This was a story I started a few years ago, before I knew about
Fanfiction.net. I recently found the beginning of it. Some of it has been
lost forever, and the rest was unfinished, but I know have plans to finish
and try to find the rest of it. It is of course a take off from the popular
fairy tale with a few Tortalian and sci-fi twists. Don't worry if you've
been reading Stella; I have plans to finish it and this shouldn't get in
the way too much. Of course, the locations and some of the characters
belong to Tamora Pierce-parts of the plot belong to some long ago
storyteller as well. And now, the feature presentation:
The Princess and the Subatomic Particle
Emperor Kadar had a serious problem: all his royal advisors wanted him to marry a princess. He wasn't very enthusiastic about this but he had to because it would help secure his position on the throne. He hadn't even wanted to be emperor, it meant there was a lot expected of him, and had been forced into the position. But now that he was here his life depended upon being a good ruler.
He sat in conference sighing resignedly as his advisors argued over how to choose the perfect princess. They ruled out the one with the fairest skin because of the intense sun in Carthak. They then decided against the cleverest one for fear that she would attempt to take the throne. On and on it went. Kaddar put his arms on the table and fell asleep unnoticed. Half the advisors were in favor of forming an alliance with the marriage, the others were all rather old fashioned and insisted that the most sensitive princess would be perfect.
This argument lasted for days. It only ended when Kaddar got up and said "why don't you invite all the princesses whose marriages could be used to form alliances and find out which one of them is the most sensitive." They all thought that this was a marvelous idea and suddenly all of them had been just about to say just that. They began making a list of princesses to invite. They selected princesses from the Yamanis, Tuisane, Galla, Scanra, and last but not least Tortall. Then another argument was started (the royal advisors argue so much because they are paid by the hour.) The royal advisors were completely unable to decide how to judge which princess was the most sensitive.
Again this argument lasted for days-Kaddar had to lower the hourly pay of the advisors in order to keep the palace supplied with food-and was only ended when an old and faithful advisor (you know, the one with white hair and a long white beard) stood up and said "when I was young my grandfather told me a story of a princess who was sensitive enough to detect a pea underneath one hundred mattresses." It was agreed that one by one the princesses would be invited and each one would be given a bedding arrangement with a flaw. The first princess to detect the most miniscule flaw would marry Kaddar.
Kaddar went fuming out to archery practice. He was thinking about his arrangement and how he didn't like it one bit. He would have to marry some extremely sensitive princess who would probably scream if she saw a mouse. Not to mention the fact that he would have to raise the pay of the royal healer in order to accommodate all the skin rashes and bruises she was likely to develop.
Sign # 1 that you are a bookworm: You have memorized the layout of your house and school so that you can walk from place to place without having to stop reading. Thank you for reading and please, please, please, please, review!
The Princess and the Subatomic Particle
Emperor Kadar had a serious problem: all his royal advisors wanted him to marry a princess. He wasn't very enthusiastic about this but he had to because it would help secure his position on the throne. He hadn't even wanted to be emperor, it meant there was a lot expected of him, and had been forced into the position. But now that he was here his life depended upon being a good ruler.
He sat in conference sighing resignedly as his advisors argued over how to choose the perfect princess. They ruled out the one with the fairest skin because of the intense sun in Carthak. They then decided against the cleverest one for fear that she would attempt to take the throne. On and on it went. Kaddar put his arms on the table and fell asleep unnoticed. Half the advisors were in favor of forming an alliance with the marriage, the others were all rather old fashioned and insisted that the most sensitive princess would be perfect.
This argument lasted for days. It only ended when Kaddar got up and said "why don't you invite all the princesses whose marriages could be used to form alliances and find out which one of them is the most sensitive." They all thought that this was a marvelous idea and suddenly all of them had been just about to say just that. They began making a list of princesses to invite. They selected princesses from the Yamanis, Tuisane, Galla, Scanra, and last but not least Tortall. Then another argument was started (the royal advisors argue so much because they are paid by the hour.) The royal advisors were completely unable to decide how to judge which princess was the most sensitive.
Again this argument lasted for days-Kaddar had to lower the hourly pay of the advisors in order to keep the palace supplied with food-and was only ended when an old and faithful advisor (you know, the one with white hair and a long white beard) stood up and said "when I was young my grandfather told me a story of a princess who was sensitive enough to detect a pea underneath one hundred mattresses." It was agreed that one by one the princesses would be invited and each one would be given a bedding arrangement with a flaw. The first princess to detect the most miniscule flaw would marry Kaddar.
Kaddar went fuming out to archery practice. He was thinking about his arrangement and how he didn't like it one bit. He would have to marry some extremely sensitive princess who would probably scream if she saw a mouse. Not to mention the fact that he would have to raise the pay of the royal healer in order to accommodate all the skin rashes and bruises she was likely to develop.
Sign # 1 that you are a bookworm: You have memorized the layout of your house and school so that you can walk from place to place without having to stop reading. Thank you for reading and please, please, please, please, review!