Tough Choices
Once upon a time, Prince Charming was traveling through the forest on his horse. It was a beautiful day and he thought that it was a good day to go riding. It had been several years since he'd married Cinderella and so far she had not produced an heir for their kingdom, so it was on that and a number of other issues that he was contemplating on as he rode his trusty white stallion through the forest that lovely Spring day.
As they rode on, the ears on his horse suddenly perked up and it began to canter forward at an increased rate. "Woah boy slow down! Ha ha have you heard something ol' boy?" Charming playfully asked the horse as he attempted to calm it down. He gently patted the horse's neck, then turned to listen to the faint music he could hear in the distance. He turned his horse down a faint path and through a thicket until he came to a clearing in which sat a small, quaint cottage, with a thatched roof, a number of various shaped windows, and several rosebushes planted near the front door.
Charming could hear the lovely voice of a maiden singing from inside the cottage and to that extent he was curious about the occupant of such a quaint little abode, so he called out "Hello is anyone home?" while still on horseback.
Suddenly he heard the voice call out "Yes I'm here!" as just as suddenly a young maiden with long, strawberry blond hair leaned out the window and stared down at him, saying "Oh my! You're here!" Then she ducked back inside the cottage and Charming could hear her footsteps as they came bounding down the stairs and the maiden burst out the front door of her cottage and ran right up to Prince Charming who had dismounted from his horse.
"Oh you're here! You're here! I knew you'd come someday!..." the maiden said excitedly as she drew nearer to him.
"Oh...uh you knew I was coming? I just happened upon your cottage in the woods after I heard you singing. Do you know you have a lovely voice, Miss...?" Charming asked tentatively.
"Oh thank you! I don't get many visitors, especially handsome ones who tell me that I have a lovely voice." the maiden said excitedly, then said "Oh, I'm Giselle! And by the way what's your name?"
"My name's Prince Charming and I'm from..." Charming introduced himself and held out a hand to her.
"Oh I KNEW IT! Riding in through the forest on a white charger, I just knew someday my Prince would come!" Giselle squealed with delight as she attempted to climb upon the back of his horse.
"Hey woah, wait a minute lady, may I ask what you're doing?" Charming asked as he stared at her skeptically.
"Why climbing aboard your horse of course, so that you can take me to your kingdom and we can live happily ever after with true love's kiss, silly!" Giselle sighed as she looked dreamily in the distance.
"Well I'm sorry to tell you, but I'm already married, so I'm afraid I can't take you back to my kingdom." Charming said as he went over to his horse and gently helped Giselle down off the saddle.
"Oh you're married? That's too bad. So no true love's kiss then?" Giselle asked dejectedly.
"No true love's kiss, but you could provide this weary traveler with a bite to eat, if you have anything to spare...?" Prince Charming chuckled as he asked Giselle.
"Oh yes I think I can find something! Come into my cottage and I'll see if I can find something to eat. Do you like pancakes with elderberry syrup and perhaps an egg and bit of fresh greens?" Giselle asked as she motioned for him to follow her into her cottage.
"That sounds delicious, lead the way." Charming said as he followed her into the cottage.
Charming sat down on a chair that seemed to be made from a bunch of bent limbs and branches, then let his eyes scan the rest of the cottage as Giselle began to prepare the meal by pulling the frying pan off of a hook on the wall and place it on a strange looking stove. He glanced around the rest of the cottage, noticing the interesting furniture all about the main room of the cottage.
"You have interesting furniture Giselle. I've never seen the like before. Where did you get it?" he asked as he glanced around the room.
"Oh I made it myself...with help from my animal friends of course. I do everything with the help of my animal friends." Giselle commented as she continued to gather ingredients for the meal.
"Everything?" Charming asked a bit skeptically, grinning at her.
"Oh yes, just watch." Giselle said as she proceeded to go over to her window, lean out it, and begin to sing "Ahhh Ahhh..."
Suddenly all sorts of animals began answering her back in sing song voices, seemingly singing back to her the same song. Then the animals crawled, hopped, scampered, scurried and flew into the cottage and began to help her with the meal preparations.
Prince Charming just sat there and laughed, as he watched in wonderment the chaos of the animals helping Giselle in a poetic ballet of motion. Then when the meal was presented to him he glanced down at it and asked "My it looks delicious, but is it fit to eat?" as he picked up a fork and glanced down at his plate.
"Of course the food is fit to eat! My animal friends make sure to bathe before they help me cook." Giselle commented, surprised at Charming's comment.
"Oh okay I didn't mean to offend you, I'll taste it...mmm it is good! Some of the best cooking I've had in quite a while." Charming said as he ate his meal.
"Oh thank you sire, I don't get to cook for other people very often. I'm glad you like it." Giselle sighed as she glanced at him.
"Oh enough with the 'sire' bit, you can just call me Charming if you like." he said as he finished his meal.
"Charming, that's nice. So if you can't take me to your castle, can we still be friends?" Giselle asked.
"Sure, I don't see any problem with that. Yeah we can be friends." he said.
"Oh good, that would be splendid! Well if we're friends, then can I call you Char?" she asked expectantly.
"Ha ha I guess if you like..." he chuckled.
"Cool! Then Char I think you should meet all of my animal friends in the forest. Ahh Ahh ahh..." Giselle said as she then proceeded to call all of her animal friends back around her. The animals gathered around the couple as Giselle introduced each animal to Charming, naming them each by name.
Afterward Giselle escorted Charming outside of the cottage, where they viewed the rosebushes and Giselle proceeded to describe to Charming how she'd planted and tended the rosebushes for many years. Charming was enjoying his respite and visit with Giselle so much that he'd lost track of time and suddenly realized he was running late and needed to get back to the castle.
"Giselle, it's been a nice time meeting and visiting with you, but it's getting late and I need to go." Charming said.
"Oh you've got to go? That's too bad, though visiting with you was lovely indeed. You will come back to visit again tomorrow, won't you?" Giselle sighed as she asked.
"Ah I would like that very much. I don't know if I can come tomorrow, but I'll see what I can do." Charming chuckled as he kissed her hand, mounted his horse and rode off.
"Goodbye Char, see you later!" Giselle sang as Charming waved goodbye and rode off in the distance. Then she went back in her cottage and began to sing again as she and her animal friends cleaned her cottage.