by Dulcinea Norton-Smith
Princess Polly Pearl wriggled and felt the ropes tied around her wrist. A spider dropped off a web above her head and parachuted onto her nose then crawled off and fell onto the floor.
A golden, fire breathing dragon was so close that Polly Pearl could feel the heat from it’s mouth as she glimpsed the spark of a barely held back fiery breath. The dragon roared and Polly Pearl turned her head as a hot gust of air that smelt like burnt toast blew her hair back and coated her face with soot.
“It’s not working,” she shouted. “I’m trying but it’s not working.”
The door creaked open and the kind old faces of the King and Queen peeped through.
“Oh sweetheart, why not?” asked the Queen, her voice full of loving concern.
“Is the dragon not terrifying enough Dear?” asked the King.
They came into the room and walked up to Princess Polly Pearl, side stepping like crabs to get around the gigantic head of the dragon.
“Well it would help if the ropes were actually tied properly,” said Polly Pearl as she shook the loose ropes off her wrists. “Also Doris isn’t very scary. Couldn’t we have hired a more terrifying dragon for the day?”
Polly Pearl tickled the dragon under the chin. The roaring stopped and the dragon began to purr like a kitten. After a few seconds of purring Doris the Dragon snuggled down on her huge blankie with her teddy bear.
Princess Polly Pearl left her parents with Doris and went to walk around the castle grounds. Being princess was tougher than people thought. Especially when you weren’t very… well, princessy. Princess Polly Pearl looked like a princess. She had hair that flowed down to her waist in golden waves, but then there was a bright purple streak in it that wasn’t very princessy. She wore beautiful princessy dresses woven by the flower fairies that lived in the rose gardens, but then she always managed to tear or stain them, even when she was doing nothing but sitting in the garden eating fairy cakes. No matter how she looked or what she did Princess Polly Pearl could never be quite princessy enough and how was a princess supposed to find a handsome prince if she wasn’t… well, princessy.
Polly Pearl was all for girl power but she kind of fancied having a prince all to herself, one who could share her jokes and adventures. You see princesses were expected not to have any adventures until they had a handsome prince. Once they had a handsome prince on their arm then they could do anything they wanted. Like swim with sharks or learn to fly a plane. It was a silly royal law but that was that.
Princess Polly Pearl pole vaulted over a fence with a fallen branch and went into the castle. After a long day of princess practice she was tired. Walking into her bedroom, her pink ballet slippers now covered in mud, Polly Pearl stopped and stared. Where her normal sized bed had been there was now a teeteringly, tall tower of mattresses. In pearly pinks, vivid violets, gregarious greens, and brilliant blues, the mattresses looked like a huge pile of candy coloured waffles. Leaning against one side was a golden ladder.
Too tired to try and figure out what was going on Polly Pearl began to climb the ladder. As she got higher the tower of mattresses began to wobble. Each time it did Polly Pearl had to stop and wait for the wobble to stop before she could start climbing again. Eventually she reached the top mattress and crawled under her bed covers.
“Coooooeeeeeee,” she heard a voice call. “Cooooeeeeeee, sweetheart.”
Polly Pearl poked her head out from under her marshmallowy soft cover and peered over the edge of the mattress. Far below her stood the King and Queen, waving at her with eager faces.
“How’s the bed Dear?” called the King.
“High,” called back Polly Pearl. “Very high!”
“Is it cosy Dear?” called back the King.
Polly Pearl was so tired after five hours of trying to be scared of Doris that she had hardly bothered to think about whether her new, bizarre bed was cosy. She stretched out on her back and wiggled her toes then kicked her legs before curling up in a little ball like a hamster. Uncurling she peered over the side of the mattress again.
“It seems very comfortable,” she called down.
“Oh,” said the Queen, looking very disappointed. “It didn’t work,” she said to the King.
“Never mind my love,” said the King, patting his wife reassuringly on the shoulder.
“What didn’t work?” called down Polly Pearl.
“Well, the Jones family had a strange bedraggled girl turn up at their castle last week claiming to be a princess. They researched it on the internet and found out that you could test for princessness by putting a pea under a pile of mattresses,” shouted the Queen.
“You put a pea under my mattress?” called down Polly Pearl, rolling her eyes.
“No, a cabbage. We couldn’t find a pea,” the King called back.
“Oh,” sighed Polly Pearl as she slumped back onto her bed and closed her eyes. PLOP… Polly Pearl felt a cold, wet weight on her nose. The weight smelt fishy and a bit like the castle moat. She opened her eyes and felt herself going cross-eyed as she tried to peer at her nose. A rich emerald green shined slimily and she realised it was a frog. It was wearing a tiny gold crown.
“Why is there a frog on my nose?” she shouted down to her parents.
“That’s Edward,” called back the Queen. “I play tennis with his mother. He had a bit of a run in with a wizard last week. There is some sort of loophole in the curse apparently. A kiss from a true princess will turn him back into a human. Then he will marry whoever gave him the kiss.”
“Really?” asked Polly Pearl, squinting at the very unkissable frog prince. She didn’t really fancy marrying an ex frog, especially one she had never met before, but she was getting desperate and husbands didn’t grow on trees.
“Excuse me, would you mind hopping off my nose please?” she said to the frog. The frog jumped and plopped onto Polly Pearl’s pillow. Polly Pearl used her sleeve to wipe the frog slime off her nose then gave the frog a polite smile. She leant down, held her breath and kissed the frog right on the mouth. He tasted like bugs.
“Anything happening?” called up the King, hopefully.
Polly Pearl looked carefully at the frog. Nothing happened. “No,” she called down. “Sorry,” she said to the frog.
“S’alright,” the frog said then hopped down the ladder, holding his crown on with one little frog hand.
“I’m going asleep now,” called down Polly Pearl, feeling miserable. She crawled back under her covers and curled up in a ball, feeling as sad as she could be. I will never find a prince to share my adventures with, she thought, glumly, I feel very, very, lonely.
The next morning Polly Pearl woke up with a scream as her finger exploded in pain. She lifted her finger up and saw a spot of blood, shining like a miniature red rose on her finger.
“Sorry Princess,” said Isla, Polly Pearl’s maid. “Your mum asked me to do it.”
“It woke her up,” Isla called down to the King and Queen.
“Drat,” Polly Pearl heard her father mutter. “She was meant to go asleep for a hundred years. And what of her hair? Is it any longer today?” he called up. “Is it long enough to throw down so that I can climb up it?”
Polly Pearl sat up in bed. Her hair tumbled down then stopped at her waist. “Nope, same length as always,” Isla called down, then started the long climb down the ladder.
Polly Pearl followed her. She changed into her most princessy dress, then she went out to the rose garden for a walk. Fairies flitted around her, busily making clothes and food for the castle. A tiny purple fairy who had not been watching where she was flying got stuck in Polly Pearl’s hair and tinkled angrily at her before flying away again, but Polly Pearl didn’t even have enough energy to care.
Reaching the pond, she sat down heavily on the grass. She threw little pebbles into the pond and thought about what life would be like with no husband to go on adventures with. I could go on adventures on my own I suppose, she thought, but that rules out a lot of adventures. No rock climbing, no practice sword fights and definitely no trapeze tumbles.
“Ouch,” croaked a voice, and Prince Edward poked his head out of the pond. “Mind where you throw those stones. You trying to kill me or something?” The Prince hopped onto a rock next to Polly Pearl so that he was high enough to look into her eyes.
“Sorry,” said polly Pearl. “Sorry the kiss didn’t work, too.”
“Oh, I knew it wouldn’t,” said the frog prince. “That was just an audition.”
“What?” asked Polly Pearl, not at all sure whether she felt curious or annoyed.
“An audition. I’ve got to marry whoever turns me back to a prince. If I’m going to spend the next two hundred years married to someone I want to make sure it is the right person. You seem fun. Kinda weird but loads more fun than most of the other princesses around here. Plus I am really liking those cool streaks you have in your hair.”
Polly Pearl touched her hair self-consciously. It was kind of cool she supposed.
“So what do I need to do?” asked Polly Pearl.
“Well you do have to kiss me,” croaked the frog, “but you have to say some special magic words too. I kept that bit secret,” said the frog prince, looking very proud of his cunning and cleverness.
“What are the special, secret magic words then?” asked Polly Pearl, still not totally sure that she wanted to marry the frog, but getting a bit desperate for a life of adventure.
“The words,” said the frog, glancing around to make sure that no fairies were listening, “are ‘Oy froggy, turn into a prince’ and then you kiss me again.”
“Hmm,” said Polly Pearl. The words didn’t sound very magical but she decided to give it a go. “Oy froggy, turn into a prince,” she said, then puckered up and gave him a peck on the lips.
FLASH, BANG, SMASH, CLANG, WHIZZ, WOZ, WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
Fireworks exploded in the air in every colour of the rainbow; invisible trumpets, violins and harps played a triumphant romantic tune; the frog prince flew up into the air and whirled around and around until he was just a blur. A wizard zoomed through the rose gardens and skidded to a stop by the pond, sending splatters of mud and grass all over Polly Pearl’s most princessy dress.
“Princess Polly Pearl,” he said in a booming wizardy voice. His long white beard curled and shifted like a fat caterpillar every time he spoke. “Behold your true love. Have a happy life and all that.” The wizard gave her a big wide smile then leapt back on his motorbike and jumped it over the castle wall, spraying a cascade of sparkling mini stars from the back of the bike as he went.
The frog prince stopped spinning and settled back down to earth. As the violet smoke cleared Polly Pearl blinked and squinted to see her new true love. There in front of her stood a tall, handsome prince, with blond, perfect hair, gorgeous, blue, velvet princely clothes, his golden crown, a strong handsome nose and chin and… green, webbed frog feet! He stepped close to Polly Pearl and blinked down at her with froggy eyes.
“Will you marry me my love?” asked Prince Edward, stroking her cheek with a green, webbed hand.
Princess Polly Pearl felt a tumbling, rumbling sensation in her stomach and realised that she was in love!
“I will,” said Princess Polly Pearl, feeling very princessy for the first time in her life. “You will be brilliant at swimming when we go hunting for sharks,” she said, glancing at his funny, flappy, froggy feet.
A now very princessy Princess Polly Pearl and a very froggy Prince Edward held hands and walked to the castle to tell the King and Queen their good news.
“I think I love you,” said Princess Polly Pearl.
“Ribbit!” said Prince Edward.
the end.
Question Time
1. What did the princess find when she went into her room?
2. What did the King and Queen put under Polly Pearl’s mattresses?
3. How did the frog taste?
4. What did Polly Pearl have to do the second time she kissed the frog?
5. What was different about the handsome prince? Did the princess like it?
