The gentle knocking at the large, oaken door startled the prince, but only for a second. He got up, quietly, and made his way to the doors.
The visitor knocked again, more urgently this time.
The prince, with his great strength, pulled open the mighty, heavy door to see a shady figure wrapped in rags.The figure, with a ragged female voice, asked for shelter in the storm that was now apon them. The prince had not noticed the heavy sheets of sleet and rain pounding outside, for he was too busy with his endless boredom, trying to balance a pin on a crooked table. It had not worked so far.
He gazed into the woods that surrounded his home, the thick trees that had lived for hundreds of years, then looked back at the woman. Without notice, he ripped off the hood that revealed an old woman, with her white hair in a knot, sunken cheeks, and dark bags under her eyes.
And he started to laugh.
Strong, deep laughter echoed in the damp stone hall, so strong that it broke the old woman’s heart, stomping it flat into splinters.
But with every laugh, she became angrier, and angrier until she started shouting a curse, a curse that would doom the young prince forever, but at the last moment, she took pity.
And tweaked the curse a bit.
Now, a greenish yellow cloud appeared from her pointed finger, and like a snake, it coiled around the prince like an anaconda to its prey. Instead of the humor, fear as cold as stone replaced it, and a single scream escaped his lips before he kneeled over. A strange sensation overpowered him, along with the smell of grass and milk. The odd combination of the two comforted him.
The old woman had transformed too, and instead of an ancient, hunched lady, a beautiful young woman appeared. With curly, dark hair, skin as pale as snow and long, red nails, she outdid the old woman. She glared at the prince and nodded, satisfied, then disappeared in a flash of rose-colored light.
The prince reached out his hand, willing her to come back, but no one came. He clenched his fist, vowing that if he ever saw her again, he would give the order to throw her in jail.
But his fist did not clench.
In horror, he got a good look at his hand.
And screamed.
But what came out of his lips, frozen with fear
was a surprised ‘MOO!’