The Princess’s Play House
Novella of Gear
A long time ago, when the magic was strong, before the Artens came to the world of Gear, there was a lovely little princess in the kingdom of Tesemall.
Her name was Hattie or at least that’s what her father called her, she was a lovely, sweet, little girl, with sapphire blue eyes and golden curls. Hattie had a fairy godmother or at least that’s what Hattie like to call her. The woman was a powerful sorcerer who was an adviser to the king. She was called Jan-yar, she came from lands far away and spoke many languages, her hair was the colour of midnight and her skin was as pale as light on snow.
One day Jan-yar came to Princess Hattie to tell her that she had to go away for a long time on business for the king, the princess cried as she didn’t want her godmother to leave. In an effort to cheer up the princess, Jan-yar asked if there was anything she wanted to keep her happy while she was gone. The princess thought about it for a while. It was a hard question, she had everything she could want, she lived in a castle with servants and had all the food and sweeties she could eat. Hattie even had a white pony called Fidget, and a little golden crown. Screwing up her face the little princess thought harder than she had ever thought before, she thought about asking for a new story every night as Jan-yar always told the best bedtime stories. Then an idea came to her.
“I want a new play house, I’m nearly seven and I am too big for the one father gave me, I want a play house that won’t get too small as I get bigger, and I want it to change like the seasons do, so I don’t get bored of it, and it should change to suit my mood,”
Jan-yar sat still for a moment as she thought about what magic she would need to make such a wonderful thing.
“I can make you a play house just like the one you described, but I will need a little something from you, to make the magic work,”
The princess nodded, she knew a little about magic, and that you couldn’t get anything, without giving something else up. Hattie followed Jan-yar out into the garden where the old playhouse stood near a twisted old apple tree. The princess’s play house was a single-storey building about the size of a peasant’s cottage, it had a tiny front door and little windows, with window boxes full of flowers. Inside there were tables and chairs, a little stove, pots and pans, just like a real house, half the normal size.
Jan-yar cut a large lock of hair from the princess’s golden curls, and scattered the hairs over the play house. She knelt down by the open door and placed her hands on the threshold. The sorceress muttered a long and complicated spell, she merged a spell for creating Golumns of living rock, with a mood resonating spell and then she tailored the spell further to fulfil all the princesses wishes. Jan-yar included a spell for mimicking the seasons and another spell to make the play house unbreakable, as she knew how careless the princess was with her things. As the spell came to its conclusion, purple flames raced down Jan-yar’s arms and covered the playhouse. The princess screamed as she thought the playhouse would burn down, but instead of crumbling to ash, it twisted and stretched. The roof sped upwards like a mushroom and a second story was added with a little balcony, on the far left-hand corner a tower sprouted up at a funny angle and carried on up higher than the roof on the second floor. The tower also had a balcony which was at the perfect angle to see over the garden wall into the countryside beyond.
Hattie was absolutely delighted, she ran inside pulling Jan-yar behind her, the sorceress had to bend to fit through the low doorway, but could almost stand up straight inside. The playhouse now looked like a mini castle, and they were standing in the great hall, which had tiny suits of armour along one wall, with wooden swords and coloured shields. Each shield showed a different flower and Jan-yar could imagine Hattie playing at being queen of the flower realm. The sorceress followed the princess up the sweeping stone staircase to the second floor where there was a beautiful bedroom with a wardrobe full of the most fantastic little dresses and costumes that could be imagined. As the princess ran over to try on one of the outfits, Jan-yar gave her a warning about the magic she had used.
“I’ve done my best to give you the play house you always wish to have, but there are limitations to the magic, anything you take out of the house will disappear forever when the sun goes down.”
“But I could wear this lion costume in the garden this afternoon?” asked Hattie.
“Of course, but it has to be put back here. Also, any food and drink you make in the kitchen will not nourish you, you must eat with your father and mother in the castle.”
“I know that magic food tastes nice, but never makes you full.”
“And one final thing my princess, you should never sleep in the play house. I’ve used magic through your hair to link you to this place so it would change to suit your mood, if you sleep here however, the magic might change to match your nightmares, rather than your heartfelt dreams.”
Hattie nodded and recited the three rules the sorceress had given her.
“One, anything that I take out of the play house must be returned by nightfall or it will disappear forever. Two, no matter how much magic food I eat in the play house, I must eat real food with my mother and father. Three, I should never sleep in the play house, as the magic might feed on my nightmares. That sounds really scary, I promise I’ll never do that.”
Jan-yar bent down and hugged her goddaughter, who she loved very much, and she said her goodbyes. The next day Jan-yar left the castle and headed east on her business for the king.
Princess Hattie loved her new house, every day throughout the summer it was a little different or very different in fact. On the day after Jan-yar left, it looked as if it had been made entirely from the leaves and petals of a giant plant, as if the princess had been shrunken down really small. On another day in late summer it looked like a giant harvest loaf and Hattie even ate some of the walls although she knew it wasn’t real bread. She brought her friends to play with her, her favourite playmate was Henry who was the grandson of a very important duke. Whenever Hattie needed rescuing from the tallest tower Henry was always the knight in shining armour and when she was Queen of the Flowers, he was the Knight of the White Rose. There were other children in the castle who were allowed to play as long as they did what the princess told them, so the kitchen boys would occasionally be bandits, and always get chased off by Henry when he saved her. Other times the youngest scullery maid would pretend to be a wicked witch keeping Hattie locked up in a cupboard. Whenever they played this game the house even looked like a witch’s cottage, with black walls and twisted little windows.
On the day that the last fruit was picked from the old apple tree it looked like a giant fruit basket, Hattie and her friends spent a happy day throwing the windfall apples at one another, or trying to knock over wooden skittles. As the weather became colder and winter began to set in, the little house was more often like a cosy cottage with shutters on the window, and a magic fire inside that always kept the rooms warm. On these autumn days the princess always found a good book to read by the fireside, and the new costumes in the wardrobe were fluffy and warm. She took to dressing like a great white bear, much to Henry’s amusement, until she made him dress as a grey wolf. The dawn broke one day to reveal a blanket of snow across the castle gardens, and to the delight of the princess her play house appeared to be made entirely from ice. She and Henry waded out through the snow, which only came up to the ankles and entered, they almost slipped on the glass like floors, but in an instant the floors were no longer slippery. The princess dressed up as the Ice Queen from a legend and Henry donned the armour of the Lion King. They played this game all day, pretending to destroy one another’s kingdoms and eventually having a magical dual, where they threw snowballs at each other. As always as the sun began to set, they returned the wooden swords and fancy costumes to the play house before going in for dinner. Princess Hattie was so happy with her gift she hoped that days like this would last for ever.
One evening as the princess’s nursemaid brushed her hair, she noticed a patch that hadn’t grown as long as the rest.
“That’s where Jan-yar took a lock of my hair, to make the magic work with the playhouse. I guess that’s the price for the wonderful magic, that my hair will never grow long on that little bit.” she told the nursemaid.
On a beautiful sunny day in early spring Princess Hattie was made to cry again, this time Henry was going away. His grandfather had died and his father needed to return home to look after their lands, Hattie cried and stamped her feet and demanded that her friend should not go, but the king insisted that he must.
“It’s not fair!” shouted the princess as she stamped her foot. “First you send Jan-yar away and she hasn’t come back yet, now you send away Henry. You mustn’t love me father, because if you did you wouldn’t do such horrible things.”
The king wanted to comfort his daughter, but she went off to her play house and refused to speak to him. Every time the king tried to go inside the door shrank smaller and smaller. That evening when Henry went to say goodbye she would barely speak to him.
“I’m sorry Princess I have to go with my father, when I’m old enough to travel alone I will come back to the castle.”
Hattie didn’t respond, she slammed the door on Henry and ran up to the top of the tallest tower on the play house and watched him and his father ride away from her balcony.
When the spring came again Princess Hattie was back to her old self, she’d found some new children to boss around, and she’d quite forgotten about poor Henry. She broke the first rule of the playhouse that spring, almost by accident. She had been having afternoon tea with some other girls inside and they have been using a silver tea service, one of the spoons had ended up in her pocket. It was only as she was getting ready for bed that her nursemaid found the teaspoon in her pocket, thinking nothing of the silver spoon the servant simply laid it on the side. The princess spotted it as it disappeared, with the last light of day. The next day she tried to imagine a new tea set, this time one of fine china decorated in gold leaf, there were six dainty little tea cups and saucers, a teapot and a milk jug to match. The sugar bowl was solid gold and there were five golden teaspoons with the set. The princess counted again, six cups, six saucers, but only five teaspoons. The teaspoon that she had carelessly left in her pocket was gone forever. Even when she imagined a tea service with twelve cups and saucers, there were only eleven spoons!
For the princess’s 10th birthday the king threw a huge garden party. There were jugglers, magicians, acrobats and dancers, a whole circus in fact. Then there was an amazing picnic feast in the garden, with fairy cakes and jam sandwiches, which were Hattie’s favourites. In the shade of her favourite apple tree, next to the little house she ate almond cakes and drank alcohol free strawberry punch. She decided she liked the strawberry punch and the cakes so much she wouldn’t eat anything else. As it was her birthday, the king and queen let her have as much as she wanted. The next day she demanded almond cake and strawberry punch for breakfast, and didn’t want to eat her porridge or drink her milk. In a furious rage she ran out to her house and found in the kitchen a plate of fresh little almond cakes and a tall glass of strawberry punch. Princess Hattie stayed there all day, eating cake, drinking punch and reading a book when she fancied it. That night she felt very hungry, although she’d been eating all day, for of course the magical food had done nothing to fill her up. When she went into the castle for dinner she didn’t want the roast beef or the vegetables she was offered and when the king refused to give her real almond cakes, she went to bed without a thing. The next day she was rather poorly and had to drink vegetable soup to get her strength back.
Another winter came and that’s when the princess first wished she’d asked for the storybook instead of the play house. The snow fell so heavily that she couldn’t go out into the gardens so she would sit and listen to her nursemaid read her fairy stories. Hattie believed that Jan-yar’s magic story book, would have read to her all by itself and would tell a different story every day, and would probably have amazing pictures as well. The book would have been something she could keep in the castle. When spring arrived, she was so happy to go back to her little house. She hadn’t noticed the doorway getting higher or the ceilings moving up, and her throne in the great hall when the play house became a castle, was always the perfect size. She did notice a few little changes. Once upon a time everything inside had been pink and white, and covered in flower prints. Now that she was nearly 11, they were less garish flowery patterns on everything, the fourposter bed in her fantasy bedroom had purple curtains now which would waft dramatically even on a still day as they were the finest silk.
A few days before Hattie’s 11th birthday the king came to her with news.
“I’ve received a letter from Jan-yar, the business I sent her to complete out in the East has all gone very well,”
“When will she be getting back?” interrupted Hattie.
“That’s the thing my love, she’s not coming back. She fell in love with a sorcerer out there, and they’ve gotten married. She is expecting a child of her own and can’t travel until the child is strong enough to make such a long sea voyage. Jan-yar told me that she is unlikely ever to return to these lands.”
“That can’t be true, she has to come back, she’s my godmother!” The princess shouted the last three words and stamped her foot.
Before the king had a chance to console his daughter, she stormed off to her play house. When she wouldn’t come in for dinner, the nursemaid brought out food on a tray which the princess took in through the open window. As the sun began to set the nursemaid begged Hattie to come back into the castle, but she refused to move. Even though days were long in high summer in the north, the sun eventually set. Hattie knew she shouldn’t sleep in her house, so she tried her hardest to stay awake. She tried counting the stars and even tried to name the different craters on the silver moon, but despite her best efforts she eventually fell asleep.
In the morning the castle gardener entered the walled garden where the little house stood and discovered a horrible sight. It had grown into a tower a hundred feet tall, with sheer walls and no door or windows, at least none near the ground. Also, a black, flowering rose had grown up around the tower making it impossible to put a ladder near the wall. The king summoned the sorcerer who had replaced Jan-yar in her long absence, he scratched his head and tried a fire spell to burn away the roses. Jan-yar had made the house indestructible in her efforts to prevent the princess from accidentally damaging it, she had probably not intended the playhouse to be impervious to magic, but it was. The new sorcerer’s magic fire didn’t burn the roses at all it only scorched the grass around the base of the tower, that had once been the play house.
For three days and nights the king and the queen barely ate or slept as they wandered around the base of the tower, every sorcerer, magician, witch, wizard and conjurer in the land had come to try and put an end to Jan-yar’s magic. Every daring knight and bold adventurer had tried to scale the walls, but they had been stopped in their tracks by the roses. On the morning of the fourth day a message came from Jan-yar, who had been informed at once of this terrible calamity. Her message instructed that the playhouse could be destroyed if the princess’s hair was cut. Specifically, if the hair from where she had taken the lock was cut right back to the scalp and the hairs burnt, the magic of the playhouse would be broken. She also suggested the magic keeping everyone out, could be broken with love. The king redoubled his efforts knowing he loved his daughter, the queen by his side called out too, but to no avail. When the nursemaid suggested that young Henry might have a better chance, he was summoned at once. Henry was already in the castle as he had arrived with his father, when they had received word that something was wrong with Hattie.
Knowing what he must do Henry approached the base of the tower. One of the knights gave him a sword, and another a shield, although at eleven and a half he was barely able to carry them. A sorcerer conjured up a magical helmet, that would reveal enchantments to him. Another gave him a pair of magical boots that would always find sure footing. By the time he reached the tower he was kitted out like an adventurer of old, and carrying so much weight he was barely able to move. To everyone’s surprise a doorway appeared at the bottom of the tower as Henry approached, it was too small for a full-grown man, but Henry squeezed through after he had discarded some of the bulkier items.
Inside was a single spiral staircase going up and up, at first Henry carried his sword and shield, but eventually he left them behind, along with the helmet and the heavy leather boots. By the time he reached the top of the stairs he was wearing only his tunic and leggings and carrying a small dagger at his waist and a pouch that contained matches. Just like something from a fairy-tale, the princess lay on a bed in the single room at the top of the tall tower. Henry’s bare feet made no noise as he walked across the floorboards, the silk curtains on the bed moved gently on a phantom breeze. Leaning over Hattie, Henry realised it had been many years since he had last seen her, and she was changing from the little girl he had known into a pretty young woman. Turning her head to the side he searched for a length of hair that was shorter than the rest, it was hard to find as her hair was all tangled up on the pillow. Being very aware of her slow, steady breathing, Henry began to cut away the golden curls at the bottom right-hand side of her head. Soon he had handfuls of hair, and Hattie was left with a rather large bald spot. Carrying the hair over to the fireplace Henry set a match to it, and it burnt very quickly.
At the moment the last hair fizzled to nothing, a flash of purple flame leapt on to the hearthstone. The flames spread onto the floorboards and ran across the room enveloping the bed and everything else within seconds. Even as Henry rushed over to try and save Hattie, he noticed that while the flames were not hot, the room was getting smaller. Hattie sat up and stared around at the burning room, she hardly recognised Henry as he grabbed her hand and led her down the stairs. The steps didn’t vanish beneath their feet, they just grew smaller and smaller until they were taking four steps, then six steps at a time, then it was barely more than a slope beneath their feet. The door at the base of the tower stood open before them, and they tumbled through onto the summer grass.
When Hattie looked up, she saw a familiar pale face, surrounded by hair as dark as midnight.
“I thought you were not coming back,” she said accusingly.
“I moved the seven winds to bring me here as fast as possible, when I heard you were in danger. But it seems I wasn’t needed after all, the magic was broken without me.”
“That’s not true Lady Jan-yar, you told us how to break the spell in your letter,” panted Henry.
“I’m so glad you’re back Jan-yar, you must never leave again,” ordered Hattie.
“My service to your father is over, I have my husband to return to now,” as she spoke Jan-yar stroked her rounded belly. “Besides Princess you don’t need me anymore, think of all the lessons you’ve learnt in this play house.”
Hettie did think about the lessons she had learnt. She had learnt she should be careful with her things and to treat them with respect as they were precious. She had learnt that having meals with her mother and father were nourishing in a way that went beyond the food, and she had learnt that your best friend is the only one who can save you from a nightmare. She turned to look at Henry properly for the first time, like she had, he had grown much in the years they had been apart. The princess realised that neither of them were going to be children forever and she would be happy being a grown-up with Henry by her side. She turned to thank Jan-yar, but the sorceress was already gone, whisked away by the seven winds back to her home and her family.
The two friends looked at the wreckage that remained of the play house. There was no more magic left, just a wooden one-story house, with a battered door and long dead flowers in the window boxes. Feeling suddenly grown-up Hettie decided she didn’t need a playhouse any longer, she took Henry’s hand, and they smiled at one another.