The lost princess

The Lost Princess

Faint rays of sunshine bled through the gnarled branches of the tall trees in the Grindle forest. The rustle of small animals in the short tufts of grass startled Princess Romy as she gathered hazel nuts from the small swaying bushes; a squirrel hopped cheekily forward, begging the princess for a few of her nuts from the basket. Princess Romy giggled and bent down offering a handful of hazel nuts to the chattering squirrel, the squirrel took them and raced up the nearest tree to eat them.
The twinkling sunbeams danced and flickered amongst the trees, just like stars in a night sky. The little princess skipped happily through the woods enjoying all the nature that surrounded her. Deeper and deeper into the trees Romy danced, trying to jump onto the sunbeams that flitted on the ground before her. Gradually the sunbeams faded and the forest got darker and damper and Romy realised that she was lost. It was now almost nighttime and the forest became very gloomy and spooky, not the best place to be for a little princess. Romy called out as loud as she could hoping that she would be heard and finally found, but there was no reply to her calls.
Feeling very tired and cold, the princess huddled into the roots of a tree and covered herself with bracken and leaves to keep herself as warm as she could and with a sigh fell fast asleep.

A strange noise woke Romy, it was very cold as she sat up and looked around, just above her head a large owl was perched on a branch, his large eyes gazed down on her. "Twit-twit-twoo called the owl rotating his head to get a better look at the little princess half asleep at the bottom of his tree. "Twit-twit-twoo, who are you asked the owl closing and opening his large eyes, "Where did you come from little girl, are you lost? "Oh dear, yes I am said Romy, "Can you help me find my way home to Bluebell Castle, please help me. "Now, now, little girl, don't you worry, I'll help you the best I can, if you live in Bluebell castle you must be Princess Romy, I have heard about you. "You look very cold my dear, I'll get some of my friends to help you. The large owl puffed out his chest and called out "Twit-twit-twit-twoooo, twit-twit-twit-twoooo as loudly as he could. His voice carried all over the forest and dozens of tiny ears listened to find out which direction the call for help had come. Within a few minutes all the creatures of the forest started to hurry towards the owls loud hooting. Squirrels and rabbits came out of their holes and burrows, all types of birds left their cosy nests and little mice scurried along followed by plodding spiky hedgehogs. It was a wonderful sight to see so many helpers rushing to the owls call.

First to arrive were the rabbits, hopping at top speed, then came the squirrels leaping from branch to branch followed by all the different birds. Owl was very pleased to see so many helpers and called out "Twoo-twoo, thank you all for coming, we have a little lost princess here and she needs our help, she is very cold, will you help her? The rabbits all gathered around Princess Romy and cuddled her in their nice warm fur whilst the squirrels hopped onto her shoulders and wound their warm bushy tails round her neck and shoulders. The little princess giggled as some of the squirrel's soft bushy tails tickled her nose, "Oh thank you so much she chuckled, I'm feeling much warmer now. A scurrying in the grass made everyone turn to look, it was the field mice coming to see how they could help, and they had brought hazelnuts in their cheek pouches which the squirrel's cracked open and fed to Romy as by now she was very hungry. Now to join the band of helpers came Mr and Mrs Hedgehog, they had nice juicy berries stuck all over their spines, "Taste these, they are so juicy, we picked them especially for you so they are not poisonous, they will quench your thirst.

Meanwhile back at Bluebell Castle, the king and queen and Prince Kai were very worried that Princess Romy was so late in returning from the forest so the king decided to call out the guard. Prince Kai went to the kennels to get his best hunting dog, Pongo who was very good at finding things that were lost, all around the castle everyone was getting ready to start the search, the queen and her maids helped to make lots of sandwiches and collect all the torches in the castle as it was now almost dark.
Prince Kai was the first to leave with Pongo, the king had to get his troops ready. The prince headed for the path that entered the forest just at the other side of the drawbridge, Pongo sniffed at the ground searching for the lost princesses scent and set off yapping deep into the forest.

Princess Romy although lost did not feel frightened with so many of her animal friends around her, she knew that her parents and brother would find her and take her back to the safety of the castle. All the animals that had come to help the little princess sat around her, she had started to tell them stories about when she lived at the seaside and the time she went to France to visit the Castle Of Disney. The animals were amazed at all the wonderful things she had seen and done and wanted to know more but by now Romy was very sleepy and her head was nodding. Up above in the trees the birds started to sing a lullaby and soon the lost little girl was fast asleep again.
The wise owl called some of the birds together and told them to fly above the trees to see if they could see anyone searching for the little princess, is so, they had to guide them to the spot where she was lying asleep.

Carefully Prince Kai and his dog Pongo searched through the forest, looking for any clues to where the lost princess may have walked. Pongo started to yap, he had found a pile of hazelnuts neatly stacked, and they must have been some that Princess Romy was collecting. Above in the trees the birds were making a lot of noise and flying backwards and forwards, "Goodness said Prince Kai, "I think they want us to follow them. Both the prince and his dog followed in the general direction that the birds had flown being careful not to fall over, as it was now very dark.

Deep inside the now very dark forest Princess Romy still lay covered up by all her furry friends, she was waking up now after her short nap, "Hello animals she said, "Thank you for keeping me warm and feeding me, I think the berries were delicious, I do hope the king and queen have sent someone to look for me, they must be very worried.
To try and cheer the little princess up the animals started to dance and sing. The rabbits ran round and round trying to catch their tails, which made Romy laugh, "How funny you are she said. The squirrels danced up and down on a big tree root tapping their claws on the hard surface, it sounded just like tap dancing. In a small clearing the field mice performed a little ballet with leaves round their waists that looked like tiny tu-tu's. Romy clapped her hands and stood up and started to dance herself, she had been doing some lessons with her teacher at the castle, and everyone was having a wonderful time.

Meanwhile prince Kai was still searching for his sister with the help of the birds and Pongo, he was getting worried as it was now pitch black inside the forest and he could hardly see the birds that were directing him. He only had a small torch which the queen had given him before he left; now this was beginning to fade. Suddenly his foot caught against something in the grass, he thought it was a tree root but when he looked down it was a basket. It was his sister's basket, half full of hazelnuts and lying at the bottom was a small rag doll, and it was Suzie, Romy's favourite toy. In the distance he could now hear the trumpets of the king and his soldiers, they seemed to be on the far side of the forest, coming towards him. Pongo yapped to attract the attention of the prince; his sharp sense of hearing had detected the singing and sounds of dancing and he dashed off deeper into the forest. The young prince followed and was amazed to see two rows of faint lights making a pathway through the trees, they were the eyes of hundreds of small animals reflected in his torch-light. The animals were not frightened because they knew that the boy with the light must be searching for his sister, Pongo stopped yapping so that he would not alarm the friendly animals.
"Hello - hello, Romy, can you hear me? Called the prince, he listened carefully, there came back a loud Twit-twoo from the wise owl and a faint girls voice, he had found his sister. Dashing along the aisle of animals the young prince finally arrived at the small clearing in the trees, in the roots of the tree amongst hundreds of small animals was his sister, Princess Romy. The princess jumped up and ran to her big brother and they gave each other a great big hug. Trumpets and horses were now very near so to guide them the owl called out aloud "Twit-twoo-twit twoo, over here. The king and his soldiers arrived in the clearing, Princess Romy waved to her now smiling father, "Hello daddy, please ask your soldiers and their horses to be careful not to tread on my animal friends, they have been very, very kind to me. The king leaned over and picked up the little princess placing her on his saddle. "I was so worried about you, the queen has been in tears and your brother has been searching for you most of the evening, I will take you back to the castle and you can tell us your story in the morning.
The king then spoke to all the animals, "Dear animals and birds, thank you for looking after my dearest daughter and guiding my son to her, I invite you all to meet at the castle walls at noon tomorrow, but for now, farewell.

With trumpets blaring and soldiers cheering the search party, the king and young prince and princess arrived back at the castle to a huge crowed that had gathered to welcome back the lost princess. The queen ran to meet her daughter and gave her a huge hug and a very soggy kiss, "I'm so glad to have you home, you can tell us all about it in the morning when you have rested. "I need a bath said Princess Romy, I'm all smelly, everyone laughed. Prince Kai gave his sister her treasured doll, Suzie; she hugged it tightly and went off to get a nice hot bath.

The following morning after a nice breakfast Princess Romy told how she got lost, how the animals and birds helped her, how the wise owl organised and helped in her rescue and how she dropped her basket and doll Suzie. She was so happy to be at home with the king and queen and her brave brother. The queen had spoken with the king and they decided to make a great surprise for the princess and all the animals and birds of the forest, this was to be announced at midday by the firing of the big gun.

BOOM!
The big gun fired right on time, the king, queen, princess and prince all wore their finest clothes, Pongo had a new collar, the troops wore their finest uniforms and the town crier wore his finest gold waistcoat. From out of the forest came all the hundreds of animals and birds that had been so helpful, standing in front looking so proud was Wise Owl.
The Town crier stepped forward and started to read from his large scroll.

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"Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye, by royal command, the following new rules apply from today's date.

* There will be no more hunting in the forest of Grindle.

* All the animals of the forest are now protected for all time.

* Every winter food will be placed in the forest so that no bird or animal is hungry.

* The royal vet will attend to any animal or bird that becomes ill or is injured

* The wise owl was then presented with a gold medal.

There was a great cheer from the castle and it's residents, the animals squeaked, hooted, tweeted, and squealed, everything had turned out well in the end, the princess was safe and all the animals were safe forever.

To end the celebrations the band started to play and a huge tea party for everyone was held in the great hall, it was a super day.

The End

© Terry Sorby