Free Princess without a Palace: A King Thrushbeard Fairy Tale by Kristen Niedfeldt

all of her thoughts on finding a way out of this
arrangement.
    She was definitely grateful for
Roderick’s friendship, but she simply couldn’t afford to develop deeper
feelings toward him. 
    She wrenched the blankets from off her
face as Maria barged into the hut with an overflowing pail of fresh goat’s
milk.
    “I see you’re still lounging the morning
away.”
    “I was just about to get up,” Liesel
answered, rising to her feet.
    “Your breakfast is on the table.”
    Liesel walked over to see an almost
empty pot of cold porridge.
    “Have you and Roderick already eaten?”
    “Roderick had to leave early today. He
left you a note,” Maria remarked as she pulled a slip of paper from the pocket
of her apron.
    Liesel accepted it and walked to the
window to read it in the early morning light.
     
    Good morning, Liesel. I hope you are
feeling better today. I’m off to find some other work for you to do. I should
return by nightfall. Please rest today and let your hands heal.  –Roderick.
     
    Liesel wondered how she would ever pass
the day away as she ate her breakfast in silence. The day would last forever
without anything to do or anyone to talk to. 
    After finishing off the last of the
porridge, she walked to the water basin to rinse the bowl, but Maria took it
from her hands.
    “I can wash it,” Liesel protested.
    “But you won’t know where to put it
away.”
    “If you’ll only show me, I’ll do it.”
    “Don’t trouble yourself,” Maria replied
as she scrubbed the pot clean. “After all, we wouldn’t want your hands
completely falling apart, now would we?”
    Liesel’s eyes narrowed. 
    Her fists clenched and she wished she
could simply will her hands to be stronger. The impatience to prove herself was
beginning to be overwhelming.
    Maria looked over with raised eyebrows.
“Are you just going to watch me work all day?”
    Liesel’s face reddened and she stammered,
“No, I … I was just about to go outside.”
    She hurried from the hut and wondered
how she would manage to avoid Maria all day. There was just nowhere to go, she
lamented. But the small quarters weren’t necessarily the problem. She had a feeling
that the hut could have been a palace and it still would have been too small to
contain the two of them.
     

     
    Liesel was relieved when it turned out
that she wouldn’t have to wait all day for Roderick to return. As the sun
reached its noonday peak, Roderick strolled back behind the hut with a handcart
in tow stacked high with clay pitchers, pots and vases.
    The soft clanking sounds of the pottery
jostling back and forth roused Liesel from her nap behind the barn. She sat up
and quickly brushed off all of the scattered grass from her hair and dress
before she walked out to meet him.
    “What is this?” she asked, nodding to
his new collection.
    “I made a few trades with a craftsman to
procure these pots. Now you’ll have something to sell.”
    Liesel looked around at the rural
landscape surrounding them. “There’s no one to sell them to.”
    “Not here. At the marketplace,” he
clarified.
    “In the city?”
    “Where else?”
    Liesel shook her head. “No, thank you. I
think I’d rather spin wool.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    She began marching back to the barn.
    “Where did you put the spinning wheel?”
Liesel called back over her shoulder. “I think with my hands wrapped, I’ll be
just fine.”
    Roderick ran to catch up with her.
    “You can’t spin with your fingers all
wrapped together,” he argued logically. He pulled on her elbow to bring her to
a halt. “Why don’t you want to sell the pottery?” 
    Liesel waved a hand toward his new
collection. “Can’t you return those pots for whatever you traded for them?”
    “No.”
    She folded her arms and met his stubborn
stare. “I’m not going to the marketplace.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’m just not going. Give me any task or
chore here and I’ll do it, but I’m not going there.”
    “You don’t have