Once upon a time was a very pretty princess called Alora, she lived with her mother Queen Maria, who was very lovely and loved her daughter very much she gave her anything she wished for, within reason of course. One of the games the princess would play was to pretend she was a lovely butterfly and move around the flowers in the garden. One day while playing her game, she had moved to the edge of the garden, where a tall wall was, as she got near the wall the princess could here someone talking, and a noise like a donkey braying. So stopping and listening she stayed and soon the voice started again saying. "What a silly donkey you are," and then "Hee Haw." coming from the donkey, the voice went on "I tell you all my secrets and all you can say is 'Hee haw,' what good is that, that won't help me, you know!" "Well!" , thought the Princess, "that is a strange young man, I hope he sorts out his troubles," but the next day the man with his donkey was back and so was Alora. As she came near the wall she heard the young man saying to the donkey."A lot of good that did." "Hee Haw," said the donkey, "Now I suppose you are going to tell me to do something else," said the young man sounding annoyed. Alora decided to speak again. "Its no good getting cross, " she said, "I will try to help you only once more, I advise you to go and find the wizard and tell him your problems, he lives in a cottage at the side of the castle, near the gate. His name is Wizard Truegood, he will be able to help you," she continued " he deals with 'Misty Dreams' to help with problems and also spells to make a person better." then she stopped and listened again. He spoke quietly, sounding thoughtful. "Yes, I'll do that," and then he went away. Now the young man, called Tristin knew that the donkey wasn't speaking as the voice was too pretty and musical for his friend the donkey. He was now puzzled and wanted to know who the owner of the lovely voice was, but before this happened he took the donkey called Bernie and put him in a field a little from where Tristin was going to see the Wizard. The young man called and didn't get an answer, so he pushed the door open and what a surprise he got when he looked into the room, he thought being an old man and a wizard, the place would be very dark and gloomy but it was quite the opposite. There was a light in the room that brightened every thing
there, the
walls were covered with different objects, for instance, one side had
all
sorts of hats for a wizard, they all had long peaks, but each had a
different
picture on the outside, there were stars on one, moons on
another,
even flowers on one, and sparkles on a blue one. Tristin was so taken up with all of this that he forgot to
call again
and by now, Wizard Truegood had seen him, |
The bird was watching the wizard and now and
again moved
his head up and down saying: "He's at it again, he's at it
again."
Tristin thought it is one of the most loveliest birds he had seen, next
to the fire lay a large dog, not taking a bit of notice of the young
man
and also watching. The wizard called to Tristin. "Louie won't bother
you," "Who's Louie," called the young man to the wizard. "He's my dog. and Goldie is the Cockatoo's name." "Oh! " said Tristin. By now the old man had finished his work and went over to a chair, which the dog was lying next to. "Now what can I do for you," said the Wizard looking very interested. "I'm not sure where to start," said our friend. "Start at the beginning," said Trugood, and this was the story, our friend told the Wizard. "I'm Tristin, " said the young man, "and I come from a land far away from here. I live with my mother and father and Bernard my young brother.We live in a large palace with a lovely garden. My brother and I used to play and help our father in the garden. One day Bernard and I decided to go to the forest and we lost
our way.
At first we were frightened, but after walking around for a while, we
thought
that if I went one way and my brother another, we should find our
way out, well I did managed to find a way out.I waited at a gate that
we
had decided we would meet, but he was such a long time and when
he
did arrive, he had turned into a donkey,!" "Oh dear, I feel rather silly now, I must see if someone wants a donkey and let my parents know I'm alright." "That's a good idea." said Tristin and after taking the Wizard to Bernie and introducing them, he went to where he was staying. The next day Tristin went to the wall and pretended to talk to the donkey again. Now against the wall was a wild cherry tree and as soon as the girl came to the wall and started to speak. Tristin decided he would climb the tree to see this Princess Alora, who the wizard had spoken of. Mean while Alora was waiting on the other side of the wall hoping to hear the young man again, as she wished to know what had happened about his problems. She heard Tristin pretending to say to the donkey. "Well that's sorted out now, your not Bernard, just another donkey," now he stopped talking and quietly climbed the tree. Looking over the wall, he saw the prettiest young lady he had ever seen, he nearly fell out of the tree looking at her and made the leaves rustle which made Alora look up suddenly."Oh!," she gasped. "You must be careful, or you'll fall." Tristin, just gazed at her then realised he was being very rude by staring at the Princess, he then smiled and called. "My names Tristin, and you are the Princess Alora." The Princess nodded asked: "Are you the one who has been talking to his donkey," "Yes, you must think I've been quite a fool, but if you open the door at the side of the wall, I will tell you why," he said, So the young man came down from the tree and the Princess opened the door, and Tristin told Alora what had happened at the Wizards house and that he was now on his way home to see his lost brother, his mother and father. Alora liked Tristin very much and he thought the princess delightful, and as he started on his way the princess invited him to meet her parents, when he came back, this he agreed to do and saying goodbye he went on his way. When he arrived home his parents and his brother was so pleased to see him, they held a large party and every one was very happy . ~Anne Pettersen 1994~ |