Snakes and Smiles Forever
By Lisa F
Phoenix, AZ
The kingdom had never been in a happier time. It was well-known that the
Prince would leave the castle to go fishing every day. He’d always had an
interest with the ocean and people had imagined he’d probably continue to do
this hobby, but they never expected it to be how he found the girl he was to marry.
The Prince searched for the woman, but no girl that he’d come across had
her looks or voice. But, one day when he was playing with his dog, Max, he came
across a beautiful maiden. He was sure this was her, the girl who’d saved him.
That changed when he discovered she couldn’t speak, so she couldn’t be the girl
with the wondrous voice who saved him. But, he took her in and soon fell in love
with her, the bright and kind Ariel. Prince Eric believed it started the first
time he’d seen her, but he only realized it after a…peculiar incident.
It was the second day of Ariel’s staying at the castle and Prince Eric
had took her up to see an old friend of his. When they made it, there working
on a metal structure was Gregory, the kingdom’s inventor. Hearing them, Gregory
turned and smiled, he’d heard about the girl who the prince had brought home.
“Hello Prince Eric, what brings you here?” He questioned.
“I was wondering if you could show us your inventions.” He stated.
“Of course Prince!” He exclaimed, “Right this way.”
The next hour they learned about the many inventions. Ariel was ecstatic
to learn so many things and was surprised when a lot of the things Scuttle had
told her turned out to be wrong. As Gregory was showing them a new version of
the carriage, Ariel’s attention focused on a small cylinder metal container.
Seeing if Gregory was busy(he was) she walked over and picked it up. It was
closed and didn’t seem extraordinary. Taking one last look at Prince Eric and
Gregory, she pulled the lid off, getting the shock of her life. As the lid came
off about two dozen little scraggly things popped out, some hitting Ariel in
the face while others just served to scare her.
Scrambling back, she tripped and fell to the floor. Hearing the noise,
Gregory and Prince Eric turned to see what had happened. After a second of
staring, the two burst out laughing at the expression of horror on Ariel’s face
as she breathed heavily.
“I see you found Gregory’s joke can.” Eric said in amusement, walking
over to her.
Now calm, Ariel blushed lightly.
Smiling, Eric helped her up.
“It is a thing I invented for prankster like myself. I put some small
snake dolls in a spring-loaded cup so when it opens, it scares the person.” He
stated, grinning. Ariel stared before she started to silently laugh. As Eric
stared at Ariel, he realized that he loved her and this was the girl that he
would marry.
