Princess without a Palace: A King Thrushbeard Fairy Tale Read Online Free PDF Page A

upon hearing
the kind voice so close. The maid took the princess’s elbow, urging her to
rise, and she silently obeyed.
    As they exited the hall, there were no
other sounds to be heard in the room than the clicking of their shoes. The
noise echoed throughout the entire chamber, pounding against the silence like
the beatings of an executioner’s drum.

Chapter Four
     
    B ack
in her room, Liesel paced the floor for what seemed like hours before she was
finally summoned to her parents’ chamber downstairs. Upon her arrival, she
found the king and queen standing together on the far side of the room wearing
expressions that could quell the courage of lions.
    Two servants noiselessly appeared behind
the princess to pull the doors tightly closed. As soon as the thud of the bolt
was heard, her father’s rage erupted.
    “Do you have any idea of what you’ve
done?” he fairly shouted.
    “What do you mean, Father?” Liesel asked
softly, her shoulders firmly squared.
    The mighty king shook his head. “I wish
I could believe you to be so ignorant of the damage you have wrecked this night
upon my name, upon my court, and upon my honor.”
    “Surely the damage cannot be so severe,”
Liesel contended. “Isn’t it true that you have never spoken of Brenhausen in
all your many tales of great battles?”
    The king threw his arm toward the door. “Didn’t
you see their beards? That is a sign of peace!” He paused for a moment to let
that sink in and then clenched a fist in front of him, “They have no need of
war because of the inherent strength and greatness of their country. To be
sure, I have never mentioned them in my tales of battles, but that is only
because no one would ever dare go to battle against them and they have no
desire to interfere in others!”
    “Oh,” Liesel answered weakly, her cheeks
flushed. But how was she to know that her father’s silence on the subject of
Brenhausen was due to its might instead of its insignificance?
    “You have forfeited the greatest
alliance I have ever hoped to achieve,” he lamented. “But at least you have not
driven away your other suitor as of yet. Prince Cornelius will never be as
great, but after tonight I doubt you are deserving of better. You have at least
been civil to him thus far, haven’t you?”
    Liesel forced back the stinging tears
that threatened to answer his harsh words, and could only stammer, “Well, I …”
    “Liesel,” her father growled.
    “Well, I don’t know why you must be in
such a great hurry to be rid of me!” she erupted.
    “Do you really have to ask that after
your appalling display tonight?”
    Liesel shrunk back a step as his icy
words sliced through her heart.
    The queen rushed forward to intervene.
“We do not want to be rid of you, dear. We are only trying to secure you a
suitable match.”
    “A match that is suitable to you, you
mean. But what if I do not wish to marry a great king? Or any king for that
matter?”
    “Do not be ridiculous,” her mother
brushed her daughter’s declaration aside. “You were born to be a queen.”
    “No,” Liesel countered emphatically. “I
was born a princess and a princess is what I wish to remain. I do not see any
reason why I must marry. Little Frederick will be our king.”
    “Liesel, enough of this,” her mother
ordered. “You are on perilous ground and you mustn’t provoke your father
further.”
    “It is too late for such warnings,” the
king proclaimed. “My mind is already made up.”
    “Please, Richmond. Let us discuss this
first,” the queen pleaded, turning back to her husband.
    “I do not see what good that would do,
Marlena,” the king replied. “Our daughter stubbornly insists that she does not
wish to marry a mighty king and perhaps it would be best if I grant her that
wish.”
    “What do you mean?” the queen
questioned.
    Liesel held her breath as her father
turned to face her. Although his words hinted at hope, she felt a sense of doom
hovering over the brief