The Princess Bride

It was up to her to investigate how the accident had really happened. 

“Ugh”, said the princess, helping herself up from the grass. Her horse had buckled, throwing her off his back, and on to the ground. Her handmaiden quickly scrambled off her own pony and went to attend to the princess. She tried to brush the dust from the princess’s dress and remove the twigs stuck in her hair.

The princess glanced at her reflection in a nearby stream. “No, leave them there. I quite like the way they look.” “Yes, they really frame your face well!” Her handmaiden replied, somewhat snarkily.

The princess narrowed her eyes at the handmaiden, who started to laugh. “Well really Princess”, she grinned at her, “what did you expect me to say?”.

The princess threw a clump of grass the hand maiden. “Fiiiiiine”, she said. “You never let me experiment.”

“Well, of course not. See what you come up with. Now, do you want me to go get your horse back? He seems to have found something quite interesting over there.”

The princess and her hand maiden walked over to where the horse was seemingly pawing at what she could only assume was an abandoned bunch of sheets.

“Mishie! What are you doing? Don’t touch those rags, god knows where they have been”. The princess tried to pull her horse away.

“Hrrrrumph!”, the horse protested. He seemed very dogged about his investigation. He stuck his paw right in the middle of the pile.

“Yeeeeh gads”, squealed the pile.

The princess and the handmaiden jumped back.

“Lords have mercy!”
“Who are you?”
“I could ask you the same question. Why are you bothering me?”
“Bothering you? You just scare…”

“And you could PLEASE do something about your horse? He is poking at my unborn children.”

The princess blushed. She and the handmaiden tried to pull Mishie back.

Slowly the pile of rags took the form of a young man. He extricated himself from the muddle and stood up straight. He was tall and lanky; and looked quite sweet, toused hair and all.

“What are you doing here?”, the handmaiden asked “Don’t you know these woods are only open for the royal family?”

 “I was trying to sleep. And no, I did not know that. That’s a silly rule.”

The princess peered at him, trying not to appear too curious.

“Who are you?”, the lad asked, pointing to the princess.

“I am the daughter of the ruler of these lands.” She drew herself up to her full height.

“Really?” He gazed at her dishevelled clothes and the twigs in her hair. “You don’t look it.” He stated flatly.

His nonchalance, and the suggestion that she looked anything short of impressive irked her.

“Be that as it may, I could have your head at a whim”

“Of course! But you wouldn’t, would you?”, he laughed.

She felt a slight twinge of irritation. Why wasn’t he more respectful and docile? Who did he think he was? Speaking to her like she was a commoner. The audacity! Only her handmaiden was allowed to be so forward, and that too only in private. In public, she too treated her with the deference her position demanded.

“I just might, peasant!” she said, with a slight edge in her voice.

“Well, seeing as how I value my life, I better take your leave!” He picked up his sheets and started to walk away.

The princess called after him “But you never told us, why you were here in the first place!”

He merely waved as he disappeared round the trees.

She ran after him, then stopped behind a tree trunk and watched his receding back, a mixture of eagerness and frustration in her heart.

It was safe to say, she was hooked.