In Australia, a young woman with olive skin, dark brown hair, and a ponytail, exited a certain ship that was docked at a cheaply made jetty. She walked past the jetty, onto the sandy shore. Soon, having decided that she did not belong in this area, she began walking away from the seaside. The sailors on that ship were preparing to develop a penal colony in this area. At first, she thought about staying in the penal colony, but she changed her mind when some of the convicts at the penal colony started throwing rocks at her. The guards who were with the convicts did nothing to stop them.
What a strange country she was in; especially compared to her home country. After walking for hours, she found herself in an area that was surrounded by strange trees covered with grey pointy leaves and strange bell-shaped nuts. The young woman was over 18 and she was carrying a basket. Inside that basket was a black swan. The swan was a bird, yet its eyes were strangely human. The eyes were blue in color. That swan had a damaged wing so that bird couldn't fly. To be specific, the bones of one of its wings were broken.
Not that long ago that olive-skinned woman was a princess. Technically she was still a princess, even though she was wearing rag-like clothing. The princess's name was Elisa. Elisa knew who she was, and where she had come from. She had come from a kingdom called Galiz, which was a kingdom situated on the other side of the world. She wore a sunhat with holes in it, as well as farm boots. She walked into a field filled with Nardoo ferns. There were a couple of aboriginal natives standing not too far away from her. They were plucking leaves from the Nardoo ferns and putting it inside a tucker bag. The aborigines tried talking to Elisa, but Elisa had no intention of speaking with them. This was because she had taken a vow of silence. The vow of silence had to be kept for three years. She waved to them and fled. It would be better for her if she went to a place that was completely isolated from the rest of society. That would make it much easier for her to finish her vow of silence.
Elisa picked leaves from Nardoo plants and ate them. The taste was disgusting and inedible to her, but she managed to digest it, although it seemed to give her diarrhea. The Nardoo leaves were slightly poisonous because they were not soaked in water. Because the leaves were not soaked in water, they still retained poison in them. The leaves made Elisa sick, so she began coughing violently. Her vision started to become slightly blurry. She got out a bottle of milk from her basket and drank it all. It was no use because Elisa still felt weak and sick, even after drinking the milk.
Elisa's problems began quite some time ago. Once, Elisa and her sister were asleep in their beds when the bedroom door began to open. Her father walked into the room, deeply troubled regarding what he was about to do. He woke her and her sister up in the middle of the night. Her father was the King of the land. He was a total cheapskate when it came to fashion. He wore a holly wreath on his head, had a cheaply made robe, and wore sandals on his feet.
"Get up, you sloths!" said her father, trying to wake his eldest daughter up by pulling the bed sheets away. "Get up now!" Then the King turned to her sister and told her to get up. "Get up and get dressed," the King whispered softly to his daughter. He was careful not to give her too much of a fright. That sister was much younger than Elisa. She was 14, and her name was Karen. Karen still slept like a log, so the King pulled away the bed sheets. She woke up with a jolt and pulled out a sword.
The sword was there because Karen had a habit of sleeping with her sword tucked under her bed sheets. "Relax Karen, it's only me," gasped the King, holding his hands in front of him. "Come with me, please, and carry only what you need." Karen carried her sword with her because it was a prized possession. After all, it was her father who gave her the sword in the first place. Elisa opened a chest and took out a guitar. She used to play on that guitar whenever she needed inspiration regarding songwriting. Her mother gave her that guitar on her birthday.
The King led them to a small carriage that was situated beside the royal stables. "Get inside the carriage," the King ordered his children. "Father, what's going on?" asked Karen. "Please, get inside the carriage," the King repeated. The King's daughters reluctantly entered the carriage, completely puzzled regarding what their father was planning to do. He took out a horse from the stables and tied it to the carriage. He leapt onto the carriage, took up the reins, and drove the carriage away. He took his daughters to a wheat field in the countryside, but his royal guards did not know about this. Elisa knew that her father would sometimes take them to the nearby villages, but he never took them this far from the castle.
"Father, where are we going?" asked Karen. "A farm, and the both of you shall work in that farm," answered the King, who was also the coachman of the carriage. "This is for your own good, children. I want you two to go out into the world and earn your own dough. The time has come for that to happen." There was no one else inside the carriage except the King, Elisa, and Karen. He led them to an old mill that was surrounded by a wheat field. Beside the old mill was a farmhouse.
A miller and his wife exited the mill and greeted him. That couple had a daughter who was standing outside with them. The daughter's name was Judith. He greeted the miller by bowing, but the miller resented this. "My lord, you mustn't!" gasped the miller. The King shook his head with disapproval. "I'm just a man like you," he said to the miller. "I brought my children to you. Take care of them as if they are yours." "They will be in good hands," replied the miller, swinging his arms upwards. He wanted the King to stop bowing to him. "Did you bring us here because of our stepmother?" Elisa asked the King.
"No, of course not!"
This may not have been completely true. It was true that King loved their stepmother, yet he was also suspicious of her. He heard many rumors about his wife, but he believed that they were nothing more than rumors. "Do not marry her, for she is a witch," many of his subjects once told him. The king smiled at his children and began to walk away. "In a little while you will not see me, but you will see me soon," said the King to his daughters. The King kissed his daughters on their foreheads, leapt onto his carriage, and drove away from them.
Karen began to cry but Elisa comforted her. She wiped away Karen's tears with her sleeves. "Father said that we will see him soon," said Elisa, patting her younger sister on the shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. "Trust in father, for he has never lied to us. He is going through a tough time, because it is not easy being a good King. He will get over it soon." "I miss mother," complained Karen to Elisa. "Now father is gone as well." Elisa crossed her arms in a stern manner, saying, "Mother is dead, but Father is not! You must not speak like that."
The miller and his wife led Elisa and Karen into a room in their farmhouse. That room was nothing like their bedroom in the palace because the beds appeared to be very uncomfortable. Judith was not happy as she watched the situation unfold, so she ran over to her mother. "Why didn't you ask the King for a year's worth of money?" complained Judith. "It's not our responsibility to look after his children. He wouldn't even have come to us if he didn't have something to hide." "Leave it be!" rebutted the mother angrily. "We're not looking after them because we want money, but because we want to look after them."
Meanwhile, Elisa's stepmother was in her chamber reading from a book of magic spells that was given to her by the royal sorcerer. Her husband, who was the King, was outside the room when he knocked on the door. The stepmother's name was Abigail. Quickly Abigail put away the book of spells into her secret drawer. "Come in, husband," said Abigail nervously. The door opened, and the King entered. The royal sorcerer was also in the room, sitting by a spinning wheel, and twisting fibers into yarn. He had hair that looked like it was made from gold, and even his eye pupils were the color of gold. The King looked suspiciously at the royal sorcerer. "What are you doing here?" the King asked the sorcerer. "You never seem to be around, so I decided to speak with the Queen," replied the sorcerer. "She gets rather lonely sometimes. I thought I could teach her new spinning techniques." "Go back to your chamber, Spindleshanks!" said the King to the royal sorcerer, placing his hand on the sorcerer's shoulder. The sorcerer appeared to be grieved, but he nodded and exited the room.
"What are you doing here this late in the evening?" asked Abigail. "You've been gone for a long time." "Just taking the children out for some work experience," answered the King, but the main reason why he took them out was because he feared for their safety. "It's time they entered the wide world to learn." "And where in the world are our children?" asked Queen Abigail. "They're very far from this place, but don't be afraid. The children are in safe hands," he replied. The Queen's blood boiled with rage.
"You did not answer my question," pointed out the Queen. "I asked you where the children are!" "Oh, yes, the children!" stammered the King. "I'm afraid I can't tell you where they are. My children made me promise to tell no one where they were. I can't even tell you, but I wish I could." This was a lie because the King's children did not make the King promise this. He himself did not want to tell the Queen regarding where his children were because he did not fully trust her. The Queen straightened up and her fists tightened. "Suit yourself, my dear King," said the Queen, who barely managed to contain her rage. "I'm not their real mother, and I never will be!" He felt very guilty about keeping things hidden from his wife, for he truly loved her. "I'm sorry, Abigail," he said softly to himself.
All this was in the past. Right now, Elisa's strength was wearing thin, for she was heavily dehydrated. Elisa walked further and deeper into the bush-lands until she finally rested against a gum tree. She heard a screeching sound from up the gum tree. She raised her head and saw an animal resting on a tree branch. It resembled a koala, except that it had massive fangs. It was called a Drop Bear. Many people say that Drop Bears are not real, but they are completely real. It leapt off the tree branch and into Elisa's basket. There were wheat-based biscuits inside the basket. The black swan was also inside the basket, but it managed to leap out of the basket because the Drop Bear fell into the basket. First, the Drop Bear tried eating the biscuits, but the swan tried to use her beak to fend off the animal. Elisa tried to fend off the animal, but it was no use. The animal ate all the biscuits and scurried off.
Right at that moment two men, or bushrangers, approached Elisa. This was not surprising since many convicts ended up in Australia one way or another. One of them was called Mad Dog Morgan. The other was called Hans Westergaard. Mad Dog Morgan was the one who was big, fat, and wore a fedora hat. He also wore a waistcoat and cowboy boots. Hans Westergaard was the one who was slightly thin. He was a handsome and seemingly young man of over 20 years of age, but he had a sickly appearance as if he hadn't slept in days. He had reddish hair and a moustache, so he looked like a villain. Hans was dressed in raggedy clothing, but his shoes were highly valuable. The heels of the shoes were made of silver, and these shoes were boots made especially for riding horses. Hans could have sold them, but he didn't because they had a special place in his heart. Mad Dog Morgan looked a lot like a fat mad dog with a hairy beard, and a thick neck. The beard was very dirty, for fish bones and breadcrumbs were caught in it. His nose was round, like a cherry. You might think I am describing a man with a jovial appearance, but I am not. Mad Dog's eyebrows were heavily arched and bushy, giving him a villainous appearance.