Author's Note: The fairy tale assignment my neechan gave her sixth grade class inspired me to base an original fairy tale on the tweaked story of Detective Conan, and--voila! But my fairy tale is traditional, not fractured. (Shaken, not stirred.)
Prince Conan of Edogawa, or the Littlest Suitor
Once upon a time, there lived in the Kingdom of Beika a young princess named Ran. Not only was she strikingly beautiful, as her flowing tresses, sapphire eyes, and graceful step attested, but she possessed a masterful skill that struck fear in the hearts of her would-be suitors: karate, an exotic and terrifying martial art. She fought with such strength and agility that all the neighboring princes feared to court her. The poor princess was so dismayed at this that she swore never to marry and, despite the pleading of her father, King Kogorou, locked herself in a tower within a narrow, squat chamber, permitting only a small door for receiving meals.
The good king grieved at this. The queen had fled the kingdom long ago and Ran was his only child; if she failed to marry and refused to rule, the kingdom would be without a suitable heir. Then the Kingdom of Beika would be no more. So, King Kogorou enlisted scores of knights to pursue the princess, warriors that might surpass her martial skill and thereby win her hand. But try as they might, as much as Princess Ran yielded to her father's wishes to meet the knights in battle, none were successful in defeating her; rather, within minutes they all fled in horror to nurse their many injuries.
Then, one day, a dashing young man arrived at the castle; upon reaching the throne room, he presented himself as Prince Shin'ichi of Kudou. Dark and handsome with a keen gaze and quick mind, he nevertheless struck the king as having no physical prowess.
"How do you intend to defeat the princess in battle?" sneered the king. He studied the prince's belongings with growing distaste. "You possess no strength or martial art, and you've brought no weaponry—only these books!"
It was true. Prince Shin'ichi only brought with him trunkfuls of books on logic, deduction, and mystery tales. "There is a strength greater than the princess' art," the prince replied, tucking his helmet beneath his arm with a cocky grin. "With this strength of observation and deduction, there is little doubt that I can win her hand."
At that, the mysterious prince spent night after night in the lamplit study loaned him by the king, poring over his literature and rubbing his chin in thought. "As the contest is not a battle of wits but of strength," he said, "my purpose is to render the princess weak, helpless, or simply unwilling. Aha! Magic can accomplish this purpose, can it not?"
And so, the prince slipped away, by cover of night, to the guild of sorcerers. But after three days passed, King Kogorou still could not find the departed prince. Determining that the young upstart must have vanished like the rest, the king sighed and crossed his name off the list of royal suitors.
The very night he did so, however, a young boy looking no older than a page approached the castle gates with eyes of fiery determination. Prone to drink in his distress, King Kogorou now wobbled about the hall in a stupor; but upon catching sight of the strange lad, he was fascinated: the boy perfectly resembled his daughter's childhood playmate. "I don't even recall his name, and ten years have passed since then," he muttered to himself, "so that by now the boy would be fully grown. Hah! It's impossible." Still, the child looked strangely familiar.
"Good king," said the boy who, despite his size, was dressed in the cape and armor of a warrior prince, "I have come to seek the hand of the princess, for I am Prince Shin'ichi, newly returned from the Sorceress Shiho in yonder village. By her art, she has shrunk me to a size that I may use for my advantage in defeating the princess."
"You? Truly impossible!" The king laughed in his drunkenness and struck the boy atop his head with his fist. "Why, you are nothing but a rude brat! For coming in the false guise of a suitor and for making sport of me, lad, you are to be denied my customary hospitality and expelled from the castle." And the king thrust the boy out into the darkness.
Little Prince Shin'ichi was dismayed. A fellow sorcerer of Sorceress Shiho's guild, Sorcerer Agasa, had supplied him with only three magical items to assist his quest, and if he failed to win a kiss from the princess by sunrise, he would remain forever a child. Not to have his efforts thwarted now, the boy-prince rubbed his chin in thought, as was his custom. "Since the foolish king believes me not, I shall take on a disguise and a pseudonym."
Pulling from his knapsack a pouch of sleeping dust, one of the three magical items given him by Sorcerer Agasa, he sprinkled it on the nose of a slouching palace guard, instantly putting him to sleep. Noticing the curious set of spectacles upon the guard's face, as they were still a recent invention, the boy said to himself, "Here is my disguise!" Removing the lenses, the shrunken prince vowed to return the spectacles later. He vowed likewise after he crept through the palace gate and into the servants' quarters, taking for himself the simple habit of a page; its young owner had carelessly hung the tunic and trousers by a smouldering fireplace, so it was no complicated matter for the shrunken prince to borrow them. Straight away, he returned to the throne room and presented himself to the unsuspecting king.
"Who—hic!—goes there?" King Kogorou demanded, lounging sideways on his throne. "Is it the boy who I have just cast from the castle?"
"N-no! It is I, your newly acquired page!" the little prince squeaked, offering the king a clumsy bow in matchless imitation of an insecure page.
"And your name?" slurred the king. "Is it not—ha ha!—Prince Shin'ichi of Kudou?"
The prince immediately recalled his pseudonym, prepared from the names of the two most beloved storytellers of his realm. "Of course not, Your Majesty! It is Conan . . . Conan of Edogawa! And as you can see by the tray of food I bear, I wish to bestow upon the princess her supper."
"Good! It is late in coming!" the king boomed, raising his wine glass with such jollity that its contents spilled to the marble floor. And so, the king gave the disguised prince passage to the princess' chamber.
Gaping at the seemingly endless staircase that spiraled above him, the little suitor Conan took his second magical item, a belt that extended and contracted upon command, and hurled it over his head. It flew higher and higher, reaching the uppermost stair by the princess' bower; upon securing that end, the prince grasped the belt tightly, commanding it to lift his small body to the top—which it did, in a twinkling. Reaching the princess' threshold, he glanced through a slender window on the world outside. Night was fading.
As Conan of Edogawa, the prince no longer wished to present himself, so he took his last magical item, a scarf that would alter his voice so he could sound fully grown, and rapped on the trapdoor of the princess. "My princess! Please open to me your chamber, for I have come to seek your hand!"
"Only the trapdoor can I open, as I've bid my handmaidens on pain of battle with me to always keep my chamber locked from without," spoke Princess Ran in a soft, sad voice. "And even if you could pass within, which you cannot, by my troth you should reject me as soon as you perceive my cursed strength."
Ignoring the princess' plaintive cry, the boy known to the king as Conan slid beneath the trapdoor on his stomach; at this size, he could pass through it easily. Climbing to his feet in the horrified sight of the princess, he spoke again through his magical scarf. "Princess Ran, I have gained passage here for the very end of overcoming the obstacles you now mourn."
"How can this be?" cried the princess in amazement. She rose to her full height, or rather to the point of bending her head and shoulders, as that was all the low ceiling of rough planks allowed her to do.
The little suitor Conan found Princess Ran lovely to behold: clad was she in a crimson gown of velvet trimmed with spun gold and a multitude of pearls. Hair of chestnut crowned her head, falling to her waist in silken waves that framed a milky complexion, twilight eyes, and rose red lips.
Lifting her skirts with a grace that belied her strength, the princess crept closer to her suitor and gasped. "You're but a child! And yet, you speak like a man."
"I am under an enchantment," the lad declared, laughing through his scarf. "I willingly underwent a spell that shrank me to a size capable of passing beneath your door. With three items from a sorcerer, I made my way to your bower, as I planned. Try as you might, you cannot easily use your karate in this cramped chamber, nor would you wish to use it on a child. My strength is not in arms for striking or legs for kicking, but in a mind for deducing and, as I hope, for unlocking your fearful heart. If proof of my word is what you desire, you need only undo my magical scarf."
"But is this possible?" the princess whispered, trembling from head to foot. The voice with which the strange child spoke was deep and tender, unlike any she had ever heard. Steeling herself, she dropped to her knees, untied the boy's scarf, and also removed his lenseless, oversized spectacles. As the waning moon cast its light through the tower windows, it illuminated his round face.
Princess Ran gasped. Shining blue eyes gazed into her own, captivating her with their acuity as they penetrated her very soul. His shock of black hair and firm stance were the strongest she had seen of any knight who timidly opposed her. And though he wore the simple dress of a page, his countenance struck her as identical to the prince she had befriended as a child.
"Do you not recognize my voice now?" asked the boy, stepping further into the moonlight. "It is I, Prince Shin'ichi of Kudou! I have never forgotten you since our childhood days and, though I now appear as a child, know that my heart is filled with love for you, for I know you and do not fear your skill. If you will to come away with me from this needless prison, for dawn is soon breaking, make haste to break my enchantment with a kiss."
It was much for Princess Ran to believe, but no one before this strange child had approached her with such loving fearlessness. Her heart skipping with hope in his story, she bent forward and, taking the boy's blushing cheeks in her hands, bestowed on him a gentle kiss. That instant, golden light washed over them, bursting the door of the princess' bower and thrusting the small prince outside.
Princess Ran reached an uncertain hand toward him, for at that moment, the child clutched his bosom in great pain. Overwhelmed with anguish, he was enveloped in flame, and soon the fire hid him from her sight. The princess feared she was too late, and that this precious friend would disappear as mysteriously as he had come. But when the bursts of light and flame subsided, to the princess' joy, it revealed her Prince Shin'ichi, standing tall once more in the dark, stately armor in which he first arrived.
Her hand still extended toward him, she reached to touch the gleaming midnight armor, half expecting her heart to burst with happiness. Without a moment's hesitation, Prince Shin'ichi wrapped his cape around the princess and drew her into a true embrace, kissing her deeply as the first rays of dawn touched the castle walls.
By the morning light, the prince and princess were married, exchanging their wedding vows before the cheers and well wishes of their newly united kingdoms. Honored that day were Sorceress Shiho and Sorcerer Agasa, and they were showered with many gifts, costly and rare; as King Kogorou and the Kudou monarchs, Yuusaku and Yukiko, gratefully agreed, the sorcerers were appointed as personal magicians to the royal heirs. Even Eri, queen of Beika, returned for the celebration and was reconciled with the king, bringing to the land a new and lasting peace.
And thus, Prince Shin'ichi with his mental prowess conquered Princess Ran in the contest of love, and they lived in happiness all their days.