Yo, I'mNoOneSpecial is back, summer break's coming, and I got little to do… so more time to write.

Here's the next chapter…

…and I dare guarantee laughter!

Admittedly, this chapter may be a bit shorter than the preceding chapters but… quality over quantity.

The next day our young king was once again busy in his throneroom, listening to subject after subject, resolving problem after problem. With him were his advisors, among them the stern Impa and the wise, old Rauru, and with him, the fair Zelda.

Having just settled a lengthy dispute regarding the sale of some property, the young king took a moment to sigh, there were many more people lined outside his throneroom.

Then he straightened himself.

"Send in the next," he told the man at the door.

The man bowed and obeyed.

The next to come before the young king was a young farmmaid, a year or two younger than the fair Zelda, who, as the fair Zelda knew, was the daughter of a farmer who raised cuccos and other poultry.

The young maid stepped before the young king and did a curtsey.

"My greetings to you, fair maid," said the young king warmly, "What seems to be the matter?"

"My greetings to you, my king, my father send me to you because…" here the young maid grew unsure of what to say. But then she simply said, "because of the horse-raiser named Ingo-"

Hearing this, the young king, though improper and impolite it was, held his head and groaned.

As one might expect from him, the ill-tempered Ingo was a rather quarrelsome person. So even before his quarrel last day with the cowherder over his unbranded foal the young king had known the ill-tempered Ingo quite well… one time the ill-tempered Ingo had bought this and then found it not be to his liking and thought he'd been cheated, which had resulted into a huge argument. Which had eventually been brought before the young king to resolve. Which he did, but only after much time and argument.

And unfortunately for the young king, that had not been the only time.

And now, just the next afternoon following yesterday's dayful of dismay and misfortune, which had ended with yet another of the ill-tempered Ingo's antics, here the young king had to deal with him again!

"What…" struggled the young king to say, "…issue do you have with… the horse-raiser Ingo?"

"u-um…" the young maid knew not what to say. Or how to say it. But then she just said, "The horse-raising Ingo asked us if we had any cucco hen that laid duck eggs."

The young king immediately looked at the young maid as one who had heard right but would swear he hadn't.

His advisors, all the guards inside the throneroom, and some of the people outside who were next in line to appeal to the young king and had heard, too blinked uncertainly.

The only one who did not do so, was the fair Zelda. What she did was to hold her dainty hand before her lips as to hide her amused smile.

Which grew wider when the young king said next;

"I beg your pardon, fair maid, I am afraid I did not quite hear you right just now… could you once more say what you just said?"

The young maid, having accepted her fate of telling a ridiculous story before court said;

"Earlier this day, the horse-raiser Ingo came to our stall. My father raises poultry, my lord. Our family has done so for generations, and for generations we have sold eggs and poultry…

But this day, the horse-raiser Ingo came to us, and asked us if we had any cucco hen that lays duck eggs!

At first my father thought that the horse-raiser was out to ridicule us, or that mayhap he was drunk, but he was sober and assured that he was serious; he truly was looking for a cucco hen that laid duck eggs, and he was offering to pay a good price for her. My father, thinking that the horse-raising Ingo had mayhap gone mad, simply told him that we had no such hen.

The horse-raising Ingo appeared disappointed to hear this but then he asked if we instead any duck hen that lays cucco eggs.

My father then, having lost some of his patience, told the horse-raising Ingo that duck hens only lay duck eggs, and that cucco hens only lay cucco hens.

The horse-raising Ingo then asked my father if he was certain of this, to which my father, at that moment truly irritated, responded that our family had been raising poultry, cuccos, ducks and geese of various kinds and breeds, for over five generations, and never once has it happened that a cucco hen had laid a duck egg. Or that a duck hen had laid a cucco hen.

The horse-raising Ingo then took a moment to think…

…and then he asked if we knew of anyone who could sell him a cucco hen that laid duck eggs!

…to which my father nearly shouted no!"

Here the young maid briefly stopped her narrative, and her pretty brow furrowed in utter confusion.

"The horse-raising Ingo then just said that he would ask elsewhere and wished us a good day… truthfully, your highness, never before have I seen this Ingo so cheery and being so polite!

True to his word, the horse-raising Ingo went to next nearest stall that sold eggs and poultry and asked them if they had any cucco hens that laid duck eggs. And then, again, if they had any duck hens that lay cucco eggs.

It was then that my father sent me to you, your highness. He felt that you should know."

The young king heard, but said nothing, wondering just who it was who had gone mad, the ill-tempered Ingo, the fair maid and her father, or even the young king himself.

His advisors, too, looked from one to another, not knowing what to think and yet trying to make sense of what they had just heard.

All except for two: the wise, old Rauru… and the stern, fair-haired Impa.

"Zelda, my child, why are you laughing?" asked the wise, old Rauru the question the stern Impa had meant to ask.

The fair Zelda, who, truth be told, had merely been quietly giggling behind her hand, quickly caught herself.

"Do forgive me, Lord Rauru, Lady Impa, I cannot help but laugh. For some reason I find the idea of a cucco hen laying a duck egg funny."

The wise, old Rauru said not a thing. Neither did the stern, fair-haired Lady Impa.

But they both eyed the fair Zelda most strangely… almost suspiciously.

Just then the young king decided to ask the young farmmaid once again.

"Is this truly what happened?" he asked incredulously, "Did the horse-raiser named Ingo truly have this ridiculous request?"

"Yes, my lord."

"She speaks the truth, you highness!" shouted right then a man from the long line behind her. The young king promptly allowed the man to come forward and speak what he had to say, "That mad Ingo came to me as well! And me too did he ask for a cucco hen that lays duck eggs!"

"Me too, my lord!" said a second man.

"Me as well!" said a third.

"To me he came as well!" Now a fourth!

"He has come to me as well, your highness," and here the fair Zeldahad to muster all her strength and willpower to stifle her voice and keep upright, for she truly feared that she just might collapse from laughter. For this fifth man to speak was no fifth man…

But her dear, good true friend, the red-haired Malon!

"…not only did he ask me for a cucco hen that lays duck eggs… which I told him he himself knows best does not exist… " the duly perplexed look on her dear friend was nearly too much for the fair Zelda! "He then asked me if there was any goat on our farm that birth to lambs! Or sheep that gives birth to kits!"

The young king fell silent and took a good long moment to think… or rather, to try to find any sense in all this!

"Good Malon…" called out the young king at last, "The horse-raising Ingo used to work on your father's farm, did he not?"

"He did, your highness," answered the good Malon, "Though he was mean of character, he was one of our best workers… and until the day he left us, he had always been with us…"

"Well then…" said the young king, "Perhaps you can explain this… odd behavior of his?"

But the good Malon shook her head.

"I cannot, your highness, I have never seen him act like this before… not even when he'd had too much to drink!"

The young king's brow furrowed deeply as, once more, he tried to make sense of the ill-tempered Ingo's mad behavior.

But then, at last, he called for a valet.

"See if the horse-raiser Ingo is still in town, and if he is, tell him to come before me!" ordered the young king, "Maybe here, when we ask him thoroughly, we will see what the meaning is behind his odd behavior."

The king's man bowed before his liege and then left to carry out his command.

The young king meanwhile allowed himself a brief moment of rest. But as he did, with his mind taken off the odd-acting Ingo, his sharp ears and his keen eyes soon caught on to something…

…the wise, fair Zelda…

…quietly giggling like a naughty child!

Well, what do you think? What is happening here?

To my readers who know the original tale…

Please remain silent! Do not spoil the surprise!

Once more:

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