure of a lifetime to rescue a beautiful, feisty princess from a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. The adventure was of course not your typical fairytale, especially since the hero is an ogre, and there are many twists and turns in the story, and you'd be surprised who the villains are. Shrek married his true love, which was Princess Fiona, the same princess locked in the tower guarded by the dragon. She turned into an ogre at night, a condition that was made permanent with her true love's first kiss. Then Shrek met his in-laws, Fiona's parents, and to say that her father disapproved of the match would be to put things mildly. King Harold had made a deal many years before with the fairy godmother of Far Far Away that his daughter would marry her son Prince Charming. In the conspiracy that played out Shrek almost lost his wife to the fairy godmother's schemes, but King Harold sacrificed himself in the end to save Shrek and Fiona and stop the fairy godmother from ruining their marriage. King Harold was turned into a frog and the fairy godmother was destroyed.
Now you might be wondering about some things, such as how did Fiona's father King Harold find himself turned into a frog in the first place, and how did the fairy godmother help him break the enchantment when he met his wife Queen Lillian? Why did the fairy godmother hate ogres so much? Who is Prince Charming's father? Who are Shrek's parents? What was life like for Princess Fiona in the highest tower of the castle guarded by the dragon? All of these questions will be answered in my story of the beginnings of Shrek.
The fairy godmother of Far Far Away had a name, it was Arabella. Arabella wasn't born a fairy. She was human. She was born in a little farming village called Wheatfield near the forest in Far Far Away, many miles from the capitol city of Heather Wood. Her father was a farmer and her mother was the village herbalist, healer and midwife. Her father grew the various herbs and other plants for her mother's botanical business; she sold medicines, potions, beauty products, and household cleaning supplies. Her mother's reputation as a competent healer was widespread, and she rarely lost a patient. Her name was Bellora, and she passed on her knowledge to her two daughters Miranda and Arabella. Arabella's father was named Garret.
Bellora of Wheatfield was a pretty, petite woman with long thick flaxen blond hair and blue-green eyes. Her daughters looked like her.
When Arabella was eight and her sister Miranda nine she was in her mother's store helping her mother make potions. The customers came in, and as usual they stopped for a while to gossip. Bellora wore a taupe dress, Miranda a terra cotta dress, and Arabella a tan dress.
Sally the barmaid was buying a wart-removal potion for her mother. She was a pretty, tall thin redhead with freckles and green eyes. She wore a dark green dress. "One of the rangers came into the tavern last night and he said ogres had been seen in the forest. It seems something is taking the game out of the traps that the local hunters set, it could be the ogres, but how could they be smart enough to disarm the traps?"
Mistress Jane, the shoemaker's wife, was in the store buying cold medicine. She was a short plump middle-aged woman with gray curls covered by a beige scarf wearing a yellow dress. "Ogres! Oh no, how terrible, what if they attack the village and go after our children?"
Arabella turned to her mother. "Are there really ogres in the woods, Mama?" She asked.
Bellora had often threatened her children that if they were bad the ogres would come get them and eat them, as did most of the village mothers to get their children to behave.
"I don't know, but now I do not think it is safe for us to go into the forest anymore."
"Perhaps we should get the men to form a group to hunt down the ogres and kill them." said Linda, the miller's wife, who was buying a potion for stomachaches. Linda was also middle aged, of average size and her black hair was going gray, she kept it covered with a white kerchief that matched the white apron she wore over her grayish blue dress with a laced-up bodice.
"But this ogre has not hurt anyone yet. He has not even gone near the village." Protested Bellora.
"And we should wait until after he does hurt somebody? Be sensible, Bellora. Said Jane.
"What if the ogre kills our men? Let us wait and see what happens. Maybe the ogre will go away. " Bellora said. "I will preparemedicines and bandages in case there is a fight."
That night, as Arabella lay next to her sister Miranda in the bed they shared together they talked before going to sleep. "What if the ogre does come into the village and attack us? What will we do?" Arabella asked her elder sister, feeling frightened. She hugged her rag doll Anneliese close to her, her mama had made the doll from sewing scraps and given her a beautiful red silk dress made from left over scraps of fabric from making holiday dresses for the girls. She often slept with the doll and it was a great source of comfort for her.
"I'm sure he'd want to eat you first, since you're nice and fat." Miranda said smugly.
"I am not! You take that back I am not fat!" Arabella pinched her sister on the arm and pulled the blanket away form her. Miranda pinched her back and began to shove her out of bed. Their parents in the bedroom below heard them fighting and pounded on the ceiling, which was their floor, yelling, "Knock it off you two, and go to sleep!" The girls obeyed, knowing they would get in big trouble if they did not.
Little Arabella went to sleep, and she had a nightmare about an ogre chasing her through a dark scary forest with gnarly trees with branches that looked like claws ready to grab her. In her dream she tripped over a tree root and she lay helpless on the ground while the huge scary ogre came after her and reached for her with big green hands twice the size of a normal man's hands with dirty fingers the size of sausages. His face was green and ugly with a roaring mouth that had sharp yellow teeth and an angry, hungry, bloodthirsty gleam to the small, beady dark eyes. Arabella woke up screaming just before the monstrous ogre could touch her.
Her mother came into the room. It was still night. "You've had a bad dream, darling." She said. "What was it?"
"This horrible ogre was after me."
"You're a good little girl, the ogres won't hurt you. It was just a dream. The men in our village know how to protect us from all kinds of monsters. Our house had protection spells on it, and no one uninvited can sneak in here. You know Papa and I keep you safe. I will make you a sleeping tonic so you won't have any more bad dreams."
Bellora took her into the kitchen and made a sleeping tonic to help her sleep and banish bad dreams. She poured it into some milk and added honey to sweeten it. Arabella drink the tonic. When she got back into her room, that she shared with her sister, she tookher little six inch fairy doll made from wood off the shelf. Her doll's name was Celandine and she was carved out of wood with joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees making her movable. She had a pair of butterfly wings carved from thin wood attached to her back. Arabella and Miranda were fortunate enough to have a few toys. There parents made good money and they were in the middle class in an age when most people were poor.
Arabella received the fairy doll for her birthday in January. Celandine was painted with yellow hair, blue eyes pink lips, the normal peach flesh tone, sky blue, pink and lavender dress and wings. Arabella liked her fairy doll Celandine the best. She rubbed the doll's face and gently touched her fairy wings for good luck and then climbed back into bed with her rag doll Anneliese. She had no more bad dreams.
The next day, after her chores were done Arabella and Miranda played with their friends their age in the village square. Arabella's best friend was another eight-year-old girl named Nanette. Miranda's best friend was also her own age, and her name was Karen. Their other friends were girls named Colleen, Danielle, and Rosemary. They played with the boys in the village, Jared, Stephen, Billy, and Adam. The children were playing prisoner's base, a game of tag where they divided into teams and had a certain area be the "dungeon" for each team, the one who was "it" would capture the other teams' players and put them in the dungeon, then their fellow team members would try to get them out without getting tagged themselves.
Arabella ran from Billy, who was the enemy team's "it." She was pretty fast. "I'll get you little girl." He said, pretending to be an ogre.
Arabella laughed, she knew she was faster than him. Billy was ten years old and big for his age, with unruly black hair and brown eyes.
She ran around the well and bumped into Danielle, who was on her team. She quickly skirted around her and hid behind a group of barrels next to the general store. Billy tagged Danielle, and Arabella felt guilty about it and decided to go to the other teams' base to get her out. She saw Karen the "it" for her team, catch Stephen and take him to the dungeon on their side. It was too bad it was against the rules to use the its to help you rescue prisoners on the other team's side. She would just have to do it by herself. Arabella bravely crossed to the other team's side and ran to the base where the "captives" were being held, looking quite bored and wishing their friends would get them out so they could be part of the game again. The "dungeon" area was next to the farmer's market where the most successful farmers in Wheatfield sold their best fruit and vegetables to those who did not have their talent of a green thumb. The dungeon on Arabella's side was in the shadow of the village inn and its stables.
Billy chased after Arabella, determined to tag her. He became distracted by Jared, on Arabella's side, who got in between the wide distance between them. Arabella grabbed Danielle's arm, and they ran towards their team's base at the inn where they would be safe. Jared managed to avoid being tagged and all three of them escaped from Billy. Unfortunately some of the prisoners, including Stephen, managed to escape from their team's dungeon while they were gone. In the end Arabella's team won the game.
"Hah hah, we won!" Arabella laughed and stuck her tongue out at Billy and the others on his team. Miranda had been on his team and she pouted and glared at her little sister. Billy and his friends were angry.
"The ogre's going to get you! You can't run fast enough to get away from the ogre. You've seen him in your dreams and that means you're destined to become his dinner. No magic can save you from the ogre your doomed!" Billy shouted at her.
"Liar! You're stupid and you don't know nothing! What do you know about ogres? Ogres only get bad kids and my mom says I'm very good and sweet. Maybe the ogre will come for YOU instead of me, since you talk about him so much." She retorted.
Arabella stormed off home. Miranda and Nanette followed her. It was a long walk home and it was getting late, the sun had already sunk below the horizon, but there was still an orange and rosy light in the sky, it was getting dark and the fireflies and stars were coming out. Arabella's mother owned the little herbal shop in the village, then on the outskirts of the village the family had a farm with a red brick farm house where they grew vegetables for the table and the herbs needed for Bellora's potions.
Arabella met her mother at the door and began to cry, telling her what happened.
"Mama, my friends and I won the game, but then Will said I was doomed to be eaten by the ogre just because I dreamed about him. Is it true Mama?"
"No, no, of course not, darling. I will never let any monster get a hold of you. I can protect you with my potions. Dreams are just dreams. I used to have bad dreams when I was a little girl too. Every child goes through this. Billy is a mean rotten little boy, he was jealous because he lost the game, and because you are faster than him. I will have a talk with his mother. Stay close to the village, the ogre is in the forest. As long as you stay out of the forest you will be fine." Bellora said.
"But Mama sometimes we have to go into the forest to collect plants for your potions. We need the berries, nuts, mushrooms, greens, herbs and roots growing wild in the forest that don't grow in the village." Miranda spoke up.
"You are right my child. Sometimes we must go gathering in the forest. When we do it is best to go in groups, so when I run low onsupplies I will organize a group of women and perhaps a man or two to go into the forest together. Maybe some of you children can come along for the fun of berry-picking as long as you behave and don't wander off." Said Bellora.
Arabella thought it would be exciting to go into the forest again, she had been in there a few times before with her mother. There was the danger of wild animals and monsters, but it was so beautiful and there was also the delight of friendly creatures like unicorns, fairies, elves, dwarves, gnomes, centaurs, satyrs, nymphs and good sylvan dragons.
On Saturday as Arabella was sweeping the store when Mistress Jane came in out of breath and called for Bellora.
"Did you hear the news?" she said.
Bellora shook her head.
"The ranger who patrols the forest found the remains of a hunter, his head and his hands and feet, partially buried in a remote part of the forest. This must be the ogres' work. I know there are also goblins in that part of the forest, but they aren't half as aggressive as ogres are. Count Bernhard has put up a bounty on the ogre's head, a reward of one thousand gold coins for anyone who can slay the ogre and bring proof of his death to him."
"How horrible!" Bellora said. "That poor man... I hope a hero comes along and kills this ogre. That way we will feel safe again."
"Oh, by the way, I came in here to buy some of your lavender-scented beauty soap." Jane remembered why she was there.
Bellora found a freshly-made bar of her special lavender scented soap wrapped up in paper and put it in a brown paper bag. "There you go, that will be three silver coins and five copper coins."
Jane paid the price and left the store with her package.
Arabella turned to her mother. "The ogre killed someone. What will we do?"
"Nothing we can do, just stay out of it. I'm sure that with the reward out there some knight will come along and slay him for the money." Her mother told her.
A few weeks later Bellora found herself with a great dilemma. She was running short on supplies. It was June and the wild blueberry bushes in the meadow in the outskirts of the forest would be filled with lots of ripe, plump, juicy blueberries. Now was the perfect Nature was her pharmacy, and she needed some medicinal plants from the forest for her potions and medicines. Arabella was scared and reluctant to go into the forest, but she loved blueberries and her mother promised to make her blueberry muffins when they got home. The forest really was pretty and it was exciting after all.
Bellora, Miranda, Arabella, Nanette, her mother Priscilla, Karen, her mother Lucy, Sally, her mother Hannah, and Karen's father and Lucy's husband Virgil all went gathering in the forest in late June. It was time to go berry picking.
They came to the meadow with thick healthy blueberry bushes growing in it. Already several birds have eaten some of the berries. The girls began to fill their baskets with blueberries
As she dug into a blue berry bush, searching for all the berries she could find, Arabella saw a sparkling light blue glow. She pushed some leaves and twigs out of the way and saw to her surprise and delight, a little fairy with silver and blue butterfly wings and light brown hair wearing a dress made from bluebell flowers. The startled fairy looked up at her in surprise, then quickly took off, flying swiftly on her butterfly wings she flew through the bushes, parting them as if they were clouds.
"Wait, little fairy!" Arabella called, chasing after the fairy. She ran after the twinkling little trail of bluish-silver stardust the fairy left behind. She searched the blueberry bushes but could not find the fairy. Arabella had never seen a fairy before and she was very excited and wanted to talk to the fairy, maybe play with her and be her friend. Behind a large oak tree she thought she saw a blue sparkle. She ran to see. She was now in the forest. Arabella saw an old hollow log lying next to a beech tree some paces away in the distance. She realized it'd be the perfect hiding place for the little blue fairy. She went up to the log and knelt down and peered inside. It was very dark inside and she couldn't make out anything. She stood up. Arabella looked around and realized she was lost. Where was the blueberry meadow? Was it in that direction? Or maybe it was the other way? She called out for her mother, and then called her sister's name and Nanette's. Surely the blueberry meadow wasn't very far away. Arabella walked in what she thought was the right direction. She had to find her mother and the village women quickly before the dangerous creatures of the forest got her. Besides ogres, there were trolls, goblins, witches, dwarf thieves, bandits, dark knights, evil trees, wolves, bears, wildcats, boars, and snakes. And when night came, the undead came out.
Arabella wandered lost through the woods, looking for the women from her village. She came to a pond and paused to look at her reflection. She saw a small girl of eight with two thick blond braids wearing a plain homespun beige linen dress with plain shoes of brown leather who was lost and scared. "What if the ogre gets me?" She said to her reflection. In despair she sat down on a tuft of grass next to the pond and cried. She did not hear the heavy footsteps through her sobs.
Arabella realized a large shadow had passed over her. She wiped her eyes and looked into the pond, and saw the reflection of her worst nightmare, an ogre. She began to scream. The ogre grabbed her, with one hand over her mouth. His large hand almost covered her whole face. She struggled as the ogre seemed to put her in a sack. The ogre had her in a large burlap sack and he tied the opening tightly shut so she could not get out. Arabella could see little pinpoints of light coming in from the holes in the burlap. Her heart was racing, the ogre was going to take her back to his lair and eat her; she would die a painful death. She began to pray, please God have mercy on me, forgive me for whatever I've done wrong, I'm only a little kid I don't want it to end like this!