As the sun beamed down on the country estate of Sir Peter, Katherine Steelaxe, better known as Kate, bounded down the stairs to the kitchens, where breakfast was being served. "G'morning Ma, g'morning Pa, wot's new?" Without waiting for an answer, she slid into her chair and started gulping down porridge as fast as she could. When she finished, she belched loudly. Catching her mother's eye, she added "'scuse me," then proceeded to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand, just as her very proper lady sister Veronica came into the kitchen. She glared at Kate.
"Mother," she complained. "It seems I just can't get a suitor. Hector came," and here she sighed, fluttering her lashes, "but he left as soon as he saw someone picking her teeth with her knife." Veronica glared at her sister again. "Really, Mother, we have to do something about Katherine."
"Kate," corrected Kate. "M'name's Kate. Though I'd rather have something more dashing, like, say, aaah, I know, Sir Steelfist! Yeah, that's perfect!" And she skipped out the door, singing in a terribly off-key voice, leaving her mother and sister gazing after her in disbelief.
Sir Peter chuckled. "Aah, that's my Kate. Fancy 'er coming up with a name like that!" Still chuckling, he opened the newspaper, The Daily Boar. "Hmm. Seems like 'Is Majesty King Arthur 'as been keepin' busy. Tha' dragon's token off wid another fair maiden. 'Is wife prob'ly ain't too happy," he added, glancing at his own wife, who sniffed disdainfully.
"Humph!" she snorted. "Her Majesty couldn't be more pleased. 'So happy that I have such a wonderful husband', says she. Laws, she's as bad as our Kate!"
"Did you hear?" Veronica interrupted. "Her Majesty is going to train for war! Can you believe that! It's as though she hasn't any balls to attend. Why, if I were she, I would have been perfectly pleased without any silly training. Humph!"
Sir Peter hastily changed the subject. "Oy, lookee here, that sissy Corin missed another tournament! They found 'im pickin' daisies in the field two blocks away! Hah!" he sniggered.
The sound of his laughter floated out to the field where Kate was cleaning her horse's stall. She stopped for a moment to draw her sword and wave it over her head, bringing it swishing down on an unlucky lizard that happened to be passing through.
"Yahaa!" Kate yelled triumphantly. "See," she told her horse confidently, "I'm as good as any knight." She bent to wipe her sword on the ground. As she rose, she noticed a dark shape swoop over the field next door. It flew higher, this time with a beribboned figure trapped in its claws. It was the dragon!
In the house next door, the morning had started differently from Kate's. As the sun shone into Corin's bedroom, he sat up and yawned, pressing a pink kerchief to his mouth to cover his mouth. He climbed out of bed, folded his blue-ribboned nightgown neatly, and headed for the bathroom, where he squeezed "Queen's Teeth Toothpaste" onto his pink toothbrush, which he had bought secretly with his allowance. After he finished brushing his teeth, he opened his closet and chose a light pink shirt and purple pants to wear for the day. On his sleeves, he carefully tied pink ribbons to the elbows and wrists, doing the same to his pants, on which he had hand-sewn lacy cuffs. He dressed carefully, remembering to pin his violet kerchief to his shirt. Then he stepped daintily into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Mother, good morning, Father," he said, pecking his mother on the cheek. He sat down in his place at the table, where a pink linen placemat was neatly labeled with the name 'Corin'. Corin then started to eat, spooning tiny helpings into his mouth, chewing ten times and swallowing slowly, just as he had read in 'A Lady's Guide to Etiquette', though he wasn't sure if it applied to oatmeal. He had just finished his bowl of porridge when his rowdy brothers came into the kitchen, yelling and whooping loudly.
"Oy, Corin, lookit, yer name's in the paper! Guess wot it says! You went daisy pickin' again! Haw haw!"
Corin looked at his brother primly. "A gentla-I mean a gentleman does not participate in the unla-unmanly activities that you participate in. I am a gentlela-gentleman."
Rising quickly, he left the table. Corin hurried to his bedroom, pulled out his helmet (which had been made into a basket by attaching ribbons to it), and went out into the field, where he would be free from his family. In two minutes he was happily making daisy wreaths and humming the song 'I Am A Lady Fair'. Just as he finished his third wreath, and was starting another song, a giant black shadow fell over him. It was the dragon! Mistaking Corin for a girl (you would've too, if you had seen him with ribbons and a flower wreath in his hair), the dragon swooped over him and grabbed him in its claws. Corin shrieked once, remembering the rules in 'If You're Captured By A Dragon', and fainted gracefully. Fifteen minutes later, the dragon deposited him in a high tower, and settled down for a nap. Corin timidly opened his eyes, and, after checking that the coast was clear, picked up a piece of embroidery that was lying on the bed. He sat on the windowsill and sighed.