A young minstrel stumbles over to the message board at the Rock Bottom. After reading the posting, she pulls out a stack of parchment from pack, quickly thumbs through them, and tacks her selection beneath Big Sister’s. With a mischievious smile she adds her name in large, swooping letters before plopping back down on the couch. The rest of the words are small and delicate, and some of the them have been completely blotted out with ink.
Happily Ever After
In days that have long since passed,
There lived a beautiful mahogany lass.
An unmarried and virtuous princess, alas,
She was brave, strong and bold.
One morning while riding no guard around,
Armed with sword should trouble abound,
She heard the most horrible sound,
And her nose burned of sulfur.
The sky it darkened, gave her horse a fright.
A dragon swooped as black as night,
Grabbed the princess then out of sight.
Her horse ran frightened home.
The king cried, "All knights be sworn!
Kill the dragon with your swords.
Return my daughter for this reward,
That you may marry her.
The bravest knight in all the realm,
Young, handsome and totally vain
Declared the wyrm his holy bane
And rode off to rescue her.
The knight he climbed up rugged heights
Snagged a run in his pristine tights
At cavern's shaft, he saw no lights
And heard no sound inside.
The knight called the dragon out.
But only a lady's voice came back.
"I killed the dragon!" he heard her shout.
And stepped into the sun.
The princess dressed in scraps of cloth,
Her mahogany hair was all burned off.
“A muddy face,” the vain knight scoffed,
"Can you clean before we go?"
The princess still in clothes undone,
Told the knight, "I work alone."
The knight rode lone into the setting sun.
And the princess was happy thereafter.
Talia