Fairy Tale

        Once upon a time, long, long ago in a kingdom far, far away there lived a princess named Violetta. Violetta was a most beautiful princess, with long, curly hair and pale, soft skin. She was an only child. Now, her evil uncle Edgar was not happy when she was born because the king was old, and sickly and everyone expected he would die soon. Edgar would become king, as long as Violetta remained unmarried. So, he had her placed in a tower. After a week of solitude in the tower, Violette devised a plan to get help. Using one of her hairpins she pricked her finger, and using her blood wrote a note calling for aid. She attached the note to the leg of a pigeon that had roosted outside her window, and sent the bird off. The following day, in the neighboring kingdom, young prince Vincent was out hunting with his page boy. The page boy, whose name was Alan, spotted a pigeon flying high above. Vincent saw it also, and drew his bow and let fly an arrow, striking the bird to the ground. When they went to collect their prize, they found a piece of white cloth attached to its leg. Written in dried blood on the cloth was the message, "Please Help, my evil uncle has trapped me in the prison tower of my own castle so that I may never marry. Princess Violetta." Prince Vincent decided at that moment that he would free princess Violetta from her prison. So he, and his page Alan, set forth for Violetta's castle to mount a rescue. They reached the castle in the dead of night and found the tower that held princess Violetta. Fortunately, they had in their gear a long rope. Vincent took one end of the rope in his teeth and scaled the tower, climbing all the way to Violetta's window. There he fashioned the rope to one of the bars of her window and helped her out onto the ledge. Then the two of them climbed the rope back to the ground and the waiting horses. They reached the bottom, and Violetta had just mounted one of the two horses, when the alarm went up in the castle. Instantly, guards rushed forth from the gates and seized prince vincent. As the guards pulled him to the ground, he called for Violetta and Alan to flee while they could. Violetta did not want to leave her rescuer, but, responding to their master's voice, the horses sped off into the night. When the horses finally stopped running, Violetta and Alan found themselves in a small fishing town on the ocean. They got a room at the inn, where Violetta sat down to devise a new plan to save her rescuer, Prince Vincent. After a few hours of thinking, she had her plan. She sent Alan to the market to purchase some men's clothing. She then cut her hair short, and when Alan returned, dressed herself in the fashion of a merchant sailor. The next day, she and Alan signed on to an out-going merchant ship that was sailing to trade with distant western lands. As the weeks went by, Violetta grew strong from the manual labor of manning the ship, and befriended the rough crew, all the while keeping her gender and identity secret. They taught her to fight and how to cuss and how to sing a fair sea chanty. Then one day, as they were sailing, a strange, dark ship appeared on the horizon. As it drew closer, everyone's hearts grew cold as the recognized its flag and markings. It was a pirate ship. The sea battle was fierce and hard, but the pirates were the better match, for they were led by the infamous, fearless, and undefeated pirate Sir Dracón. Alan was slain during the fighting along with most of the ship's crew, but Violetta and a few other survivors were taken captive. Most of Violetta's surviving crew mates were sold into slavery at the pirate ship's next stop, but Sir Dracón took a special interest in Violetta and offered her a spot on the crew of his pirate ship. Seeing that as a better alternative to slavery, Violetta accepted. The pirates of Sir Dracón sailed many miles, and burned many ships. They ransacked towns, and grew very, very rich. All the while, Sir Dracón had taken Violetta under his wing as a protégé. She became his most trusted confidant, and closest companion, and rose to the rank of first mate of the ship. Then one day, after dinner, Dracón invited Violetta into his cabin for a private discussion. When Violetta entered the cabin, she saw something that shocked her. There stood a middle aged woman in a beautiful dressing gown. And yet, there was something familiar about the woman, and Violetta realized that it was Dracón only that he was a she! Dracón told Violetta about a young princess named Angelina who had been driven from her rightful throne by a jealous cousin and had later been capture by pirates while sailing disguised as a man. She told about how she had risen through the ranks of the pirates to become the feared and loathed Sir Dracón. She also told Violetta that she knew who Violetta was and all that had happened to her. Then she told Violetta that she was planning on retiring soon and that she needed someone to take her place. So the devised a plan. The next time they stopped at port, Violetta went with Angelina to the inn. Violetta dressed in the clothing of Sir Dracón and found that under the disguise she looked exactly as Angelina had looked. So they made their goodbyes, and Angelina slipped quietly out of the inn, never to be seen again. The next day, Violetta, dressed as Sir Dracón, set sail with her new crew back to her home kingdom. They anchored their ship offshore and rowed silently ashore during the dark of night. Then the band of fierce pirates descended on the castle, and stormed through the gates. Violetta led the charge as the fought their way into the dungeons. There she found her original rescuer, Prince Vincent, bound in chains. She freed him, and together they marched up to the throne room and called for the evil uncle Edgar to be brought before them. Then with Edgar and all of the court as witnesses, Violetta cast off her disguise and announced her intentions of marrying prince Vincent. She then had her evil uncle cast into the dungeon, kept her faithful pirate crew as her personal guard, married Prince Vincent, and lived happily ever after.

The End