In a Glass Grimmly Read Online Free PDF Page B

Procession started at the gate of the castle. At its head were the trumpeters, blowing the fanfare to announce the royal party. Behind them, Lord Boorly led the group of the king’s and queen’s most favored courtiers, arrayed in their finest clothes. Behind them walked the soldiers in their silver armor,
clomp clomp clomp
. Then came the king and the queen, arm in arm. The king wore his purple ermine. But, of course, no one noticed him. For the queen walked beside him, wearing a stunning gown of aubergine and white lace. Garnets hung around her neck and rubies from her soft earlobes. Her pale skin shined, and her blue eyes echoed the immensity of the sky.
    And then, behind them, came Jill. Little Jill. Her hair had been coiffed. Her nails had been painted. She wore clay-red shoes and red ribbons in her hair. Her silk dress—so light, so smooth, so shining—swished against her legs. She felt like she was wearing one of those mirages that appear on the road on a hot day—the dress was that light, that shimmering.
    The royal party entered the roaring, adoring throng that lined the streets outside the castle. The trumpets blared and the people cheered. Lord Boorly and the other courtiers waved, and the crowd whistled and waved back. The king and queen smiled serenely at their subjects, and the people of the kingdom cheered like mad.
    And then they saw the princess.
    A hush fell over the crowd. It ran down the street like a shiver. No one spoke. They watched the princess walking, head held high, brows arched just as the queen’s always were, smiling and looking not quite at the crowd, but just above their heads.
    Suddenly, a whisper shook the stillness.
“The princess’s new dress! The princess’s new dress!”
Jill heard it. Her smile grew a little wider. A little more confident. The whispers grew.
“The princess’s new dress! Beautiful! Beautiful!”
Princess Jill allowed her head to float just a little higher. Her bearing became more natural, more regal. She stopped looking above her subjects’ heads and started looking into their wondering faces. She smiled more broadly.
    The whisper become a wave—“The dress is beautiful!
She
is beautiful!”—undulating through the admiring crowd. She was certain her mother could hear it, too. Jill’s chest swelled near to bursting.
    And then Jill noticed a little child, sitting atop her father’s shoulders. The child was just a year or two younger than Jill. She even looked like Jill, a little. Similar hair. Something in the eyes, perhaps. And then Jill noticed that the little girl was staring at her strangely. Her little mouth was hanging open. Her eyebrows were crawling up her tender, rounded forehead. She raised a little finger and pointed at Jill. The smile left Jill’s face.
    “Why is the princess naked, Daddy?”
    Jill stopped walking.
    The wave of whispers faltered, then died.
    “She’s naked, Daddy! Why?” the child said.
    The blood rushed to Jill’s cheeks. She dimly perceived that, ahead of her, the procession had stopped. Her parents had turned to look at her.
    “The princess is naked!” someone in the crowd cried. “The princess is naked!”
    Jill looked down at herself. The reds, the yellows, the blues—were gone. There was nothing. She was, indeed, completely naked.
    Jill looked up. Her mother was there. The queen’s eyes were furiously wide, her nostrils flared like a bull’s. Her lips were moving, but it was as if Jill had gone deaf. The world was suddenly silent, dream-like. She tried to make out what her mother was saying. Then, suddenly, she could hear again. “Cover yourself, you fool!” the queen bellowed.
    And then Jill heard them. Waves of laughter crashed around her. She turned and began running, trying to cover herself. The faces around her were wild, howling. Their eyes were wide like moons, the makeup they wore cracked like caverns. Wild, wondering, piercing laughter cascaded down upon her. She ran, ran, ran as fast as her bare legs