EXCERPT 1
I have decided to start posting excerpts from the stories heard by Bek and Kar all of their lives in the bramble bower hedge. This first one is from ‘The Great Green Va’, a story of the Princess Ivah Skay and how she hated rules and loved green.
This is the Princess Ivah Skay
This is Fatch, the Fool
Fatch the Fool made his way down curving lanes between the crowded yellow brick mounds of Tredgemont Castle. No longer did he hop with jingle bell hat balanced on lifted left blue foot. No. No more could he be seen by the King. No. Therefore, such and so, no more need to act the fool. Glumly frowning he plodded, hat with jingles wadded in a clenched blue fist. When he passed the kitchen mound, a pair of sculgers stopped scrubbing chegroots to watch him go by.
“What ho, Pobble. The Fool is on a steam,” said one.
“Sent again to fetch the impus youngling is my guess. Sure as honeymead tickles my tongue. Lowers his mask, then, don’t it?” replied the other, apparently Pobble.
“What do you think? She’ll be green again?” asked the first, scratching his forehead with his brush.
“It wouldn’t knock me down if she was. She is a little impus, don’t you know. I like her. She’s got a sparkle,” said Pobble.
“HEY!!” came a shout from inside the kitchen mound. The sculgers bang bo quick shut up and madly scrubbed the roots.
Fatch, when he reached the bottom of the castle hill, paused to snort when he saw the Goblet of Comfort lying on the ground next to the Bubble Up Well. He narrowed his eyes, looked around, and gave the goblet a kick. Cloing. He walked up to it and kicked it again. Cloing. He picked it up and spat on it. He wiped it clean with his jingle bell hat. He cleared his throat, slapped a smile on his face and began dancing toward the gorsegully. He sang as he danced.
“Oh, Honeyness Princess Ivah Skay,
Will you not come out and play?
With a hi and a ho and a hey nonny no,
Oh, won’t you come out and play?”
The Princess stood up laughing. She was a sight. She was a stained green, green, green, head to gold slipper toe sight.
“I am prepared to be punished. Give me the Goblet,” she announced and commanded. “Let me be led to the Well.”
Fatch grinned a grin that strained every muscle in his face. He did a back flip and waddled like a flabber back to the Bubble Up Well. The youngling Princess followed with dignity and green. She filled the Goblet and waved for Fatch to ascend the castle hill. Fatch galloped and barked up the curving path and passed once more the kitchen mound. The sculgers still were hard at work scrubbing the chegbush roots. They paused when they saw the Princess.
“There, would you know it, as I said. Green as greeny green green,” said the one called Pobble.
“I was the one what said, weren’t I?” said the other, whose name I have not yet mentioned. Baffin. Baffin was the name.
“Whoever, whatever, wherever, what’s said is more than done. Stand straight, Baffin! Oh, thank you, Your Honeyness,” said Pobble, and both bowed.
Why did they bow? The Princess smiled and winked at them.
Up the curving path and into O’Rone’s Circle of Great Stones the frolicking Fool led the green grinning Princess. Fatch cavorted into place and bowed himself low to the ground. The King sighed when his stained green daughter handed him the Goblet of Comfort. The Queen beside him sighed. Eight Princely brothers sighed. In the shadow of the gray blue Bask Stone, King Vor sighed again. In rank and file, by law and lore, the yellow clad citizens waited. They did not sigh. However, they watched with eager eyes and great interest.
“Ivah, Ivah, Ivah,” sighed King Vor.
“Father, Father, Father,” grinned his youngling daughter.
“What am I to do?” King Vor asked the Bask Stone, shrugging.
“Punish me,” said Ivah Skay brightly. “Send me to my room to think. I almost, almost, almost, really, really, really, really close to almost didn’t go into the gorsegully this time. I came as close as this to filling the Goblet and chanting the proper chant. If you would punish me a little nince more in my room thinking, I am almost, almost, almost sure I could follow the rules. Really, really, really, really.”
“Well, then, well. If you really think you might think, then, I suppose, make it so,” said King Vor, nodding a Kingly command. He turned and dribbled water from the Goblet of Comfort onto the Bask Stone. As he poured, the citizens and Royalty together chanted, “Avoli, Taromi, Ren ren bar.” Why? It was the way. Ivah Skay did not chant. She skipped to her mound to think.
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