Once upon a time there lived a queen and her king in a great castle in a land overrun with dragons and thieves. The Queen Lillian and her husband appointed committees to remedy the problems but each leader was either eaten or kidnapped and sold into slavery, and without a leader the committees faded back into the village outside the castle gates. Both the Queen and King were naturally very protective of their only son, Conner, and never allowed him to venture beyond the gates of the castle, for fear he might be robbed or sold or stolen to be fed to the grumpy monsters that lingered just within the woods’ edge. One day the King Dale came up with a grand idea. He proposed that they should make it known not only to their village, but to neighboring ones, as well, that their son was of age to be married and that any suitor who should be able to solve the kingdom’s problems of dragons and thieves should be rewarded with their son’s partnership in marriage and the kingdom to rule. Surely they would find a worthy wife for their son while taking care of the kingdom at the same time. And so it was said and the word of it spread quickly to kingdoms miles away.
One Saturday the Queen and her King were told three suitors had arrived at hearing the proposal of the King. The suitors were received by the Queen and her King, along with Conner.
The first young woman who carried a great sword stepped up and replied, “My name is Jane and I’ve come 50 miles to rid your kingdom of dragons and thieves and take your son as my husband.”
“We will give you just one chance to do so, young Jane. If you successfully rid our kingdom of dragons and thieves within one week you will marry our son on Saturday and there will be a great feast in your honor.”
So the young women were each taken to her quarters and Jane began to formulate a plan to win the prince’s partnership in marriage and the kingdom to rule. She kept to herself and left every morning and returned every night tired and grumpy. Each day she sought out dragons and fought each one with her great sword. By the end of the week half the dragons had been slain but every thief remained.
So the second young woman who carried a sack of rocks stepped up and replied, “My name is Mary and I’ve come 100 miles to rid your kingdom of dragons and thieves and take your son as my husband.”
“We will give you just one chance to do so, young Mary. If you successfully rid our kingdom of dragons and thieves within one week you will marry our son on Saturday and there will be a great feast in your honor.”
So the young women each all went to her quarters and Mary began to formulate a plan to win the prince’s partnership in marriage and the kingdom to rule. She kept to herself and left every morning and returned every night tired and grumpy. Each day she sought out thieves and told them the rocks she carried were worth more than gold just across the sea and so was robbed of every rock. By the end of the week half the thieves had left for sea but every dragon remained.
And so the third young woman who carried nothing at all stepped up and replied, “My name is Grace and I’ve come from your own village to rid your kingdom of dragons and thieves and take your son as my husband.”
“We will give you just one chance to do so, young Grace. If you successfully rid our kingdom of dragons and thieves within one week you will marry our son on Saturday and there will be a great feast in your honor.”
So the young women each all went to her quarters and Grace began to formulate a plan to win the prince’s partnership in marriage and the kingdom to rule. She kept to herself and left every morning and returned every night satisfied. The first day she sought out one thief and followed him to a lair where the ban of them gathered. The second day she sought out one dragon and followed him to a cave where the dragons lived. The third day she went to the thieves’ lair and told them she’d found piles of gold in a cave up the mountain. The thieves pushed her out of the way and raced to the mountain and disappeared into the dragon’s cave. By the end of the week every thief had been eaten by a dragon and every dragon had died of eating a rotten thief.
The Queen and her King were overjoyed and cried, “You have successfully rid our kingdom of dragons and thieves. You will marry our son on Saturday and there will be a great feast in your honor.”
And so there was and all the kingdom was invited to celebrate the riddance of dragons and thieves, as well as the marriage of Conner and Grace. Grace would be the kingdom’s new queen and Conner the king when the time came and the kingdom flourished, no longer in fear.
And they lived happily ever after.
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