The Good, the Bad and the Quilly
Where does the gold come from?
It was about three months after mine fully recovery and joining the ranks of headmasters, albeit as a trainee, when Apple decided to visit the school stables.
As a future queen she's supposed to care about her subjects and therefore she must learn about the places they live in, work in and such. I volunteered to guide her there. It's a nice stroll actually. And Apple has close bond with nature. She has her little helping birdy buddies and her pet fox Gala but she gets well with almost anyone.
Apple is nice, really caring and thoughtful but she is also very sheltered, which is understandable given her social status and story importance but once in a while her naivety shows up.
The stables are big and have different sections for different animals. The equine creatures were in a nice wooden building with a bright red roof. We saw fierce war horses that stamped their legs, meek unicorns sniffling at our pockets as they were looking for hidden sugar, energetic pegasi eager to soar through sky and, of course, the golden donkeys. No, they aren't named after the colour of some animals' fur, they literally make gold.
The Snow White-to-be was amazed when she saw a handful of gold coins on the floor. She giggled while petting a baby donkey: "It's really wonderful that you don't have to clean their poop." This caught me off guard a bit but then I reminded myself that as a future director of educational institution it's my duty to provide knowledge. And that's what I did after I turned to her with a patient smile: "Well, what do you think the coins are?"
Our blonde princess stayed suspiciously silent for the rest of the tour. (Zelda)