All For A Princess

Chapter One

Once there was a poor woodcutter who lived in the outskirts of Tonzonga. He had four sons Oscar, Odin, Richard and Ronald. One day, their father told “My dear sons, I am becoming old and I need you to learn the art to make a living”. The four brothers started their journey to learn an art for their living. The eldest brother Oscar met a woodcutter during his journey and the man trained Oscar in cutting wood and also working with lumbar things. The second son Odin met a scholar who was an expert in the use of binoculars. Odin got trained under the scholar. Richard the second youngest met a tailor and got trained by him in all forms of stitching. Ronald the youngest of them all met a hunter in a dense forest and started to learn the art of hunting. Few years passed and the four brothers returned to meet their father. They were going to tell their father what each of them had learnt. The day they came back the princess of Tonzonga was kidnapped by a dragon that carried the princess across the ocean. The King was worried and announced that whoever saves her will be rewarded. The brothers came to hear the news and went to the King hoping that they can save her. The four brothers were given a ship to travel across the sea. Odin used his binoculars to see where the dragon and the princess were and he found out that they were in a nearby island. The four brothers sailed towards  the island. After reaching the island they found the enormous dragon sleeping by wrapping its tail around the princess. The brothers approached the princess without disturbing the dragon. However, the moment didn’t last long. The dragon saw the brothers and it chased them. Ronald stepped forward to fight the dragon. At last, the dragon was killed and it fell by creating a great shake in the ocean floor. This made the ship break and all of them caught hold of the remains of the ship. Richard who had brought his stitching kit used the help of his eldest brother Oscar to stitch a boat from the remains. The brothers sailed back to Tonzonga safely with the princess. The King was very happy and as a reward, he made all four brothers as chiefs of separate departments in his kingdom.

Chapter Two

The town rejoiced at the return of their princess but the King was not that happy as he had another worry in his mind. The princess was in the age to get married. The King wanted a kind, wise and rightful ruler to take his daughter in marriage. He sent a message “Attention everyone please note that our King has announced the marriage of the princess to whoever fulfills these two things. 

1.      Should bring one of the finest pearls that the King has never seen.

2.       Should do a specific task given by the King

Many princes, merchants, traders from many kingdoms came forward with shiny pearls, but none of them were able to complete the task given by the King. Days passed and the number of suitors went down day by day. The King was worried and said to his wife “such a wide world and not one good suitor for my daughter. One is lazy another is arrogant and another is too selfish”. In the same kingdom there lived a fisherman who had two sons named Paul and Nick. Paul the eldest son was lazy and also selfish while Nick the youngest son was kind, helpful and hardworking. Nick used to go with his father to the river and help him catch some fish while Paul used to while away time by sleeping long hours. One lucky day, while Nick was in the market, the fisherman caught twenty oysters. One of them had shiniest pearls he had ever seen. He took them home that evening and showed it to his sons. Nick said “father, now that we have one of the shiniest pearls why don’t we try the hand of the princess?” The father nodded and divided the pearls among his sons.

Chapter Three

Paul left for the palace the very next day. On his way, he met an old lady. She asked “dear son what are you carrying so carefully in that bag?” pointing to the bag in which Paul was carrying the pearls. Paul replied “nothing important old lady it is just some small pieces of coal why? do you want some?” “No no my child I am hungry do you have any food for me,” she asked. Paul being selfish did not say anything but walked away. He reached the palace and showed his pearls to the King. The King was amazed to see the shining pearls. Suddenly all the pearls turned to pieces of coal and the whole court stood there speechless. “I can’t believe that such people like you live and breathe the air of Tonzonga. Leave now before I put you in the dungeons”. Paul did not know what to do so he came back home quickly. Nick and his father understood that Paul didn’t succeed. The next day Nick took the pearls and started his journey to the palace, after some time he met the same old lady. She asked Nick the same question “dear son what are you carrying so carefully in that bag” pointing to the bag in which Nick was carrying the pearls. “Well, I am carrying some pearls to the palace to win the heart of the princess” Nick replied. “My child I am hungry do you have any food for me I am sure they will give you a feast at the palace,” she asked. Nick is kind and humble said “you are right grandma I might get a feast there. Here take this bread this is all I have” saying so Nick gave the bread to the old lady. The old lady said “thank you, my son, I don’t have much to give you but I have this whistle” saying so the lady showed Nick a golden whistle. “When you blow this the things you want to come back to you will come back to you the next second”, saying so the lady gave the whistle to Nick and disappeared in thin air. 

Chapter Four

Nick reached the castle and showed the King the pearls. The King was impressed to see the shiny pearls and said “those are indeed the shiniest pearls I have ever seen. You can take rest in the palace for tonight and I will give you the task tomorrow”. The next day, The King called Nick to the garden and said “Good morning Nick. I got my huntsmen to catch these hundred squirrels for this task. Your task is at the time of sunset you should bring all hundred squirrels to the court even though they will be freed now. Saying so the King opened the cage. Nick tried to catch them but it was impossible. Feeling tired he sat under a tree putting his hand in his pocket and then he found the Golden whistle that the old lady had given him. Nick remembered what the old lady had told him, so he tried once and to his surprise all the squirrels came back to him within seconds. Nick spent his day resting under a tree near the palace. At sunset, Nick used the whistle and brought back all the hundred squirrels to the kingdom. The King was shocked and impressed by Nick and asked: “how did you do this?”. Nick being honest told the King the entire story and about the help, he got by the whistle. After hearing the story the King was more impressed by Nick for his honesty and kindness towards people he asked his daughter if she liked him and her daughter agreed for the marriage. The marriage was celebrated in great pomp and was the grandest wedding Tonzonga has seen.