Bored, Abused, and Disposed

 

            King Raphael III stood on his balcony enjoying the combination of sunshine and a gentle breeze, looking down upon his subjects in the courtyard below going about their daily routines, a daily grind radically different than his own. The combined responsibility of providing a stable economy for his kingdom, interacting on a friendly level with the surrounding kingdoms, and remaining approachable for any and all of his people was a considerable task to say the least.

              Though certainly not the largest or most powerful kingdom in the general area, King Raphael's congeniality labeled him as the king to invite to every discussion, debate, or threat of war, as he had an incredible ability to conjure up solutions when all others only saw failure or violence. His imposing size provided additional influence, being easily a head taller than most of the population. He stood in his light green morning robe with a remarkable abundance of chest hair crawling out from the cascading neckline.

              Satisfied with a few moments of oversight, he retreated into his inner chamber to enjoy his breakfast of fresh fruit, roasted lamb, and poached eggs, a veritable feast by anyone's standards. As the meal began, he motioned for his first assistant to gather the speakers for the day, delivering the latest news of activities within the kingdom. Listening to their delivery while he ate, he motioned them off in order to get dressed for the day and attend his first meeting with the head of the military.

              After changing into his daily attire, the sound of clopping reached his ears through the French doors through which he had just passed, triggering a reminder of the gift he had requested from the head of the stables. He made his way to the main floor, out the back entrance, and into the stables to inquire of the Arabian horse that was due to be delivered within the next day or two, if he remembered correctly. The stable master confirmed his thoughts, affirming that news had been delivered that the horse would arrive by sunset.

              He returned to his home through the kitchen to see his wife, the queen, and Princess Abigail enjoying their breakfast in the dining hall. Though he loved his daughter dearly, he had to admit that he was somewhat disappointed to not have a son to whom to pass the throne. This unfortunate gender misalignment left him with thoughts about a suitable suitor for Princess Abigail, which would certainly be a difficult arrangement to establish, as she had a reputation of being cold, calculating, manipulative, and unkind. But at the same time, making a connection via marriage to another kingdom would be advantageous to both kingdoms.

              He was tempted to inform both the queen and the princess of the soon to be arriving gift but he refrained, looking forward to making the arrival a surprise, for surprises were one of his favorite things to do. The day passed without event, with most of his time spent in his inner chamber, creating plans for road and path improvements, bridge building, and the addition of additional storage for the numerous crops that surrounded the main city.

              King Raphael managed to hold his tongue during dinner until he received word from a messenger that the surprise would be at the gates within thirty minutes, giving him time to invent an excuse to keep the queen and the princess close by without giving too much away. As he, the queen, and the princess sat in the library talking about nothing in particular, a different messenger burst into the room with an announcement that "it" had arrived.

              King Raphael took the queen and the princess by the hand and led them to the front courtyard, eliciting a squeal from the princess as he explained the expense and the difficulty he needed to overcome to have this specific horse delivered. As a skilled rider, Princess Abigail quickly mounted the glorious beast and called for the immediate announcement of a parade in her honor, thrilled at the prospect of being the center of attention. Word traveled quickly across the walled city with additional messengers sent to the nearby villages, giving Princess Abigail a few moments to prepare herself for a nauseatingly vain display of herself.

              Within thirty minutes, she began her vulgar display of self and horse to find that no one arrived to applaud her beauty and elegance, reducing her to a whining, pouting, grumpy lump of annoyance. As she rounded the final corner of the city walls, she was happy to see two little boys sitting in the mud staring at her as she passed, looking less than thrilled, and rather disappointed.

              Every day for the next month, Princess Abigail would spend an hour at lunch riding through the town, smiling and waving at anyone who would look at her, which turned out to be almost no one, most averting their eyes, repulsed at her pride and arrogance. As the summer turned to fall, she gave up her hopes of receiving adulation and praise, deciding to take the beautiful creature out for a long ride across the open fields and through the woods on the far edge of the kingdom.

              She worked hard to bury her disappointment, knowing that she was despised and wanting so dearly to be loved like her father was loved, but completely oblivious as to how to make that happen. She crested a small hill as the walled city disappeared behind her, to see a massive set of antlers rise in the distance, that were attached to a massive beast, a moose, if she was thinking correctly. She slowed to a walk and approached the animal, marveling at just how large it was compared to her and her steed, triggering an idea in her mind of disposing of the horse and mounting this massive creature with its imposing stature.

              The moose simply looked at her, then turned its attention to the grass growing around it, giving her a moment to escape into the woods and dismount. She attached the reigns to a substantial tree, found as large a rock as she could lift, to shatter both of its hind legs, leaving the once glorious creature in a heap before her. She pulled off the saddle, the blanket, and the reigns, slowly carrying them out of the woods and attaching them to the moose, only then realizing just how earthy, gamey, and foul the beast smelled.

              The moose clearly did not like this new arrangement and thrashed about in an effort to loose his bindings and rider but Princess Abigail managed to direct the beast back toward the city, through the main gate and through the mass of subjects, to only receive laughter and jeers at her ridiculous situation. Finding itself in a foreign setting, surrounded by people and other creatures, the moose began to run wild in a random fashion, looking for an escape or a way to lose this ridiculous human.

              Seeing a low hanging beam, the moose ran beneath it and peeled the princess from its back, dropping her into the mud and kicking her as a final expression of its disdain. Everyone within sight merely looked at the pathetic display, laughed to themselves, and continued on with their business, completely apathetic to her plight. A number of older women sat on a bench and watched her extract herself from the filth and limp through the main entrance into her father's palace.

              The servants and hired help burst into activity in response to her sudden and unexpected arrival, half holding and half carrying her to her private room on the second floor. Knowing full well what had happened, they struggled to maintain a serious composure, for fear that laughter would result in their eviction from their roles as servants.

              An hour later, Princess Abigail sat in the library with the King and the Queen, relaying the story of what she had thought, what she had done, why she did it, but still failing to see the foolishness of her actions. Convinced of her own wisdom and power, the king could only shake his head, knowing that only a fool would be willing to marry someone as ridiculous as Princess Abigail. As he looked upon the arrogant and ignorant girl before him, visions of grandchildren disappeared from his mind, wondering what would become of his kingdom when he became too old to continue. "Adoption!" he thought. "I need to find a stable, mature, responsible, and wise young man that will take over the kingdom." He needed a guarantee that whoever this young man would be would marry someone other than Princess Abigail, as someone of her ridiculous state of mind should certainly not be raising children.

              He had never made a decision so quickly in his life, which necessitated a call to his lawyer to draw up legal documents to articulate the framework for the next steps in the identification of an heir and the future loss of power and authority of Princess Abigail.