The Kingdom Where The Weather is Merry

Note: This story is in response to Tammy Merryweather's recent blog post. If you haven't yet, read it here first.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful kingdom nestled in a lovely valley filled with groves of trees. The King and Queen’s palace lay in this valley at the base of a snow capped mountain where the weather was always merry, as were all the inhabitants of the kingdom.

One day, the Queen made an royal announcement that was shouted from the rooftops by her loyal messengers so that everyone in the kingdom would hear. Soon after the leaves in the kingdom’s trees changed their colors and spread themselves like a blanket over the land, a royal child would be born. The entire kingdom was thrilled.

The Queen was sitting on her throne, the summer sun bursting through one of the palace windows, casting a warm glow on her skin. She was caressing her enlarging belly when the royal wizard paid her a visit. He was one of her most loyal and trusted advisors. She shared with him her desire for this child to grow up healthy, happy, active, and full of peace. She imagined him growing up, running in the fields by the castle, playing on the royal grounds, wrestling with the castle cats, and playing with the other royal children. Confiding in the wizard, she told of her wish that there was something that she could do to help make sure this happens.

The wizard laid his hand on the Queen’s belly for a small moment. “I could place a spell on this child that would help do everything you desire.”

With gratitude swelling in her heart, the Queen thanked the wizard. She wanted so much for her unborn child, and was very pleased that she would be able to provide him with more.

“What will you need for this spell?”

The wizard bowed. “My lady. This spell will be costly, and I am getting old. I know my strength is such that I can bear the weight of the spell while the child is very small, but there will come a time when my strength won’t be sufficient.”

The queen gasped. “What will happen then? Will the spell be lost?”

“There is another way,” the wizard said quietly. “But it will require much time, patience, and hard work from you.”

“Anything,” the Queen said resolutely. “I’ll do anything.”

“When my strength is inadequate, I can channel the energy that the spell requires to another object. It cannot be just any object, though. It will need to be something that has had countless amounts energy poured into it. It will need to be something that represents many hours of hard work, contributed lovingly and without reservation.”

It only took a moment of thought before the Queen knew just what to do. She began to search far and wide for cloth shops throughout many kingdoms, looking for fabrics that were the essence of happiness, activeness, health, and peacefulness. When she was satisfied that she had found a collection of truly unique, beautiful, well woven fabrics, she went to work. She chose the most difficult design for the fabrics that could be imagined, with cuts at impossible angles, that would produce a work of wonder for all to behold.

She pieced together each small piece, with love in her heart and patience in her hands. After more than two years, the masterpiece was finished, and she knew that the quilt would be sufficient to power the spell.

She gave the quilt to the royal prince to cuddle, love, and enjoy. She loved watching him carry around the quilt with him everywhere he went— and she was constantly amazed at how healthy, happy, active, and peaceful the child was.

After a time, the royal wizard came to the queen, hunched over and walking with the aid of a walking stick. Although it didn’t make much difference in his height, he still bowed before her. “My lady. My strength is waning. I can no longer power the spell. I need to transfer the spell to the quilt.”

The Queen stepped down from her throne and kissed the old man on his forehead. “Thank you for all you have done. Be at peace.”

As she walked along the palace corridors to the prince’s room, she thought about all she had contributed to the quilt. She hoped there was enough power in it to fuel the spell for the rest of the prince’s life. The prince loved the quilt, and the Queen worried that there would be nothing of it left for him to hold after the spell took what it needed. She would soon see.

She stepped into the prince’s room, and saw him cuddled in the quilt. She was confused. How did the quilt still exist? Had the wizard not taken it’s power, yet?

The prince stood up and ran to hug her, dragging the quilt behind him. That’s when she noticed. The color was missing from a part of the quilt, and the prince was still just as happy, healthy, active, and peaceful as ever. She looked at the quilt and then back at her son, and knew that the part with the missing color would forever remind her that she gave her son everything he needed, and there was yet an abundance so large, that he could still cuddle in his favorite blanket.