Finding Fantasy Land

Prompt: Write a story or poem about a castle, hippo and red wagon
965 Words


Last night was a grand celebration at the castle. Half the kingdom showed up to wave off the gnomes, who were headed south to vacation in the Enchanted Forest for the winter. Spirits were high and the wine flowed freely; everyone had a magical time. Come noon the following morning, the faeries were still sleeping off the festivities and the gnomes were half-ways to Trooba Town. Needless to say, Princess Kelly was bored, bored, bored.

Her sigh dripped drama as she scratched the bristles on the end of Spot's nose. There was hardly any summer left and she had nobody to enjoy the last of it with. Spot was a nice pet, but hippos were rarely fun to play with. They cried when they didn't get their way, and always tried to re-arrange the pieces on the chess board when they thought nobody was looking.

"I'm going to walk down toward the river. Maybe the imps have started a game of marbles," she announced to Spot, who snorted in response. He was not much of a talker unless the subject was the weather. It's a little known fact that hippos have an unquenchable thirst for meteorology.

It was a warm day, and the birds and butterflies joined Kelly in her merry dance down toward the river. She sang at the rainbows that arched overhead, and waved at the pixies who languidly floated by. The emerald grass tickled her bare feet and made her giggle. She was so delighted by the family of trolls that passed her along the path that she almost didn't see the red object half hidden behind a snoring tree (she preferred to let sleeping trees lie - they could babble and gossip for hours).

She crept quietly around the tree to examine this curious creature. It was the brightest of reds and had four, black round feet. A long neck stuck out of one end, coming to end in a wide, gaping mouth. It's surface was hard and cold when she poked it. Quite strange, she thought. This time she nudged it a bit harder. It squeaked mournfully and it's feet spun, projecting the strange creature forward. Princess Kelly jumped back with a gasp. "What ARE you," she asked aloud.

"A red wagon, by the looks of it, little one."

Kelly turned to see the tired tree peering down at her. "But what does it do?"

The tree sighed and stretched its branches, irritated at being woken from its slumber. "As I recall it, little one, the wagon is used for riding."

"Oh, it's a horse!"

"No."

"A dragon?"

"No."

Kelly lowered her voice and muttered, "A worg?"

"It's a wagon, princess."

"A wagon," the bemused girl replied, and turned to look at the strange object again. "Well then, I shall be the first to ride upon its back!"

The tree sighed.

Kelly grabbed the wagon by its neck (which was actually a handle) and wrestled it out to the road. She climbed upon it and it at once began to roll forward down the steep incline. Kelly screamed with the glee at first, her voice then trailing off toward terror as the wagon picked up speed. The lazy pixies stopped to stare as the young princess swooshed by. Trees and flowers became colorful blurs as she sped past them. That large rock in the road (which was actually a very unfortunate groundhog) was coming toward her awfully fast.....

Kelly screamed again and covered her eyes with her hands. And then she suddenly she stopped. With a sigh of relief she looked around. It was dark now. Except for the two bright lights bearing down on her! A dragon, she thought frantically, as she stared at its large eyes. At the last moment she bolted out of the way, and watched as the dragon whizzed past her. It was blue, and quite small as far as dragons were concerned. It shouted at her to keep out of the road, followed by a stream of other words not-so-nice words.

Straightening out her pink and puffy dress, Princess Kelly stared up into a street light. It glowed strong and steady. Surely it must be enchanted, she thought. A light without flame! How magical, indeed!

So enthralled she was with the light, she didn't notice the unformed man approaching.

"Are you lost, little girl?"

"Umm," Kelly considered. "Could you show me the way back to the castle?" She adjusted her crown of flowers, and flashed her most charming princess smile. He chuckled at the little lost girl playing make-believe.

Another dragon fled past them, honking loudly. "I have never seen such dragons before," Kelly pondered aloud.

The man stopped chuckling and lifted his eyebrows. "That was a car, young lady," he said. "Listen, I'm Officer Carey of the NYPD. I can help you. Let's find your parents."

A rat scurried across the dark alley in pursuit of some litter. The princess screamed and jumped backward, catching her pretty pink princess shoe on the dirty, grimy New York City curb. A squeal escaped her lips as she started to fall down, down, down...

Crack... her head hit the pavement.

When she opened her eyes again she was buried beneath piles of soft satin blankets. Faeries fluttered here and there, humming happily. Spot the Hippo lounged on a carpet in a cheery ray of sunlight. "Stupid Princess," he droned when he noticed she had woken, "You need to learn to watch out for groundhogs in the road."

Kelly rubbed at the bump on her head, then closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep. She dreamed of the magical land faraway where Officer Carey rode miniature dragons and the enchanted lanterns shined on every street corner.