The Princess Who Liked To Be Popular continues from yesterday:

The fruit and vegetable growers were having troubles.  They had had some bad weather which led to their harvest being poor, and some of them were worried that they wouldn’t have enough food to get them through the winter.

Luckily they have a good community and they had a meeting and realised that if they shared what they had, evenly between them, they would each have enough to scrape by.

They also agreed to distribute equally what seeds they had between them for the following year.  They wouldn’t be able to sow as much as usual but, again, they knew it would be enough.  They would manage.

Satisfied and relieved, they were about to return home when a kindly stranger called their attention back to the meeting.  He said he thought he could help.

Oh my word!  It would have been better for them if they had pretended not to hear him and walked away!  But they didn’t.

He said his name was Venustus and he could provide them with plenty of seed for next year, so that they wouldn’t have to scrape by.  He said he had more than he could use in a huge barn on his property, and they could have it for nothing to prevent it going to waste.

Well, he looked so kind, and had such a warm smile, Elsie said, that they couldn’t help but trust him.  He asked everyone who wanted his seeds to sign their names on a sheet of paper so that he would know how much to ship to them.

The following spring, as promised, the seeds arrived and everyone was thrilled.  They sowed so many seeds that they looked forward to a bountiful harvest.

So, green shoots began to grow and everyone was hopeful until, after a few weeks, they started to wilt.  They couldn’t understand why because the weather had been perfect – sunshine and showers and just the right amount of each.  So they contacted Venustus to ask his advice.  Well!  That’s when he tells them he’s a wizard!  He made them seeds special so they grow much bigger and faster but …

…. only if they’re fed with his magic potion!  Without it they would not survive at all.  Of course the people asked if they could have some of his potion and he says: ‘course you can – it’s 20 pieces of silver per vat!

Oh my goodness!  You can imagine how the people felt.  They had no money.  They couldn’t pay for the potion.  And they would have no harvest at all without it.

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😮

Story continues on Monday (unless you don’t want to wait)

Have a great weekend 😀

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The Princess Who Liked To Be Popular continues from yesterday:

When he finished, Aequitas paused and looked at the princess.  He hesitated to continue burdening her when she looked so defeated, but there was more, and he had to go on.

Aequitas went on to explain that he had found a record of Venustus among the surviving documents of the Procul County Gaol fire, one hundred and forty seven years previous.  It was slightly fire-damaged but the charges made against him were still clearly legible.

“It is uncertain how the fire started but Venustus was the only prisoner not accounted for after it was put out,” the duke added.

“But by far the most useful information I have found is contained in this book,” he said as he placed a small, tattered volume on the table.  “It belongs to the estate of an elderly lady who recently passed, named Gertrude.  She was deaf her whole life and when she was a little girl her mother would write down every piece of news and gossip for her to enjoy in this book.  There is here a detailed account of Venustus.”

Aequitas leafed through the book to find the story of Venustus, as told by Gertrude’s mother, while Princess Primrose looked upon the list of Venustus’s crimes with horror.  She nodded sadly at him, and he began to read:

Elsie from across the sea says they’ve had troubles over there.  She told a sailor, who told his uncle, who told his wife, and she told me.

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Oooh.  Find out what troubles Elsie and friends have suffered, tomorrow.

Or read it now 😀

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The Princess Who Liked To Be Popular continues from yesterday:

The Duke of Aequitas stood before the princess for the first time in many months.  After an embarrassed pause she forced herself to ask: “Worse?”

“When I heard you were dealing with Venustus I tried to find out more about him.  He is very hard to track down and I could find only three references to him in our archives, one of which dates back four hundred years.”

“Four hundred years?  That must have been a different Venustus.”

“No.  There are no others.  He’s a wizard Your Highness, he changes his appearance to appeal to whomever he’s attempting to fool.  But, apparently, he is unable to change his name, it’s the only thing he’s truthful about.”

The princess was exasperated.  “That’s absurd,” she said, “How do you know this?”

The duke continued, “The four hundred year old reference to Venustus was written by the monks of the ancient Lunam Monastery.  It is in the form of a rhyme so that everyone would recite it and remember it.  When I read it I became very concerned indeed.  The monks only created memory rhymes for things they considered extremely dangerous.  It was vital to them that this be remembered generation after generation.”

The princess listened apprehensively as the duke read aloud.

“Venustus he was,

Venustus he is,

Venustus he’ll always be.

He’ll lie about everything else in the world,

But truthful ’bout that he’ll be.”

“Venustus is wicked

Venustus is false

Venustus will use and abuse.

Remember his name, remember his name,

Keep thyself safe from his ruse.”

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Gasp! 😮

Learn more about the evil Venustus tomorrow.

Or read it here now 😀

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The Princess Who Liked To Be Popular continues from yesterday:

The old man had no family of his own but everyone called him Grandfather.  He was kind and cheerful and loved to talk.  He could talk for hours but no one minded because talking to him always brightened their day.

When news of Grandfather’s death reached the castle, the princess was saddened, but when she then learned that more people were falling ill, a cold chill shivered through her body.

Princess Primrose desperately hoped that this was not her fault; that the sickness afflicting her beloved people was not caused by the cheap fruit and vegetables she had imported through Venustus.

But she couldn’t find Venustus.

The only thing she could do, she decided, was to tell everyone to stop eating the cheap produce; to admit that it might be the cause of their illness.

But the people took no notice.  They dismissed as ridiculous the suggestion that the cheap produce might be unhealthy.

“Sickness comes and goes,” they said.

“It’s probably the weather,” they said.

“It will pass,” they said.

The princess was flabbergasted.

“It’s as if they’re under a spell!” she exclaimed.

“It’s worse than that,” said a familiar voice.

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What???!

Story continues tomorrow – or you can read it here now 😀

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The Princess Who Liked To Be Popular continues from Friday:

The princess seethed.  The duke was nervous but stood his ground.  They looked at each other in silence for several moments until she, unable to counter his argument, dismissed him.  She slumped over the desk and felt very sorry for herself.

“The first thing they ask me for and I can’t deliver!” she said out loud.

“Perhaps you can,” said a strange voice.

“Ahhh!  Where did you come from?”  The princess jumped and stood up straight, embarrassed to have been overheard and alarmed to be looking at a strange person who had apparently appeared from nowhere.

“I’m sorry Princess, I didn’t mean to startle you.”  He smiled warmly.

“Who are you and where did you come from?” she asked again, calmer now but wary.

“I apologise.  My name is Venustus.  I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation with the duke and I believe I can help.”

“First tell me where you’re from and how you got into the castle!”

As Venustus’s smile broadened, the princess’s mistrust faded away and she forgot her question.

“I can get you what you’re looking for,” he said, “make your trade with me.”

“My father decreed that only Aequitas can make the trade.”

“With Calidum Terram.  But what’s to stop you from trading with another party?”

The princess hesitated.  “Nothing … I suppose.  But we’re already getting a fair deal, so I won’t be able to do better.”

“So says the duke, but how can that be true if I can get you those goods for half the price?”

So Princess Primrose made a deal with Venustus and very soon the cheap goods were on the market.  Her people were delighted to find what they needed at such low prices and, as she’d hoped, loved her for listening to them and getting them what they wanted.  The princess was very pleased with herself and basked in the adoration of the populace which she read about almost every day.

But not everyone was happy with the new arrangements.  The duke was very concerned as the produce from Calidum Terram went bad on the shelves, and he discovered that the princess was dealing with Venustus.

He urgently begged an audience with her but when she refused to see him he wrote to her, daily.  The first few letters she binned, but after a while she didn’t even bother to read them.

After all, hadn’t her father told her that it wasn’t possible to please everyone?  Well, if the Duke of Aequitas wasn’t pleased then that was something she’d just have to live with – and, since he seemed to be the only one who wasn’t happy, she could  be pretty satisfied that she’d done a good job.

And she was.

For a while.

Until Grandfather died.

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Oh no!

Story continues tomorrow – or you can read it here now 😀

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