That was a good year for fairies. News of how Sleeping Beauty’s christening had gone wrong spread far and wide, and the story of princess Dimity’s christening added to the buzz. Any king or queen with a new baby sent invitations to every fairy imaginable, come the christening. In one land, where the queen had been delivered of three baby boys, each and every fairy was invited to attend, with twenty-seven extra places laid at the tables so as to honor any fairy the court scribes had forgotten but who showed up anyhow.
At the same time however, the Fairy Queen had called her court together to work things out. “What with every fairy having to give every prince or princess a present,” she said, “There are just too many chances for a fairy who’s having a bad day doing someone a nasty turn, and giving us all a bad name. Besides, I’m worn out from having to attend all those parties AND think up some new present. I can’t get any other work done. Teeth are piling up under pillows. From now on, one fairy will be sent to take a gift from all of us. This fairy shall be known as a Fairy Godmother.”
When this was explained to the queen with three sons, she exclaimed, “What an excellent notion! I won’t have to worry so much about doing or saying the wrong thing and maybe upsetting one out of a hundred fairies!”
Three Fairy Godmothers, then, attended the christening of the three new princes, each lining up at the bedside of the prince chosen for her. The fairy who stood by the cradle of Prince Alain was named Orchid. She gazed at the small prince and declared, “He shall be the handsomest prince in all the world.” The other guests nodded their approval. and the Queen smiled.
A fairy named Fennel stood next to the cradle where Prince Archels was sleeping. She tapped her wand on the railing and said, “He shall be the strongest prince in all the world.” The court applauded softly, so as not to wake little Archels.
Then a fairy named Snowdrop leaned over the third cradle, where Prince Affretz waited, looking around and blinking at everything. Waving her wand over the cradle, she announced, “He will be the ugliest prince in all the world. And for a while, he’s going to have a really serious limp, too, I think.”
Everyone stared. No one could remember doing anything to upset her. But she just smiled, and then the three fairies disappeared, taking with them the Queen’s gifts.
Rues were rules, so that was all there was to the fairy gifts: no one could come along and make amendments to what Snowdrop had given Prince Affretz. The Queen ordered her soldiers out, commanding them to find Snowdrop and ask what was meant by such a gift. But no one saw Snowdrop for many years.
Everyone could see, as the princes grew up, that the fairies had meant exactly what they said. Prince Alain was so amazingly beautiful that for so long as he lived, he never saw a butterfly. Butterflies were so ashamed of their own looks when he was around that they flew away to hide. Prince Archels was so strong that four soldiers accompanied him whenever he played on the lawn, to keep him from accidentally knocking the castle over. And Prince Affretz was so tremendously ugly that people used to follow him when he went for a walk, begging him to come around to their garden and scare the crows away.
The Queen knew better than to leave everything to the fairies, og course. Prince Alan had training from the best soldiers in the kingdom, so that he was not merely good-looking, but also brave. “Too many soldiers have bright buttons on their tunics but no courage inside,” she said,.
Prince Archels was attended by numerous teachers and professors, to nake sure he was not only strong but smart. “Too many strong men have muscles in their arms and nothing in their heads,” the Queen said.
And she simply assigned any spare academicians or wise men to study with Prince Affretz. “He needs any help he can get,” his mother said. So he took singing lessons, and dancing lessons, and went to classes on etiquette and geography. He learned swordsmanship and penmanship, interior design and gardening. Astronomers came to speak with him about the moon and stars, and cobblers came to show him how shoes were made.
As the brothers talked to each other about what they’d learned, they all grew up into pretty good princes. When prince Alain rode his horse through the streets, people would sigh, “Oh what a prince is our Prince Alain! He’s so handsome and brave!”
“Prince Archels!” they would shout, when the second brother rode among them, “Prince Archels! Don’t you just adore him? He’s so strong and intelligent!”
And when Prince Affretz rode down the street, his horse wearing special blinkers so it wouldn’t glance back and see him, people would sigh, “Well, there goes that nice Prince Affretz. Pity he’s uglier than a mudtoad.”
Other princes might have grown angry, or envious, but Affretz had been much taught about manners and logic, so he threw no tantrums. “I can’t help being ugly,” he said, “But I can make up my own mind about being nasty.”
So when there was a ball and no one would dance with Prince Affretz because he was so ferociously ugly, and limped besides, he simply smiled (which made things worse.) Then he’d go over to sit with the musicians and play any instrument that would hide his face.
One day, the three brothers decided it was high time they headed out into the world to seek some of their fortunes. “I’m tired of staying around the castle doing good deeds,” said Prince Alain. “Besides, everyone around here has already seen all my outfits. I think I should look up some dangerous places and find out if dragons are as dangerous as everyone says. It’ll be a change from all the duchesses who want to dance with me all the time.”
“I’ll ride with you,” said Archels. “I’ve read about other countries, but I’ve never seen one up close. Besides, when I dance with a duchess, I almost always break at least one of her ribs.”
Prince Affretz nodded. “We might as well all go. I don’t suppose the duchesses will miss me much.”
The Queen, learning of their plan, gave them permission to go. “You will learn things you wouldn’t at home,” she said. “But take care of yourselves, since one day you need to take over things around here.”
Putting on their finest armor, the princes rode out from the castle. Each rode one of the best horses in the stables, and were followed by a fourth horse, pulling a wagon. So eager were the brothers to see new lands and make the acquaintance of dragons that for the first couple of days they would not stop to make camp, one brother sleeping in the wagon while the other two led the way, and eating a quick meal before mounting a horse and giving another brother a turn in the wagon. In this way, they could keep moving until familiar lands were left behind and there was a chance to find something interesting.
It wasn’t until the third day that Affretz, climbing into his saddle, asked, “Where are we going, by the way?”
“Good question,” said Alain. He turned to his brother Archels. “You picked the road. Is it leading anywhere in particular?”
“I have read,” said Archels, “That away to the west there is a high, dark castle under a curse. A high, bitter forest of thorns stands around it, and no one has come out of that place for seventeen years now. I thought we might go have a look at that.”
“Sounds like trouble,” said Affretz. “Good.” And the three brothers continued westward.
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