THE FOREST FAIRIES, Part 3

Arabella and Annalisa

                                                                               

 Queen of the Fairies

Mother," the twin fairies cried, "We have devised a plan to rescue Rapunzel.  We will find a handsome prince and....."

"No more handsome princes!  Remember the problems you had with the prince and Sleeping Beauty.  You could have just left the palace door open, but no, you told the poor man to climb up the vines to her room--"

"It was romantic climbing up the brambles--"

"And they were covered with thorns!  Why do you think they called her Briar Rose?  And his wounds became infected!  I had to give you that magic salve to cure him.  And worst of all, when the prince entered her bedroom, Briar Rose was covered with cobwebs!!  She had been sleeping for one hundred years and everything was covered with them.  He had to peel them from her face before he could see her beauty!  I am surprised the prince didn't just faint dead away what with his wounds and all those cobwebs...."

"Mama, stop!" cried Arabella.  "They fell in love in spite of the cobwebs and they are married now and Briar Rose is having a baby!"

"Oh, no!  Another disastrous christening I suppose.  They better invite all the fairies this time or my cousin Repellante will put a spell on the baby...."

"Mama, please, we promise not to involve a prince this time," said Annalisa.   "We are going to fly into Rapunzel's dark tower and advise her to cut off her thick braid, nail it to the window and climb down to freedom! We have located her parents and they were overjoyed to learn that their dear daughter was coming home to them at last!"

"Well, all right then.  I'm flying home now.  Your father and I like to have a glass of raspberry wine before dinner.  Now, Girls, don't be late!"  And she flew into the sky muttering something about Rapunzel would probably break her ankle during her descent and then......But the sisters heard no more as they flew off in the opposite direction.  They had time to tell dear Rapunzel of their plan as their parents always had several glasses of raspberry wine before dinner.  They hoped Papa would not fall asleep again during the soup course; it always made Mama very cross.