FINDING PRINCE CHARMING

Chapter 5

From then on Esmeralda swept the room every day. Pretty soon she became really quick at it which meant that by mid-morning she had finished her task and the rest of the day she did … well … nothing. She just sat on a chair in the dining room waiting for the food to be brought in, or she went for a walk in the garden, or she went to her room and slept out of boredom.

She saw people working inside the castle and outside in the garden, but it never occurred to her that she might help. She had done the job she had been asked to do and that was already more than she should do. After all she was still a princess. And anyway, where was that lazy king who made her work. You never saw HIM doing anything. You never saw him at all. He was probably somewhere being served and doing absolutely nothing, just lying about all day enjoying his wealth. And Esmeralda stamped her foot in anger and frustration because she could not tell him what she thought of him.

One day, she had just finished her work when she met Margaret who was busy as always. Esmeralda had just been thinking about King Henryk so she said to Margaret:

"Huh, you are always working but I have never seen that lazy good for nothing king lift a finger. He orders everybody about and calls me lazy. But what is he then?"

Margaret stopped and looked at her as if she wasn't sure she'd heard right.

"Do you really believe he would ask of others what he would not do himself? Child, you don't know him and you judge him without asking us, who do know him, what kind of person he is. It is summer now but he's already making sure that we will have enough food and fuel to get us through winter, and not just us, but everybody in his kingdom. We need to store as much as necessary by the time the snow comes. It cuts us off from the rest of the world. King Henryk is responsible for our welfare and he'll do any work, anything, to achieve his goal. No work is beneath him. He is not just a good king, he is a good man and that is why he is so well liked. Don't you measure him by your own shallow standards."

And Margaret went on with her work and left Esmeralda to think about what she had said.

Margaret's words had made an impression on Esmeralda, but she refused to think better of King Henryk. She decided that everybody was wrong about him and that he was clever in hiding just how bad he was. After all, a good king would not have abducted her, and would not have made her work, and would have given her a decent room instead of a hole in the attic.

But she did start to see that Jane had a lot of work – setting the tables before each meal, clearing the tables afterwards, cleaning the tables, putting the cutlery and crockery back in the sideboards when the washing up was done. Jane dusted the rooms, Jane looked after the flowers, Jane made the beds and if she wasn't working she was either on her way to or from a job. In short Jane was just as busy as Margaret and could do with some help. Esmeralda felt guilty for not helping Jane, but she did not want to feel guilty. That would mean that that monster-king was right about her. So she did nothing except avoid Jane, and felt worse and worse about it.

ooOOoo

It was only a few days later that Esmeralda, hurrying away from the dining room to avoid Jane, heard Margaret talking about her. Eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves and Esmeralda fared little better.

"She sweeps the floor in the dining room, but that is all," Margaret said. "She does not see that there is more work to be done, she does not care that other people are swamped with work while she just walks in the garden."

"Margaret, she does what I asked her to do. " That was King Henryk's deep voice. Now Esmeralda really wanted to know what they said about her.

"It is little enough, and if she hadn't been hungry, she still wouldn't have done it. I'm afraid that she is a spoilt child, and that it is too late to change her."

"Give her some time, Margaret. She is not a bad person, and I believe she will change. She will learn to put herself in another person's place. She will stop being a spoilt child, and she will be a lovely woman."

Esmeralda heard that King Henryk was going away, but the conversation had not finished yet. The cook appeared.

"Will he make her do any more work? Jane could do with some help; and the poor girl doesn't dare ask her. She says that a princess who is that beautiful should not have to work, that it is not right."

"I'm afraid he will do nothing at all, Mary. He thinks she will change and help Jane out of the goodness of her heart. I have told him that she has not changed a bit, but he doesn't want to hear it. That stupid idea of his. I should have kept talking 'till I'd talked him out of it."

"He is still taken with that lazy brat then? I cannot believe he hasn't sent her back to her father. Sweeping ONE room ONCE a day is not going to make her a better person."

"I know Mary, but he doesn't see it that way, and I fear eventually he will take her as she is. We can just hope that she will still say NO, or she will become our queen and punish us because we made her work. But if she does say no, it will break his heart."

Esmeralda didn't wait after the cook's remark so she never caught Margaret's answer. She ran to her room and sat down on the bed. The cook's words had hit home. That is how they saw her then, a lazy brat, only good enough to be sent packing back to daddy. At least Jane realised what was due to a princess. And he … No, she didn't want to think of it. She did not want to know that Henryk expected more of her.

The rest of the day she stayed in her room while the words she had overheard turned round and round in her head. She did not open the door when Jane came to see whether she was ill.

She said: "I'm fine, thank you" when Margaret asked whether she was alright, and she heard her say: "There is nothing wrong with her, Jane. She is just being awkward."

All night long Esmeralda kept tossing and turning, unable to take her mind off the words she'd overheard. Her own memories confronted her with the truth of them; memories of tantrums when she didn't get what she wanted; memories of cruelty to her seamstress when the poor girl had failed to finish a blue dress when all along she, Esmeralda, had insisted she finish the green one first; memories of a bedroom looking like an infernal mess, a mess she had caused, and the poor maid who was up all night clearing it up. In the early hours of the morning Esmeralda was so exhausted she finally fell asleep.

When Esmeralda woke up breakfast had already finished. She went to the dining room and saw Jane struggling with a pile of plates to take to the kitchen, so she took half the pile off Jane and together they cleared the rest of the table. Esmeralda helped Jane out where she could, and did her own job as well. She had to stop halfway through her work because...

ooOOoo

Because one of the suitors had finally found the way to the castle. The countryside stretching out in front of the castle was so flat and open that the guard had seen him coming when he had still been miles and miles away, a speck in the distance. A messenger had been sent to warn King Henryk who had returned to the castle immediately and was ready before Princess Esmeralda's admirer had arrived.

When the man, a worthy knight, finally reached the castle, he called out and challenged the king to a fight:

"Abductor of innocent maidens, come and face your doom. Truth and justice are on my side and together we will defeat you."

It is a well-known fact that truth and justice are generally present when a challenge is given, but when it comes down to fighting a good sword and a strong arm are much more useful. This good knight did not spend too much of his breath on name calling as he was well aware he might run out of that commodity soon enough.

The drawbridge came down and the knight entered the castle, feeling a little uneasy. Meanwhile Henryk had gone to Esmeralda, who was busy sweeping the dining room.

"Princess Esmeralda, please follow me," he said.

She wanted to say, "Why?" in the haughtiest way she could but one look at his face changed it into a quiet "Yes".

He guided her to a lovely little room with a balcony, in the part of the castle that was cut out of the rock. In days gone by it had been used by the ladies of the house and their guests during the tournaments. It was an ideal spot from which to see all the activities in the courtyard below.

King Henryk said to Esmeralda: "A knight has come to rescue you. He has challenged me to a fight. If he wins, you are free and he will take you to your father. You can follow the fight from the balcony." Then he left her.

Esmeralda ran to the balcony and looked down into the crescent shaped courtyard. She just about recognised the knight as one of the princes she had mocked. His had been among the best offers she had received even if he was a bit pompous. The thought struck her, "If I had accepted him, I would not be stuck in this hellhole." But just as quickly she rejected it. She didn't want to be the wife of a man she didn't care for. She wanted only one man. The one who, on her sixteenth birthday, had promised he would come, her very own Prince Charming. Then she saw Henryk enter the courtyard and couldn't help thinking how splendid he looked – providing you didn't see his face.

Before the fight the knight, who had obviously been told about her presence, bowed at her. She wished she could throw him a token, a favour for the brave hero, but all she had was a duster in the pocket of her apron which wasn't quite the right sort of thing.

Soon the fight began. Esmeralda cheered every time the knight seemed to be winning and held her breath when Henryk was doing well. But all her cheering could not help her would-be rescuer and in the end King Henryk won. He let his opponent keep his armour, his sword and his horse because he did not believe in humiliating a beaten enemy and besides, the way back home was too dangerous for an unarmed man.

The knight left the castle dejectedly and the drawbridge was raised again. Henryk turned to Esmeralda on the balcony and bowed in mock-imitation of her champion, then went up to the little room.

No sooner had Henryk entered or Esmeralda said darkly: "I wish he had killed you, then I could go home now."

"Yes," answered Henryk, "and your wedding to the noble knight would soon be celebrated. Your father has promised your hand in marriage to the man who defeats me and brings you home."

"My father would do no such thing. He would never force me to do anything."

"It was your brave knight who told me. Of course he might have been more interested in the kingdom. Your father promised your hand and his kingdom to whomsoever brings you back. Surely you know that a promise like that is the norm?"

"You're lying." Esmeralda was shouting now. "You're an ugly, lying monster. My father wouldn't do that. He loves me and he loves his kingdom."

The mocking tone left Henryk's voice.

"Has it never occurred to you that he would make this offer just because he cares so much about you? I would give my kingdom for you, gladly, because you see…"

Gently he caressed her cheek and in his deep voice he continued softly, "… you see, I care about you too."

His touch was as soft as a butterfly's wings and made her heart skip; his words, his warm voice sent a shiver up and down her spine. It's because I'm disgusted, because I hate him, she told herself. It's that and nothing else. She wanted to see his eyes, wanted to see that he was mocking her because it could not be true. What he had said, all of it, even those last words, especially those last words, could not be true.

But he had turned away already. Then he just said, "Come!" and, without speaking another word he took her back to the dining room.

Esmeralda soon finished her work and then went to Jane to see what she could do for her but she couldn't forget Henryk's words. She still felt his touch on her cheek and the memory if his voice made her shiver. So much so that Jane asked her if she needed a scarf.

ooOOoo