"While the dwarfs are out mining one day, the evil queen comes to the cottage, disguised as an old crone with a basket of fresh apples to barter. She persuades Snow White to take a bite of the juiciest red apple in the batch, telling her that one bite of that magic apple will make all her dreams come true. Snow White does take that bite, not knowing that it is indeed that same poisoned apple from earlier, and she collapses to the ground in a death-like sleep!"
Arthur paused at the climax of the story to take a sip of his drink as his travelling companions gasped from their spots around their campfire. He never thought he'd feel that thrill again of telling these fairy tales to fresh ears, perhaps it was a good idea to tell them what he knew about poisoned apples.
Their party had ridden from dawn to dusk the last four days, departing Bruuburn the morning after they lifted the spell in Rochosta. With the winter melted away in both that duchy and in Vousta, they were able to pass through Tolys's old post at Idoburn early on the third day. They finally entered Ridudia earlier today, reaching the snowy landscape again, and now needed to figure out where to lift the spell.
"Wait a second, why only a death-like sleep?" Madeline realized, "If the apple was poisonous, shouldn't she be dead?"
"Technically yes, the apple is still poisoned to kill Snow White," Arthur explained, "What I didn't mention earlier is that there was a magical caveat that allows the death to be undone. You see, a theme that comes up in most of the modern retellings of these stories is how love will always conquer death. When you meet the one person you're meant to marry and spend the rest of your life with in romantic bliss, that truest of loves is supposed to be the most powerful thing in the world. The way this works in many stories is in having the malicious spells broken by true love's first kiss."
"True love's first kiss?" Tolys noted, "So that Prince from the beginning of the story could wake her up?"
"That's correct, for this version of the story at least," Arthur continued, "Snow White is so beautiful in death that the dwarfs can't stand the thought of burying her, so they make her a coffin of glass in the middle of the forest. The Prince comes across the coffin some time later, and he dares to open it and kiss her on the lips. The spell is broken, Snow White wakes up, and they ride off together to get married and live happily ever after."
"How convenient for them," Lovino remarked, "How about the evil queen, what happened to her?"
"That's one of the things that changes in each version," Arthur clarified, "In this telling, when the dwarfs return home to find that she has just killed Snow White, they chase her through the woods until she falls off a cliff to her death. In another version, she crashes Snow White's wedding, and the Prince learns she is a threat to his bride. He orders for the queen to dance for them in red-hot iron slippers until she drops dead. In that same version, Snow White is not awoken by love's first kiss, although she does still marry the prince."
"How does she awaken in that story?" Feliciano asked.
"The prince does still find the dwarfs and the coffin in the forest, but he hasn't met her yet in this version," Arthur narrated, "Upon hearing their story, the Prince convinces the dwarfs to let him take her coffin back home to her father's castle. While on the journey, one of the Prince's servants trips and loses balance of the coffin, dislodging the piece of apple stuck at the back of Snow White's throat and allowing her to breathe again."
"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Lovino exclaimed as they all laughed.
"As you can all tell, that's not exactly a fascinating way to break a spell," Arthur assessed, "The concept of true love's kiss, and convincing society that finding your one true love is the ultimate goal in life, has a lot more selling power than coughing up an apple slice."
"So that's what you call a fairy tale?" Madeline examined, "Can you please tell us another one?"
Arthur looked over the campfire towards the princess and nodded, freezing as he did so. Her attentive gaze made him immediately recall a precious memory from a couple centuries ago. In an old log cabin out in Montreal in the depths of winter, Arthur had been reading a book of tales in front of a roaring fire. A young girl with wavy golden blonde hair and indigo eyes was sitting on his lap, watching him and listening closely to his every word.
"Is something wrong, Arthur?" Madeline inquired, tilting her head in confusion as Arthur returned from his reverie.
"No, it's just the way you were looking at me," Arthur explained, "When she was young, Canada used to look at me the same way whenever I read stories for her."
"Did she enjoy these stories as well?" Feliciano asked.
"She loved hearing my stories," Arthur confirmed, "Not only about princesses and magic, but also about the grand adventures I had crossing the oceans and continents. While my European neighbours and I had centuries worth of royalty, she never got to experience that first-hand. By the time she came of age, much of the world had already moved on to the concepts of personal freedoms, nationalism, and the diminishing powers of royalty. She did get to attend balls and meet royalty, of course, but by then the grandeur and spectacle had been reduced. As such, her only exposure to that world of luxury was through the stories we would tell her."
"So she missed out on being treated like a princess," Madeline summarized.
"Yes, she did, although perhaps it was for the best," Arthur clarified, "Although she missed out on the fun, she did have other advantages. Living across the ocean, she only had to contend with America for the extent of their territories, allowing them both to avoid the drama of many endless wars. Wedged between Alfred's desire for independence and her loyalty to me, she found her own path to sovereignty where not a single drop of blood had to be spilled."
"Not a single drop of blood?" Lovino checked, "She didn't go to war for her independence?"
"She learned the stories of elder nations, of our conquests and downfalls, and found unique ways to face her own challenges," Arthur elaborated, "We negotiated each level of her independence, gradually allowing her more control of her own affairs and phasing out my influence. She is now one of the world's leading pacifists, encouraging others to resolve their conflicts without inciting war. She has made many mistakes, of course, but she has learned from them over time."
"She sounds very wise," Tolys remarked.
"Yes, she has a wisdom and clarity of mind beyond her years that serve her well," Arthur praised, "At the same time, she is young, naive and eager to improve the world. She is gentle and quiet, but she will also fight with all her strength and passion when she needs to. I'd love to take full credit for teaching her to be that way, but the influences from America and France cannot be undone."
"France?" Feliciano checked, "Who's France?"
"My closest neighbour across the water," Arthur identified, "He's been annoying me as long as I've existed, always alternating between being the closest of allies and the bitterest of rivals. It was his people that colonized Quebec, one of Canada's oldest provinces, before I took control of all the North American territories. He was Canada's guardian before I was, and no matter how English I tried to make it, Quebec has resiliently remained French."
"She clearly wasn't perfect then," Madeline chuckled, "At least not in your eyes."
"Perhaps not perfect, but still the most loyal," Arthur acknowledged, "In my darkest times, where it felt like my empire was fading away, she never left my side. She definitely scolded my idiocy more often once she gained her sovereignty, but she only ever did it because she cared about me. She is almost always there to stand at my side, even if I don't always notice or acknowledge it."
"Do you ever tell her you appreciate her presence?" Madeline quizzed.
"Not as often as I really should," Arthur confessed, "I should work on that when I return. I'm sure she'd enjoy hearing about my time in this realm, no matter how it turns out. She would love knowing that she ended up being a mysterious princess with ice magic, she'd be all for it."
"Are there any stories about princesses with ice magic?" Madeline asked.
"Not quite, but there is a Snow Queen," Arthur redirected, "She is a villain, though, no true love's kiss in that story. Would you rather hear that one, or do you still want a story about true love's kiss?"
"That doesn't bode well for me, if I'm meant to be this world's Snow Queen," Madeline mused, "Let's go with another true love's kiss story first for now, maybe we can talk about the Snow Queen later."
"As you wish," Arthur complied, "There's another one very similar to Snow White, the story is named Sleeping Beauty."