The next morning, all the royal siblings gathered in the bedroom of the youngest princess. They were very surprised because they found a very large turtle under the pillow of the youngest princess.
"We have to do something with that...that reptile" exclaimed the elder princess. "Are they reptiles? Or are they amphibians? Anyway, we need to get it out of here before the king and queen find out."
The royal prince, who was wise in the ways of turtles, stated definitively, "They are reptiles. And I have a plan."
"What?" the princesses exclaimed.
"We just have to sneak the turtle out of the castle and put it back in the moat. The moat is big enough and the moat's water will act to keep it from growing bigger. The same way that goldfish stay small because of the aquarium where they are kept." he said.
The princesses were impressed. "But how can we sneak a turtle the size of an elephant" for that's how big it was now-"out of the castle without someone noticing?" asked the eldest, ever the practical one.
The youngest looked out her window. "Well, that's the moat down there. Couldn't we just tip the turtle out the window and let it fall into the moat?"
"You mean like a high dive?" asked the prince. The princess nodded. "No, that's too high. We're two floors up. It would be like the world's biggest turtle belly flop. And it would really hurt...hey, what is this turtle's name going to be anyway."
"Bob" the youngest pronounced definitively.
"Pfffft. Bob. He'll be embarrassed to just have name like that. Even dogs have a pedigree name that is grand sounding."
"Ok, fine. Beethoven. But I'll just call him Bob for short."
The prince looked a bit confused because "Bob" was actually a girl. But he didn't want to ruin the mood, so he just went with it, figuring that they could sort the whole gender naming and pronoun thing later.
"Anyway, I think she has a good idea, it just needs to be worked on a little." He rushed out of the room and came back with a length of fifty feet of rope. Taking one end, he fashioned a cradle with the pillow under Bob's belly and tied the other end to the door, the very same door they had use to pull the princess' tooth. Working together, they lifted Bob onto the sill of the window.
"Ok, go downstairs. I and your sister will slowly lower Bob down. Then when Bob is near the water, you cut the rope and voila, Bob escapes into the moat and we're good." explained the prince.
The youngest princess ran downstairs, heedless of the fact the scissors do not mix with running. Meanwhile, the prince and eldest princess slowly levered the turtle over the edge, letting out the rope by bits. It was a good thing no one was looking at that side of the castle that day.
At just about the time when Bob was a few feed from the bottom, there was a knock at the youngest princess' door. The prince and eldest princess looked at each other, but they couldn't answer the door without letting go of the rope. So they tried to be quiet, hoping that whoever it was would give and go away. Meanwhile the youngest began to work on the rope to let Bob go, even though he had a few feet to go, trying to get a head start on cutting through the thick ropes.
The knocking persisted and there was a muffled voice and then the same voice louder. The door handle turned and both prince and princess called out "No!" but to no avail. The door opened with a jerk, Bob dropped a few feet with a jerk into the water, the rope smacked the youngest princess on the head, she fell over onto Bob's back, the rope snapped where she had been cutting and they both tipped into the moat. People in the castle speculate that her dip in the moat permanently stunted her growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment