That Dancing Princess

Chapter Four

 For the next few days, his first few days on the job, Roy would hand Tommy the bundle of flowers and made sure he knew where to go. A few of the princesses would give him smiles, and though it was true that they were all beautiful, the one who had enchanted him was Princess Kobra, the blond girl who had asked him if he was new. She had spoken to him in such an ordinary way, as if she weren't royalty and he wasn't simply the assistant gardener. 

 "Do you know what she's like?" Tommy asked Roy.

 "What who's like?"

 "The princess. Princess Kobra."

 "Princess Kobra?" Roy repeated. "I really couldn't say. Sometimes a few of the princesses will come walking through the gardens. When they were younger, they would all come run and play here. Once, when she was much younger, she came to me and began asking me questions about the flowers. What sort of flower each one was, how I take care of them all. It was strange, really. She spoke to me as if she weren't a princess and I just an ordinary gardener."

 "Is she the kind, caring sort?" Tommy asked.

 Roy shrugged. "I suppose so. What's with all the questions, kid?"

 "Just curious, I suppose."

 After a few days of wondering what he should do, Tommy had another dream. The same woman from the last dream stood before him.

 "Take these." She handed him two very small trees, a little rake, a bucket and a silken towel. "They are laurels. Plant them in large pots, rake them over with the rake, water them with the bucket, and wipe them with the towel. When they have grown as tall as you, say this to each one: 'Dear laurel, I have raked you, watered you, and wiped you. Then you may ask for anything, and the laurels will give it to you."

 "But...I don't understand," Tommy said, looking down at the gifts. "Why me?"

 The woman never answered his question.

 Tommy awoke to find the little trees and everything else next to his bed. He quickly took away the laurels and hid everything else in case Roy should see them. He had no idea how he would explain where they came from when he himself didn't know how they had appeared.

 Whenever Roy was busy, Tommy would sneak off by himself for a while, to check on the laurel trees and do what the woman in his dream had instructed him to do. They grew rather quickly, quicker than trees ordinarily do, and soon they were as tall as Tommy himself.

 He would have recited the words as soon as they were ready, but he didn't know what he should ask for. He didn't know what would help him marry a princess.

 While he was thinking about it, he thought he heard footsteps come from somewhere close by. He quickly ran from the hiding place and out into the main garden path, where he almost stumbled right into Princess Kobra.

 "Your Highness." He quickly regained himself and stood up straight.

 "God afternoon," she said politely. "If it does not seem wrong of me to ask, I don't believe I know you name."

 Tommy remembered what Roy had said about staring, so he looked down at his feet and answered, "I am called Stargazer, Your Highness."

 "Stargazer? A strange name. I do hope you have been a help to the gardener. When I was a little girl, he was always kind enough in answering all of my questions about the flowers, and I had many of those."

 "I have done my best, Your Highness," Tommy said. "I am learning much from him."

 The princess looked up at the sky. "I suppose I should be returning to the castle. We have another suitor coming tonight. Goodbye, Stargazer."

 Tommy watched her walk slowly back towards the castle. Then he looked towards where his trees were.

 He walked back to the spot and recited to one of them, "Dear cherry laurel, I have raked you, watered you, and wiped you." He paused for a quick moment before saying, "I want to become invisible."

 A small white flower bloomed on one of the branches of the tree. He picked it from the branch, and carefully placed in one of the buttonholes of his shirt. If this would do what he thought he would, he was on his way to marrying a princess.