- Chapter 4 -

I have never met a prince before

Tutu whispered her full name to the rabbit: “Pink Cotton Candy Tutu Girl, mostly called Tutu Girl or Tutu. What do the other rabbits call you?”

“I am named after my grandfather's grandfather, a most superior rabbit. My name is Prince Barley. My father is King Bulrush, my mother is called Queen Violet.”

”Then you are Royalty. I have never met a prince before, though I thought my love is close to one.” And then she whispered to him her story of the abduction, of Mirror Boy and all her fine friends. By the time they reached the entry to the big house, in which he and all his family lived, the moon hung in the sky in all his round glory.

She looked up at it, then remembered:The evening on which Dunk had taken me, I saw a sliver of a moon. I must have been asleep for weeks! Now I surely will have a much more difficult time finding Mirror Boy and all of my friends.

The house lay underground, dug into the side of a little ridge, facing away from the direction where the weather was the worst in the winter. On top of the ridge grew some old birch trees, giving a little shade in days when summer was hot. She was so very tired now, she had to forego all the formalities of introductions and so on. The Prince guided her to the guest quarters, bid her a good night and left.

He had described the room to her, where she could sleep, because it was dark in here, and she did not have whiskers to feel her way around. So she felt her way with her hands, found a nice pile of fresh grass and sank into it, asleep before she knew it. Softly a dream carried her away:

A well deserved dream

Tutu's Dream: Meermaids and the waves

The smell of fresh green grass woke her, a fog of confusion wrapping her in a soft embrace, like down feathers around her. “A good afternoon to you,” said a sweet and very gentle voice, “I am called Princess Clover, I have come to give you some nourishment. My husband, Prince Barley, told me your dreadful story. That is why we let you sleep long into the day. But now drink this sweet nectar.” And with that she gave Tutu a shining small chalice, golden and filled with sweet liquid, the likes she had never tasted before. The nectar filled her mouth with such delicious flavor, she had to close her eyes to fully savor it.

“This is so heavenly sweet and deep in flavor, what is this wonderful drink?”

“It is my specialty, I make it from the blossoms of the clover that grows on our land, the kind that has a violet color, where the bees help us to harvest the richness.”

“May I have a little more of it please, it repairs me from the inside out. Look, the holes are closing as I sit here, I usually have to spin for days on my toes, but this - this is like a miracle medicine.”

Princess Clover smiled at her, filled the little chalice out of a golden pitcher that she held in her other paw. Tutu marveled at both, pitcher and chalice. They obviously were made by the same artist, they seemed to be pure gold. She drank the second glass of nectar. I can't believe I am so lucky to have met these nice rabbits. Tonight I will pay them back for their kindness with a dazzling performance. I feel so good now, like new. I miss Tobias, but he is so far away, it will take so long to find him, I might as well just stay a while to get strong and whole first.

“May I dance and sing for you tonight, I'd like to give you an evening of entertainment and pleasure. You very much earned it with your kindness.”

“What a lovely idea, Tutu Girl, all the Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses will be delighted. We did not see a performance like it in a very long time. The last dancer whom we saw came with Star Man. He comes by here, now and then, to employ and take with him into the world some of the bright offspring of Queen Snow and King Cloud. Their children are always white with pink noses and very smart.”

“You have two Kings and two Queens?”

“We have many more than that. We are not Royalty the way you thought we were. In some distant time past, when we still had real Kings and Queens, we, as a group, decided, that it was not right to elevate one above the other, just because of “Birthright.” We all have to earn our way, one way or another. So we are all productive in our own special way; and because of that, we are also a very happy community. The title King, Queen, Prince and Princess are used in the same way that people use Mister, Misses, Young Man, Little Lady. All this started because nobody wanted to hold a grudge against the former Royal Family, after all, it was not their fault that they were born into this position. Now nobody knows by a name, if they are descendants from the ancient Royalties.”

“My community, which is made up of the performers of the fair circuit, works in a similar way. We all do what we like best, and we give the audience what they paid for.”

“That is really nice. Tutu, let us go out into the sunshine, I'll show you the clover blossoms and show you also a little trick how to get the nectar. This seems to be the perfect elixir for you.”

Symbol of waves, stars, sun, seahorses. Divider.