Free The Fairy's Return and Other Princess Tales by Gail Carson Levine Page A

Lorelei’s hand. “Will you marry me?”
    â€œOh dear. Yes, I’ll marry you. We’ll need hot water. Does your stomach ache?” she asked the boy.
    He nodded.
    â€œDid you sleep or rest well last night, Princess Lorelei?” the king asked. He had to know, even though everything had gotten confused or mixed up.
    â€œNo,” Lorelei said. “I couldn’t get comfortable. So I slept on the floor.”
    â€œThe pea!” said the queen.
    â€œThe pea or bean,” said the king.
    â€œDarling!” said the prince.

Epilogue
    L orelei cured the woodcutter’s son. King Humphrey and Queen Hermione gave their consent or permission to the marriage of Prince Nicholas and Princess Lorelei.
    On their wedding day Nicholas wore a doublet embroidered with parsley, a shirt embroidered with tape measures, and hose embroidered with noodles. Lorelei’s hood and veil were embroidered with tuna fish. Her bodice was embroidered with green peas, and her skirt and train were embroidered with tiny mattresses.
    Trudy (who was perfectly safe, of course) was furious that she hadn’t gotten rid of Lorelei. But when she moved into the castle, the other Royal Servants showed her the good side of serving a bunch of persnickety monarchs. She learned to agree with them over a dinner of cream of asparagus soup, venison crown roast, and twelve-layer mocha-raspberry cake.
    When Sam returned from the earldom of Pildenue, he moved into the palace too. He never understood exactly how Lorelei had become a princess. And he couldn’t for the life of him understand why everyone called him Lord Blacksmith. But he liked living in a palace and shoeing the king’s wonderful horses.
    So they all lived happily ever after.

One
    W hat a hideous baby, the fairy Arabella thought. She said, “My gift to Sonora is beauty.” She touched the baby’s yellow squooshed-up face with her wand.
    The baby began to change. Her scrawny arms and legs became plump, and her blotchy yellow skin turned pink. Her pointy head became round. Honey-colored ringlets appeared on her scalp.
    Ouch! It hurt to have your body change shape and to grow hair on your head in ten seconds. Sonora wailed.
    King Humphrey II of Biddle thought, Why did the fairy do that? As his first-born child—as his lovey dovey oodle boodle baby—she had been fine the way she was. But he bowed low to the fairy. “Thank you, Arabella. What a wonderful gift.” A person could get into a lot of trouble for failing to thank a fairy.
    Queen Hermione II picked up the yowling baby and cuddled her. Then she curtsied deeply and thanked the fairy too, even though she wanted to wail along with her daughter. Sonora looks six months old, the queen thought. I wanted to watch her grow.
    Gradually Sonora stopped crying, and her mother put her back into the gilded cradle. Time for the second fairy gift.
    The fairy Allegra waved her wand over the baby. “I give Sonora the gift of a loving heart.”
    Something was happening again, Sonora realized. But this was better. This didn’t hurt. She pictured the tall being and the soft being who fed her and held her and made noises to her. They were nice! She loved them! She said, “Goo,” and blew a wet bubble.
    Adorable! King Humphrey II thought.
    Sweet! Queen Hermione II thought.
    â€œMy turn!” The fairy Adalissia stepped up to the cradle.
    Adalissia gave Sonora gracefulness. Then the fairy Annadora gave her good health, and the fairy Antonetta made her the smartest human in the world.
    Not much changed when Sonora got good health, since she was healthy already. And not much changed when she got gracefulness, because month-old babies don’t have much opportunity to be graceful. But something did happen when Antonetta made her a smart person. Sonora listened more closely when the nice beings thanked the fairy. She noticed her own name and knew that she’d heard it before.
    Aurora,