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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.