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

awaiting her daughters’ arrival.
    Prince Cornelius greeted the queen with
a slight bow. If he noticed the queen’s clenched jaw or tightly folded arms, he
gave no sign of it, but instead turned to offer Liesel the chair to the right
of the king’s place.
    But the queen stopped him. “I think she
had better sit by me. Adelaide, take her seat.”
    Only when they were all seated with
Cornelius safely away out of hearing distance, did the queen turn on her elder
daughter.
    “Liesel, what do you think you are
doing, embarrassing your father and me in such a way? Return to your room this
instant and change out of that ridiculous dress before your father sees you.”
    But it was too late.
    “Liesel!” the large king bellowed. King
Waldemar quietly excused himself to join his son.
    “Richmond, we mustn’t make a scene,” the
queen scolded softly. “And you needn’t lose your temper. Liesel was just about
to leave to change, weren’t you?”
    “Well, actually, I-”
    The king’s dark look silenced her
objection.
    “Liesel, we are not asking,” her mother
warned. “Return to your room at once.”
    Liesel hesitantly rose to her feet, but
the arrival of a company of bearded men entering through the large doorway of
the great hall made her pause where she stood.
    “Go now,” her father commanded hoarsely.
But Liesel was frozen, arrested by the sight of the newcomers.
    As the men marched forward to stand
before the great king, Liesel’s mother yanked on her arm, pulling her back to
her seat. “Stay where you are.”
    Liesel was confused.
    “I thought you wanted me to leave to
change,” Liesel reminded.
    “Not now,” the queen answered sharply.
“Stay in your seat and perhaps no one will notice your clothes.”
    Liesel’s eyes strayed back to the group
of men. She had never seen such a sight before. There were about a dozen of
them, each towering tall and broad like sturdy oak trees. But what especially
caught her eye was the fact that every one of them had a long, drooping beard
over half a foot in length. The bushy beards were combed smooth and curled
under at the bottom. The beards reminded Liesel of the small thrush bird’s beak
she had seen just the day before. The Thrushbeards, she thought to
herself, amused by her own cleverness. What a perfect name for them .
    King Richmond stood and addressed the
men. “King Carl, I welcome you to my court. We are honored by your presence.”
    “We are honored to be here,” the other
king returned in a rich, deep voice.
    Liesel scanned the men surrounding the
visiting king, wondering which one must be the son Gretchen had talked about.
It was hard to tell the men apart since they all had the same coloring and were
dressed in the same style. The only exception was the king who she could mark
by his graying temples.
    She acknowledged Gretchen had been right
in her judgment of the prince. If her parents gave her no other choice but to
select a suitor, she didn’t think any of these men would be able to compete
with the handsome Prince Cornelius.
    She was still scanning the faces of the
company of men, wondering if they must all be related to one another for how
similar they were in appearance, when she noticed one of the men was watching
her as well. Her eyes locked with the stranger’s for just a moment before she
hurried to look away. She was unsettled by the way his gaze had seemed to
pierce her, penetrating the confident façade she always presented to the world.
    After the new arrivals were escorted to
their seats, King Richmond ordered the first courses to be presented and the
minstrels began serenading the company with soft music.
    As conversations sprung up around her,
Liesel kept her focus fixed on her food, determined to weather the evening in
invisible silence.
    But the new king thwarted her plan.
    “You have two beautiful daughters,” King
Carl noted to her parents. “But what odd traditions you have that the younger
daughter should wear finer apparel