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Young Maisy
Young Maisy
Young Maisy
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Young Maisy

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Maisy is a village girl in an ordinary dukedom. One day a fight with other girls drives her into the nearby woods. While sorting out her actions, Maisy encounters a talking stag, a member of the Fairy Folk in disguise.

This begins Maisy’s life as a Witch attempting to reclaim her birthright. She learns that she’s not a common girl, but a daughter of royalty hidden away for her safety. She must use magic and her wits to figure out how to reclaim her title and someday become THE WITCH QUEEN.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 1, 2019
ISBN9780463796016
Young Maisy
Author

Robert Collins

Two people with different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities met at a European and Balkan music and dance ensemble named Koroyar and their lives became intertwined, combining their gifts to continue exploring life as an avenue of creative expression. Robert Collins has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, and has been an educator in the Los Angeles area for thirty years. He studied writing with Joan Oppenheimer in San Diego, with Cork Millner privately, and also in the Santa Barbara Writer's Conferences. Elizabeth Herrera Sabido, at the age of sixteen years, began working as a secretary at the Secretaria de Industria y Comercio in Mexico City where she was born, then she was an educator for twenty-six years, and a teacher of international dance for The Los Angeles Unified School District. She has also studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is a Reiki Master Teacher. Attracted by the Unknown, the Forces of the Universe, and the human psyche, during their lives they have studied several different philosophies. Elizabeth has been involved with various religions, Asian studies, and Gnosticism with SamaelAun Weor, and Robert has explored spiritual healing practices in Mexico, and studied with Carlos Castaneda's Cleargreen and Tensegrity. Elizabeth and Robert start their day at four-thirty in the morning. They enjoy playing volleyball and tennis, and in the afternoons play music, alternating between seven different instruments each. Their philosophy of Personal Evolution has led them to explore over 110 countries between the two of them such as Japan, Nepal, Egypt, Bosnia- Herzegovina, the Philippines, Turkey,Russia, etc.

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    Young Maisy - Robert Collins

    YOUNG MAISY

    The Witch Queen, Book 1

    by

    Robert Collins

    Ebook Edition

    Copyright © 2019 by Robert Collins

    License Notes, eBook edition

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    Chapter One

    Chapter Two

    Chapter Three

    Chapter Four

    Chapter Five

    Chapter Six

    Chapter Seven

    Chapter Eight

    Chapter Nine

    Chapter Ten

    Chapter Eleven

    Chapter Twelve

    Chapter Thirteen

    Chapter Fourteen

    Chapter Fifteen

    Chapter Sixteen

    Chapter Seventeen

    Chapter Eighteen

    Chapter Nineteen

    Chapter Twenty

    Chapter Twenty-One

    Chapter Twenty-Two

    Chapter Twenty-Three

    Chapter Twenty-Four

    Chapter Twenty-Five

    Chapter Twenty-Six

    Chapter Twenty-Seven

    Chapter Twenty-Eight

    Chapter Twenty-Nine

    Chapter Thirty

    Chapter Thirty-One

    About the Author

    CHAPTER ONE

    Maisy looked down the street and frowned. Standing between her and the cottage she shared with her father were two of the young women of the village, Alison and Elizabeth. She would have to pass by them to get home. A sense of dread came over her.

    Her father had always called her special. When she first heard him call her that, and could understand what the word meant, it made her feel good. Though she was the youngest daughter of the village headman, she hadn’t thought there was anything special about herself. She didn’t think she was a fairy changeling, a replacement for a normal girl stolen away. She had no sense that she was different from her older brothers and sisters, and thus no deep feeling of not belonging. She’d thought she was just another village girl, and her heart warmed to hear her father call her special.

    Not too much longer after that, she realized that she was special, but not in any grand or powerful way. Her father was indeed a village headman, but their village was not quite a common settlement. The village sat just inside the dukedom of Brough, with the strong stream along the north end the border between Brough and the Kingdom of Hatham.

    That made the village more important than any along the West Road to the north or the south. A dozen soldiers of the Duke of Brough always made their home in the village. The tavern had a second floor and rooms for travelers. Merchants on the road would stop longer to buy or sell. Farmers from either side of the border came to the mill to turn their grain to flour. This activity meant that being the village headman was an important post. Her father held that important post, and being his child made her special, just like her older brothers and sisters.

    Her father’s post came with rewards for Maisy. She was taught to read and write, and given a book every now and again. She was able to hear more about the dukedom, the kingdom, and the region because men who mattered would tell her father such things over dinner or breakfast. Rewards like those she treasured more than gold or silver.

    Other rewards she chose not to accept. The reward that interested her the least, and contributed to her concern that day, was that she could have had better dresses to wear than any other girl in the village. But for as long as she could remember, nice dresses never appealed to her. For one, her mother had died when she was small. By then her oldest brothers were all married, as was one of her older sisters. Margaret helped around the house for a while, but within a few years she was married. Maisy was the only one able to help her father with the chores around the house. Though she was still young, she loved her father enough to help. That meant getting dirty, and getting dirty meant no need for pretty dresses.

    Another reason why they didn’t interest Maisy was that she started not liking the village girls that did wear them, and the daughters of merchants passing through who did as well. The talk of the region she heard, reports of rivalries and intrigue among the Kings and Dukes, made her think the excitement over dresses was silly. It also seemed unsavory, showing off to the folks who knew you, or to folks less wealthy than you.

    That in turn soured her on the word special as she grew up. She wanted to fit in with the other girls. She wanted to be a part of the village. But aside from her own thoughts and feelings, strange things happened around her. She seemed to always find the first flowers of spring. When she spoke softly to pigs or chickens, they calmed, even when she told they were due for the slaughter. She had a knack for finding coins that fell to the side of the road from traveling merchants. Though no one said it to her face, she heard folk whisper that somehow she’d been blessed.

    Last year she’d reached womanhood. She was certain the whispers would cease, as would the strangeness. The wandering minstrels always sang that children had strange thing happen to them, but rarely adults. If it did happen to an adult, they were either doomed or blessed. No one wanted to guess which Maisy was, so the young men kept clear of her.

    The young women of the village noticed that, which brought on Maisy’s sense of dread. For a fleeting moment, she hoped to be disappointed.

    Well, if it’s not the blessed girl of the border, Alison said. Her voice always sounded to Maisy like it came as much from her nose as her mouth. Is that your lucky bucket of corn?

    Someone has to feed the pigs, Maisy said, not bothering to stop.

    Elizabeth stepped out so she was in Maisy’s way. Elizabeth was a tall sapling of a woman. Though she didn’t quite have the full curves of a grown woman, Maisy had enough of a body that she could collide and walk over Elizabeth without much harm to herself. But that would be indelicate, and would thus anger her father.

    Maisy stopped. I don’t think you should stand in front of someone carrying a bucket of corn, she said, looking up. You’re liable to get corn on your dress.

    You should listen to her, Lizzie, Alison said. You don’t want to be like her.

    Maisy put down her bucket and turned to Alison. She had much less trouble looking her in the eyes. We’re all just village girls, Alison. None of us are going to be beauties that’ll turn the heads of nobleman’s son.

    Speak for yourself, Elizabeth said.

    Alison shook her head. No, Lizzie, the girl’s right. None of us have been touched by fairies.

    Maisy let out a sigh and reached for the handle of the bucket.

    Well, perhaps one of us was touched by dark fairies. Is that what happened, Maisy? Were you touched in the head, or touched somewhere else? Alison let out a loud laugh.

    Before she felt aware of it, Maisy clenched her right hand into a fist. Her arm leapt forward, almost on its own, and her fist rammed into Alison’s face, connecting with the other woman’s left eye. Alison staggered backward, then fell to the ground, landing on her backside with a thump.

    Elizabeth let out a shriek. Maisy turned to face her, still feeling angry. Elizabeth shrieked again and ran off.

    Maisy turned back to Alison. Alison was holding a hand over her face. She appeared to be cringing. A bolt of lightning shot through Maisy. She’s cringing in fear!

    Lizzie ran off in terror!

    There’s something terrible about me!

    Maisy jumped around Alison, still on the ground, and started to run. She passed a pair of houses and reached one of the fields of grain around the village. She ran around the edge of the field, until she came to an opening between two fields. She ran between the fields. In no time she was in the woods. She didn’t stop running until she realized that she was out of clear space to run though, and was about to disappear into the wilderness. She leaned agains a tree to catch her breath.

    What happened to me?

    She tried to recall what had just happened. She knew what she’d done. She’d hit Alison hard enough to knock the other young woman over. What confused her was why she’d sparked so much fear in her two tormentors.

    Was there really some darkness that came over me?

    She thought about that long and hard. She remembered not having any feelings of ill will wash over her like a river flood. She hadn’t let out any unnatural sounds or words. She’d hit Alison in the face with her fist, not with some object conjured out of the air. She hadn’t simply looked at Alison and made her fall on her ass.

    I wonder if Alison thought I was going to hit her again?

    She sighed. Yes, that’s probably it. Lizzie thought I was going to hit her, and ran off. Alison was afraid I’d hit her again.

    I probably looked like quite the sight to the both of them. I’ve never felt that angry before. But what made me so mad?

    She recalled what Alison had said. She’d joked that Maisy was touched by dark fairies. She asked if I was touched in the head.

    She eased herself down so she could sit at the base of the great tree she’d stopped at. It couldn’t just be the mention of fairies. Sure, folk have whispered about me and fairies, but it’s never been enough to make me mad.

    "Or touched somewhere else." I think that was it. I’m a good girl. I’m a good daughter. I’m not foolish enough to bed any young man before I’m married.

    Not that I’ve had much choice.

    Still, I’m not that sort of young woman, who lifts her dress for any old handsome man, much less a fairy man I’d meet in the woods. Why, Alison’s more that type than me. I’ll bet she’s already let a couple of the village boys get a look at her breasts.

    The incident seemed more and more silly the more she pondered it. It wasn’t silly in a humorous way, but in a puzzling, absurd sort of way. There were perhaps a hundred and a few dozen folk living in the village, despite its important location. That any two young women would choose to mock a third, for any reason, seemed a waste of time and effort. Their rudeness, and her reaction to them, was bound to become the talk of the village by sunrise the next day. The tale might even spread to the villages up and down the road over the next few days.

    Maisy would be bothered about being talked about, but in an honest moment she admitted that she was used to it, and had come to ignore most of what was said about her. The other two girls might not be so lucky. Some folk were bound to say that Alison deserved what Maisy gave her. Some might laugh upon hearing Lizzie flee in terror from a girl smaller than she. Alison and Lizzie might not be the ones doing the laughing, but could become the ones being laughed at.

    Assuming the priest is right about there being a just God, I hope.

    She shook her head and sighed. All that panic over nothing. Well, I was a real special girl today.

    Maisy looked around. Until that day she’d never had a reason to leave the confines of the village and the fields around it. Woods surrounded the village as they did every other town and village she’d ever heard about. Being among the trees, bushes, grass, and wildflowers, a modest sense of peace came over her.

    She recalled that not every traveler who met with her father felt such peace in Tething. Those from Sufflack and the domains to the north boasted of their mountains. She was aware that the farther north one went, the taller and sharper the mountains were supposed to be. Those from Hatham and the domains to the south and east had few mountains to crow about, but their great advantage was the sea. Vast stretches of watery blue extending to the horizon, with beaches of white or tan sand.

    Here in Brough there were small hills with the odd tall one. Towns and villages stood along rivers and streams, places where the roads crossed these slivers of flowing water. It was a plain land, so her father’s guests sometimes said, plain and common. Maisy wasn’t sure if she agreed with them. While there were times when the everyday sights dulled her spirits, at other times the houses, hills, and fields felt like home to her.

    The corn! It’s probably all muddy now, and can’t be used as feed! I’m in trouble this time.

    She started to pull herself up when she heard a twig snap in the distance. She froze for an instant, then started to glance around. As she turned her head to the right, looking deeper into the woods, she saw a stag. It was a mighty beast, almost as tall as she was, with antlers that seemed to resemble a tree more than mere deer horns. Its brown fur appeared strangely clean, and it had bright white belly fur.

    Your name is Maisy, she heard a male voice said. She glanced around, looking for the man who’s spoken to her. But there was no man in sight, only the stag.

    Maisy, you will have to follow me one day.

    She leapt to her feet and pointed at the deer. You can’t talk! Deer can’t talk!

    When you’re ready, call out for me. The stag turned and trotted out of her sight.

    Perhaps something magical did happen when I hit Alison!

    Afraid of seeing the deer again, or coming across some other talking animal, Maisy ran back to the village. This time she took a different route so she’d arrived directly at home. She felt some comfort in seeing light from inside the cottage. Before going to the front door, she looked around to make certain no one was about. She opened the door, and all but jumped inside.

    You’re back, I see, her father said. He was sitting at the table. He looked her way and frowned. You shouldn’t have hit Alison, Maisy.

    Maisy shuddered as she nodded. I know, I know, Father. I did a terrible thing.

    Not terrible, Maisy, but disappointing. His eyes widened, and his frown disappeared. What’s gotten you frightened, Maisy? I’m not going to give you a thrashing.

    Not for using magic?

    Magic? He stood up. Maisy, dear, sit down, and tell me what’s gotten into you?

    Maisy stepped quickly to the table and sat down across from him. Did Alison say I used magic on her? Did Lizzie?

    No, neither of them said you used magic. They admitting to giving you a bit of a teasing, and you responded by giving Alison a black eye.

    But Lizzie yelled. She ran away.

    Because she said you had, and I quote, ‘bloody murder in your face.’ She probably thought you were going to give her a black eye just for being with Alison.

    Was that all?

    All? Maisy, what has gotten into you?

    She took a breath to calm herself. I thought I’d done more than just hit Alison. I thought I’d used some dark magic on them. I’d just about assured myself that I’d just got mad, then I saw this stag in the woods.

    A stag? What of it?

    It was a wonderful stag, Father. The biggest one I’d ever seen. And it had white fur on its belly, and brown fur everywhere else.

    I see.

    Then it spoke to me, Father! It called my name!

    Her father sucked in a breath. What did it say, Maisy? What did it say to you, exactly?

    She took another breath. It said my name was Maisy, Father. It said that one day I’d have to follow it, and that when I was ready to follow it, to call out for it.

    Maisy was surprised to see her father nod and his body relax. Then it must be time.

    Time? Time for what?

    You must know the truth of who you really are, Maisy. You must go back, and follow the stag.

    What?

    Do as I ask you, my dear.

    Go to the woods? With the sun about to go down?

    You’ll be safe, Maisy. But you need to go, now. I always said you were a special girl. It’s about time you learned what I truly meant by that. Go on. I’ll be right her. He smiled to her. I will always be right her for you.

    Before leaving home, Maisy wanted to eat supper. Her father insisted that she take some bread, meat, and water, and eat on the way. Arguing seemed futile, so she packed the food in a small sack and left the house. She ate as she walked, confused about the deer and her father’s reaction to her telling him about it. She kept to the fields and away from the other houses. Part of her worried what she’d hear from the villagers about hitting Alison. Part of her feared speaking to them about why she wasn’t under her father’s roof.

    She didn’t call out at once when she reached the woods. Instead she sat down to rest and finish eating. When she was done she made her way into the woods cautiously. She paid attention to where she was going and what was in front of her. It wasn’t until the noise of the village had completely disappeared, and darkness was falling around her, that she stopped to call out.

    Master stag? It is I, Maisy. Father allowed me to come back. Master stag? Are you around?

    She waited for a time, repeated her call, then waited again. She was about to call out for a third time when she heard the breaking of a twig. Though it was hard to see, she could make out the great stag she’d seen before. It was several paces to her left. She opened her mouth to speak.

    A glow, yellow as the sun, came from within the stag. The glow was dull at first, but brightened quickly. It became so bright that Maisy had to shield her eyes. A moment later the glow dimmed.

    Where the stag had been, now there was a man. His face was clean-shaven, and his hair was an autumn shade of yellow. He was tall, with sturdy arms and legs. He wore a green shirt, green leggings, and black boots. His clothes were cleaner than Maisy thought possible. He seemed to be the most handsome young man she’d ever cast her gaze upon.

    We had not expected you to come so soon, he said, in a voice that sounded oddly girlish to her ears.

    I told Father about you, she replied. He said I should return at once.

    I suppose that was wise of him. He waved into the woods. Follow me, Maisy. Stay a pace or two behind, so that I might protect you from the creatures that walk in the night.

    Am I in danger?

    He smiled. Hardly. Some creatures stay away from us, but some are bold enough to move the instant we pass. The closer you stay to me, the less trouble you’d have with such bold beasts. Come.

    She walked towards the man. When she was a pace away, he turned and began walking. She followed his path in silence.

    She began to wonder if Alison’s taunt could be the truth of who she was. It made a certain amount of sense to her when it came to her modest good luck. It could also explain why she liked to read, and why she didn’t exactly look like the other members of her family. Perhaps I really am a changeling?

    What that didn’t explain was why she preferred chores to nice dresses. One theme in the ballads she’d heard about fairies was their beauty, and their vanity about their beauty. In one, a young woman was led away from home on the night before her wedding by a fairy man. He told her that he was going to take her for his own bride, and keep her in Fairy Wood forever. During the journey they passed by a pool of water. The young woman asked if she might wash her face, to prepare herself for her husband. The fairy man allowed her to do so.

    She saw his face reflected in the water. She told him that she thought the man in the water far handsomer than the fairy man. The fairy man, who had never seen his own reflection in the water, tried to go at the face in the pool. Thus distracted, the young woman pushed the fairy man’s head into the water. As he couldn’t speak or see, he couldn’t use his magic to save himself, and he drowned. The young woman returned home, with the fairy man’s fine sword as proof of her abduction.

    That was just one of the tales she knew about fairies and their love of beauty. She was certainly no beauty herself. She had no missing limbs, a crooked nose, or rashes over her skin that would mark her as ugly, but she didn’t think herself the fairest girl in the village, much less the dukedom. She preferred the hard work of helping her father around their house, or the pleasure of reading a precious book, than making herself pretty and being admired for it.

    Other ballads told of how the fairies made mischief among mortals. Most told of them wooing away young men and women from their loves. A few told of them stealing things from travelers, taunting them with the theft, and thus luring travelers to their doom. One told of a fairy causing trouble between two villages, with an officer of the King getting involved. He caught the fairy man behind the dispute, and with the help of the King’s Witch, dispatched the troublesome fairy. The officer was rewarded with a manor and marriage to a niece of the King for his brave and clever deed.

    Yet aside from hitting Alison for mocking her, Maisy knew she was no maker of mischief. She did the chores her father asked her to do. She was polite to those in the village who were polite to her, and avoided the others. She had no desire to steal to improve her life. She had no interest in luring one of the young men of the village from his love, nor any feelings of jealousy towards any of the young women to want to interfere with their affection. She liked a good joke, but had little tolerance for pranks.

    If I’m not the sort of girl who behaves like a fairy, how could I be the child of one?

    Not that all the ballads told of only fairies who harmed mortals. Some said that if you aided a fairy man in trouble, he’d owe you a debt of kindness. The fairy man would give you true gold, not fairy gold that turned to common stone once he disappeared. One told of a common soldier being granted a fairy sword for doing good deed for a fairy man, and using that sword to slay a monster that was eating a village’s livestock.

    Then there was the tale of Captain Calvin. The Captain, in service to his King, visited the castle of a neighboring Duke. While in the castle he heard a woman weeping. He found the bedchamber where the woman was. It turned out she was the Fairy Princess, daughter of the Fairy Queen. She told the Captain that the Duke had seduced her away from the Fairy Wood. Once in his castle, he put an iron bracelet on her wrist. The Duke forced her to lay with him. He wanted her to bear him daughters who would become Witches. She told the Captain that she’d given birth to two sons who the Duke had killed, and feared that she’d lose more sons.

    As she was a fairy, the Captain wasn’t sure he ought to believe her. He decided to test the Duke. The next morning he asked the Duke why he had no wife or children around. The Duke replied that the Captain was too beneath him to answer such a question. The Captain saw at once that the response was the only one a guilty man would make.

    During the day the Captain told the Duke that he wished to inspect the Duke’s manor. The Captain arranged it so that he had to return to the castle because he forgot something. He went to the bedchamber and saw the fairy princess. She told him that the Duke kept a key on him that could unlock the bracelet.

    The Captain returned to the Duke, and again confronted him about his lack of family. The Duke replied that the Captain had insulted him. The Captain had to go back to his King in shame or make amends. The Captain said he would do neither, and knocked the Duke in the head with the hilt of his sword. He found the key around the Duke’s neck.

    He returned to the castle and unlocked the bracelet just as the Duke entered the room. The Fairy Princess, now freed, weakened the Duke with her magic. The Captain condemned the Duke’s soul to eternal punishment for his crime, and the Fairy Princess killed the Duke. The Fairy Princess told the Captain to return to his King with the story of what he’d done.

    My mother, the Fairy Queen, will vex not your King, nor any of his kingdom, so long as you live, good Captain Calvin, she said. The Fairy Queen kept the bargain her daughter made. The kingdom Captain Calvin lived in prospered, while the Duke’s dukedom was beset with strife and quickly conquered by a neighbor.

    I could never do a favor to anyone like that the Fairy Princess did to Captain Calvin, Maisy thought. Perhaps Father did a good deed to a fairy, and he wanted his reward to go to me.

    It felt like she had only walked a few miles when she saw a light ahead of her and the fairy man. In short order she saw the light came from small balls that glowed green and gold in the branches of trees that surrounded a clearing. Standing in the center of the clearing was a woman the likes of which Maisy had never seen. The woman’s hair seemed to be strands of pure gold. She wore a green dress that appeared to glow of its own accord. She wasn’t as tall as the fairy man, and though her figure was slender, it was clearly that of a woman. Her skin was pale, her eyes were bright blue, and the features of her face would put even the prettiest girls to shame.

    All that was missing was a crown. But instead of a crown of gold, silver, or jewels around the top of the woman’s head, there was a circled branch with leaves growing out of it. Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, the leaves weren’t from one tree, but from several.

    Is this Maisy? the woman asked the fairy man.

    He bowed his head. It is, My Mistress.

    The woman smiled to Maisy. Come, let me look on you.

    Maisy stepped forward. She wasn’t sure what she should do, so she asked, Are you a Fairy Princess?

    No, dear girl. I am the Fairy Queen.

    At once Maisy knelt down.

    You need not kneel before me, Maisy. You are no fairy, and not my subject.

    Maisy looked up. I’m not?

    No.

    Maisy stood. But you said I’m not a fairy?

    That’s right. You are mortal, but you do have something of us in your blood.

    I do?

    Yes. Maisy, dear girl, you are not the daughter of the headman of your village family. You are instead noble blood. Indeed, the most noble blood there is.

    What do you mean?

    You are the daughter of a King and Queen. And not just any King and Queen, but of a special line. A line of daughters who are blessed to be able to use magic.

    Magic? Does that make me a Princess? Or a Witch?

    It makes you both.

    Maisy shook her head. Both? How could that be?

    Allow me to tell you a brief tale explaining that, before I tell you of your true mother and father.

    Please, Your Majesty.

    The Fairy Queen gave Maisy the briefest of nods, then she began telling the tale. The Fairy Queen’s voice was soft, but Maisy felt no enchantment from listening. Later, it didn’t seem to Maisy that the Fairy Queen was imitating a minstrel so much as she was a neighbor relating a day’s events to the mortal girl.

    "There was a Fairy Princess who one day looked upon a young King of one of the mortal lands. The young King was handsome for a mortal. The Fairy Princess, wanting a great adventure, thought to seduce the young King away from his land and into the Fairy Wood. She approached the young King and tried to entice her into following her.

    "But the young King knew the tales of mortals about the Fairy Folk, and was not tempted. The more he resisted, the harder the Fairy Princess tried to entice him. A respect for the strong young King grew within her, along with an affection for a mortal that not even she could tempt away.

    "Finally she offered a bargain to the young King. He should come with her to the Fairy Wood for a mortal day and night, to witness a celebration of the Fairy Folk. If he did that for her, she would go with him for a mortal day and a night, to see what mortals did to celebrate. Whoever was most impressed would have to stay with the other for a year. The young King agreed to the bargain, but asked to wait several days before undertaking the bargain. He said it was to put his affairs in order should he lose. The Fairy Princess agreed.

    "Several days later the young King met the Fairy Princess, and she led him to the Fairy Wood. There she treated him to a great feast, and gave him drink. She made certain to remove the magic in the food and drink so he couldn’t claim she’d cheated him, but won an honest bargain. She showed him the courtly dances of the Fairy Folk, and let him see the spells they cast to celebrate the coming of the growing season. The young King admitted that it was a most grand display, and that it would be hard for him to impress her.

    "When the day and night was done she went him to his mortal land. But he didn’t take her to his castle, or to any other fine home. Instead he took her to a village to witness the celebration of the common folk of the changing of the seasons. He ate their modest food, and drank their modest beer. They listened to a minstrel sing, and watched the common folk dance.

    "It was not the mortal celebration that impressed the Fairy Princess, but instead the manners of the young King. He wore a simple crown, and asked for no great displays of fealty from his subjects. He took pleasure in their company, listened to their reports and complaints, and returned the respect they showed him.

    "A wedding was held at the village at sunset. The young King refused to offer a special toast to the bride and groom. Instead he merely raised his cup at the toasts their families offered.

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