The Jester

a little experiment i did to see how much the mood of a story could be changed with just a few details here and there. hope you enjoy!

“Let's begin,” he said, “with a merry tale, to make the heart light.” He thought briefly and recounted:

 

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there was a young princess named Isabella, and she was everything her father the King and her mother the Queen had hoped she would be: kind, intelligent, quick-witted, brave, and beautiful. The princess lived, by her own choice, in the tallest tower, and secluded herself there daily, coming out only to eat and swap out books.

One day, as the princess was nearing the end of her book, a novel concerning a mariner and his long-lost friend, she was interrupted by rather discordant music. Now, Isabella loved music- in fact, she had taken up harp lessons recently, as she thought the harp most beautiful. Her fingers, adept and agile from turning many pages, seemed to evoke angelic choirs almost from the start. But this music was not skilled, and it was obvious that whoever it was had never before played a lute. She opened the window enough to look out, and saw a dashing young man riding a white horse. His hair flowed in golden locks, and his unbuttoned tunic displayed his toned chest, but in a decent manner. “Oh, powers that be,” she cursed, “how cliché can you get?” She yelled down to the young man, in the rhyming way she had when she was upset-

 

            Dear fellow who plays on horseback,

            You've interrupted my reading quite badly-

            For the lute you play so sadly

            Sounds much like a certain bird's quack.

 

It wasn't her best work by any means, but it certainly angered the prince. “Princess, I've come to rescue you! Can't you see?”

“With a lute and a white horse? I'm not trapped anyway, you know.”

“Music soothes the wild beast!” he called back.

Isabella looked round the garden; the only wild beast that might be round was the gardener, once he saw the trampled begonias- and music would do nothing to soothe him.

“Whatever,” Isabella said, noticing the gardener. Speak of the devil, she thought. Possibly literally.

 

The prince never bothered the poor princess again, who ended up thinking that she could write quite a better ending to her book about the mariner. She also ended up thinking that she was much happier this way.

 

The Jester paused and smiled. Then he flipped heels-over-head, bells jangling, and said-

“A story to lighten your heart, I said, and now it's a story to turn your stomach.”

 

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there was a young princess named Isabella, and she was everything her father the King and her mother the Queen had hoped she would be: kind, intelligent, quick-witted, brave, and beautiful. The princess lived, by her own choice, in the tallest tower, and secluded herself there daily, coming out only to eat and swap out books.

One day, as the princess was nearing the end of her book, a novel concerning a murderess and her long-lost rival, she was interrupted by rather discordant music. Now, Isabella loved music- in fact, she had taken up harp lessons recently, as she thought the harp most beautiful. But this music was not skilled, and in fact reminded Isabella of her own attempts at the harp- however, the mysterious player was playing a lute. She opened the window enough to look out, and saw a dashing young man riding a white horse. His hair flowed in black locks, and his unbuttoned tunic displayed his toned chest, but in a decent manner. “Oh, powers that be,” she cursed, “how cliché can you get?” She yelled down to the young man, in the sarcastic way she had when she was upset-

 

            Dear fellow who plays on horseback,

            You've interrupted my reading quite badly-

            For the lute you play so sadly

            Sounds much like a certain bird's quack.

 

It wasn't her best work by any means, but it certainly angered the prince. “You horrid girl,” he yelled. “I ought to teach you a lesson.”

“With a lute and a white horse?” Isabella snorted, a little frightened by the prince- for she recognized him as such- but not wanting to show it. After all, she reflected, a lute is only a lute.

“You'd be surprised,” he snarled, and charged into the castle.

A few moments later, Isabella heard a wooden crash- then another, and another, and then silence. She thought he had left, and remained at the window to watch the boy run out and make outrageous claims as to his own desirability, so when the lute, stained red, bashed through the door, she was helpless.

 

The prince never bothered the poor princess again, who ended up thinking- briefly- that she could write quite a better ending to her book about the murderer.

Although, the prince did eat quite well that night, so it wasn't a total loss.

 

The Jester laughed, and the King and Queen blanched. “And now, The Jester said,” the Jester said, “you've had a story to lift your heart, and a story to sicken you to your very core. So now it must be time to give you a story to wet your eyes.”

 

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there was a young princess named Isabella, and she was everything her father the King and her mother the Queen had hoped she would be: kind, intelligent, quick-witted, brave, and beautiful. The princess lived, by her own choice, in the tallest tower, and secluded herself there daily, coming out only to eat and swap out books.

One day, as the princess was nearing the end of her book (a novel concerning a mariner murdered by his long-lost rival, whom he thought was his friend) she was interrupted by rather discordant music. Now, Isabella loved music- in fact, she had taken up harp lessons recently, as she thought the harp most beautiful (however, she had fallen into despair when her fingers, adept as they were from turning pages, would not play the proper chords.) But this music was not skilled, and in fact reminded Isabella of her own attempts at the harp- however, the mysterious player was playing a lute. She opened the window enough to look out, and saw a dashing young man riding a white horse. His hair flowed in auburn locks, and his unbuttoned tunic displayed his toned chest, but in a decent manner. “Oh, powers that be,” she cursed, “how cliché can you get?” She yelled down to the young man, in the sadly satirical way she had when she was upset-

 

            Dear fellow who plays on horseback,

            You've interrupted my reading quite badly-

            For the lute you play so sadly

            Sounds much like a certain bird's quack.

 

It wasn't her best work by any means, but it certainly angered the prince. “Princess, I've come to rescue you! Can't you see?”

“With a lute and a white horse? I'm not trapped anyway, you know.” The princess sighed, eager to get on with her book.

“But with me, dear Ruth- er, Isabella, you would be completely and utterly free. Also, I have a huge...library...that you could have access to whenever you wanted.”

The princess took only a moment to consider- while she was happy enough at home, the prospect of a new library was more than she could resist. As she had only a few pages left, she threw some essentials in a sack, including another book for the trip to the neighboring kingdom, then ran down the parapet stairs, her eyes drinking in the last few words. She had almost finished- she had but a sentence left- when her foot caught its twin, and she tumbled down the stairs.

 

The prince never bothered the poor princess again, but he did convince Ruth to marry him. He didn't care- a girl was a girl was a girl to him. And Ruth soon died of an unknown ailment.

 

The Jester caught his breath when a knight seized him from behind, clamping his hand over the Jester's mouth and muffling the mirthful words before any more could come tumbling out. The Jester was carried to the dungeon and never bothered the poor Queen or King again, who ended up thinking that it was better that the Princess was shut up in her tower, doing who knows what.

Reviews

[Seth Exile]

This is a pretty interesting story, man. I found myself quite gripped until the end, and wanting to know what the princess was going to cop this time. Cool little plot, and nice twist at the end. Great work!

[C]

This is a very engaging and creative story. I really liked how you made and effort to display how much of a story is actually in its details. The ending was also very surprising and pretty fun. Thanks for sharing!