Читать книгу Simple Princess - Natalie Yacobson - Страница 4

So the overseas princes fled from her, believing she was too young and inexperienced to run the country? Now the care of the country had fallen on her, and Estella was no more imposing. Her coronation is coming up, and they whisper about her like she’s a child. Estella herself could hear the chatter of the courtiers as she walked through the corridors of the castle:

“The deceased king bequeathed everything to his only daughter Estella, but she is a fool. The beauty is weak-minded from birth or as a result of some spell cast as a child. That is why there are many astrologers at court who dream of breaking it. The late king was certainly a magician. The guards with their halberds also look like wizards. The princess is being guarded from something.”

Has her hearing become so acute, or are the courtiers whispering so loudly to the ambassadors that they’ve forgotten all decency?

Estella paused to question them further, but thought it unwise to ask about her. It’s better for her to know what’s going on with her, not them. She is going to her own coronation. She is about to become queen of Aluar. She is indeed vigilantly guarded.

But some cunning dwarf has sneaked right into the throne room. How did he slip past the guards? It’s as if he grew out of the floor.

“Your Highness!” He took off his red beret and bowed, touching the floor with his forehead. He bowed with his forehead on the floor, and his diminutive stature made him look ridiculous.

“Have you come to amuse me before the coronation?” Estella guessed and clapped her hands. “Bravo! What other tricks can you do? Would you like to be my jester? As the future queen, may I appoint you right now?”

“Actually,” the dwarf hesitated. “I’ve come to talk about money.”

“Is it about wages?” Estella suggested, innocently. “It’s usually discussed with the King’s Bursar, but he’s been absent recently.”

“No, it is not about salary,” the dwarf scratched his head.

“If not for money, you can serve me for food and lodging. That’s what a lot of servants work for.”

“My Lady, you’re so lovely, I’d pay for the privilege of amusing you myself,” the dwarf said pompously.

What a sweetheart! And she wanted to call the guards to turn him away. He knew how to compliment her, and was obviously eager to curry favor with his new ruler. Perhaps he wanted to ask for preferential treatment for the mines in the west of the kingdom.

Well, he first came to honor her as queen. So she’ll defer to him on everything. No one but him has yet come to the expected coronation, though it should be any minute now. Or had she got the time mixed up? Estella frowned. Could she have been an hour or a day wrong? Arithmetic had always been a problem for her. Especially when it came to dates.

“I have come to give you a gift for your coronation,” a large forged chest, suspiciously resembling those in the treasury of Aluar, appeared beside the dwarf as if from the ground. Even the emblems on the lid are Aluar’s. Probably it was an imitation.

Estella applauded the dwarf again.

“Well done! It’s a treasure! Where did you get it? And how did you get it?”

The dwarf is so small, and the chest is so huge. The dwarf instantly dispelled Estella’s suspicions by easily lifting the huge chest onto his shoulder. Underneath the chest, the tiny bearer wasn’t even noticeable.

“That’s it!” The dwarf finished his show of strength and set the chest back on the floor. No matter how its wrought iron edges damaged the polished parquet. Gisela would scold if Estella stained or ruined anything again on Coronation Day. And she won’t accept explanations that some dwarf has caused trouble, either. She’ll blame it on Estella herself.

“What was it you wanted to ask?” Estella prodded him.

The dwarf hesitated again. He’s shy when it comes to business. But he can carry heavy things like a big man.

“Where did that trunk come from and what’s in it?” Estella became suspicious.

“The chest is from your own treasure,” the dwarf admitted, “but I am by no means a thief. I have not taken a single penny from the treasure. Everything was left inside the chest.”

“Why did you take it without asking?”

“I wanted to do you a favor. I saw how dreamily you looked at the locked treasury, and I thought I should fulfill your whim. Pity I could only get one chest, and even that I had to beat off the occupants of the keep. They nearly sounded the alarm, but in the end we came to an agreement.”

“It’s curious!” Estella drummed her nails on the armrest of her throne.

It was funny that the dwarf had stolen the treasure chest from her only to present it to her. After all, the chest is locked. Perhaps it contains cursed gold which has caused the dwarf so much trouble that he has decided to give it back to its owner. It’s a pity he didn’t come with a confession, but an urgently concocted lie. Gisela would have called the guards to put the thief in prison. But Estella was not called a simpleton for nothing. She decided to take the dwarf at his word. The dwarf was still flirting and wailing:

“You are very beautiful, but I, alas, was driven here by an unpaid debt. I owe so much to your father, that hundreds of years of hard work in the mines will not pay it off. But I can give you a treasure that alone is worth more than all the riches of the world.”

“And what is that?”

“It is your best advisor.”

“What is it? Is it instead of jewels?” Estela was instantly disappointed and was about to call the guards. It sounds too much like fraud. She may be stupid, but she’s not that stupid.

“Think about it. Everyone says you lack wisdom.”

It is right,” she said nervously, remembering a conversation she’d overheard recently that had upset her greatly. The courtiers were arguing about who was sillier – the hen or the princess?

“Would you like to be wise?”

Estella didn’t know what to answer. Her fingernails scratched nervously at the armrest of the throne.

“It is to shut up all those insolent courtiers who tell you that you are foolish and unworthy to rule?” The dwarf continued slyly.

He knows how to flatter! He’s right at the heart of it, like a knife through her heart. One dreams of love and beauty. She dreams of common sense.

Estella nodded slowly.

“So, he will be your mind!” The dwarf proclaimed and disappeared.

Who did he mean? Estella took a step toward the chest. It looks like it’s locked. No, the key is in the keyhole. Estella turned it. The lock gave way easily. There was gold shining through the crack under the lid. The chest seemed to be full of gems, ingots and coins. But where’s the Counselor? Or was the dwarf speaking metaphorically? She wished she were smart enough to understand it all! Was the gift really just a trick to mock the stupidity of a gullible princess?

“What should I do?” Estella opened the lid, which was heavy.

Suddenly a monster the size of a monkey jumped out of the chest. She wanted to scream as it nestled onto her shoulder, but it was suave.

“The Fair Lady has been expecting me!” It cried out in a human voice. “You are as pretty as a rose. You should never wait long.”

It was clearly a compliment, but it wasn’t the compliment that startled the princess. It wasn’t even that the creature’s claws were caressing her cheek, repeating the caress of a lover.

“Can you speak?” Estella opened her mouth in amazement. “Oh, yes!”

“I can do many things!” He boasted as he wrapped his black tail around her neck like a noose.

“Get down! I can’t breathe!” Estella complained.

“You can’t really live without me! I must always be near you.”

“Who are you? And why were you sitting in the box?”

“The better question is not why, but who locked me in?”

“That’s right! That’s what you should have said. I’m not thinking straight. Thanks for the tip.”

“From now on, you will think like a great sage!” The monster promised.

“I don’t think so! I can’t think at all. That’s what they all say.”

“Well, you’d better take my advice,” he advised her kindly, running his black claws tenderly across her forehead. “I am your lost mind. You have just rescued me. The trunk was stuffy and cramped. I am much more comfortable with you, my lady.”

“Am I your lady?” That’s what servants usually call their masters, but the beast acted as if it owned her. Is that how a mind is supposed to behave?

“I’ll call you Reason.”

It wriggled.

“But my name is Gloom.”

“It doesn’t suit you.”

“It sure does. If you’ve noticed, I’m as black as the darkness of night.”

“You are like a firebrand from a furnace!”

“I can see why they call you a fool.”

“It is a simpleton, not a fool. It’s a little different.”

“And you’re smart, too. And you’re not stupid. Aren’t you ashamed not to trust your intelligence?”

“You mean you?” She glanced at the monster on her shoulder.

“Who else could it be?”

“They say the mind is in the head, not on the clavicle.”

“It’s harder to get into your head, though it’s empty, but it’s not much room.” He scratched her shoulder as if he were putting a stamp on it.

“Oh, I wish you’d gone into my head and got lost there.”

“Do you know how hard it is for those who don’t listen to their wits, but do things their own way?” Reason quipped.

“That’s what all the duenna’s told me! I didn’t think you’d be so tedious.”

“Go ahead!” Reason commanded. “Take some of the gold from the chest and hide it in the hatch beneath the throne.”

“There’s a hatch under the throne.”

“You have to push the dragon-shaped carving on the back of the throne, and the hatch will open.”

Her mind raced her like a servant girl until she had dragged almost all the contents of the chest into a deep recess beneath the throne steps.

“Look, is living with your mind, I mean being smart, always so hard?” Estella sighed, exhausted from her work as a loader.

“Shut up!” The mind on her shoulder weighed itself like a chest of jewelry. Her shoulder stiffened.

“Why should I be silent?”

“The more silent you are, the smarter you look.”

“It sounds smart.”

“Trust me, and they’ll stop calling you a simpleton.

“They’ll call me Wise?”

“They’ll call you a star. Your name means North Star, doesn’t it?”

“I didn’t know that! I thought I was just a star.”

“You are a fool,” said Reason, spitting ash on the floor. Why is there ash in his mouth instead of spit? His black spit sealed the treasure-filled hiding place.

“What did you say?” Estella was offended when she heard the word “fool.” Who was he talking about?

“It’s all right, my dear, go ahead. We must get out of the throne room.”

“But my coronation is coming up!”

“It is no coronation for sure yet,” Reason glanced around. “You need to take me to the north tower. Come on!”

Estella felt like a coachman. It was as if the Reason were pulling her by the reins. And so they went. It guided her, showed her the way to her home castle. He was getting into her head. It’s cheeky of him, but convenient for someone who doesn’t want to think about anything herself. He thinks for her.

Reason’s claws were almost lusting over her curls.

“How beautiful you are, Princess.”

“What good would that do?”

“What do you mean? Don’t you value your beauty? Careful, it can be stolen by evil spirits.”

“Everyone laughs at me because I’m stupid.”

“What does a beautiful woman need a mind for?” He laughed suddenly. “It turns out that she does!”

Estella suspected something wrong when she looked at him in the wall mirror. Her mind pressed against her cheek like a gentle pussycat, but it looked like a demon.

“If you are my mind, why are you so ugly?”

“It is because beauty and intelligence are incompatible! Smart people are never beautiful.”

“But then you’re not my mind, you’re someone else’s. You were wrong about me.”

“You are fool,” he swung at her with his claws, but held himself back. “I am yours, you know!”

“And how do you know?”

“I can feel it.”

“You feel it? What do you mean?”

“Like you can feel your leg or arm, I can feel you.”

“But I can’t feel you unless you’re sitting on my shoulder.”

Estella grimaced. The small-sized Mind proved to be heavy. Her shoulder ached from the burden. She hesitated to ask it to step down. She hesitated to ask it to get off, or else it would be gone. Being left without a mind again was terrifying to her. And so she was teased for being a simpleton. Things must change when she had her mind.

“Thank you for showing up,” she thanked him. “It was too bad without you.”

“And you’re already beginning to get smart!” Mind clapped his hands cheerfully, and his claws squeaked. “Usually beauties are empty-headed, but you’re lucky, because you have me. With me you’ll be the greatest queen in the universe, just take my advice.”

Estella nodded obediently. Of course, it was unpleasant to know that your mind was as ugly as a demon. But there was nothing to be done. You have to put up with it. As he himself says, the mind is not meant to be beautiful.

“Aren’t you trying to get back inside my head?” Estella didn’t like the way he drove his sharp claws across the back of her head.

“No, just checking something,” his claws hooked the pendants of the crown. “If you only knew how hard it was for me to let go of my magical chains, to free myself and come back to you, you would have snuggled me now.”

“Was it hard for you, too, without me?” Estella rejoiced. It’s always nice to know you’re not the most deprived.

“Of course it is! As you’ve noticed, I’m very ugly, but a wise man. Together we’d make a great tandem. Just don’t tell anyone about me. Let them think I’m still enchanted. It’s a pity they took the magic out of your pretty little head, or I’d look so pretty. No one would ever have locked the doors of the ballroom or the feast room in front of me.”

“But you will be seen with me if you don’t get off your shoulder.”

“They won’t! As long as I sit on your shoulder I am invisible to others. And you can enjoy my wise counsel.”

“I already have one mentor.”

“Is it a stupid chaperone?”

“She’s smart. Don’t insult her!”

“You will be even smarter now.”

He whispered in her ear. His whisper was as hot as a dragon’s breath. Estella winced.

“Come, princess! With me you will be irresistible to court and invincible in war. Only listen to my advice!”

It’s a good thing Reason doesn’t have to be introduced as a tame monkey. No one really sees him.

There is some commotion among the courtiers. Reason has his black ears pricked up and listens.

“There will be no coronation!” He proclaimed. “This is no longer conjecture but fact.”

“Why should it be so?”

“War has been declared from Ravelin. The local king is convinced the girl must be removed from the throne.”

“Oh, he’s a scoundrel!” Estella clenched her fists.

“Don’t be so boisterous, mistress!” Reason cautioned. “You must behave yourself. Summon the army.”

“But Ravelin is the largest state north of us, famous for its torture chambers and dungeons.”

“And they are but men!” Mind clenched his black clawed fists. “And I…”

“Who are you?” said Estella, wary. “Aren’t you a non-human being? Oh, you mean a non-human mind?”

He chuckled softly, as if he were sprinkling ash around him.

“I am the mind of the wizard king’s daughter! I am above the human mind! You’ll see, with a mind like mine, no war is a serious threat to you!”