I’ll spare you the details of how Princess Xingxin journeyed through the land with her entourage. Just know that it wasn’t easy and there had been a few encounters with Pixiu and Nine-Tailed Foxes and that Her Majesty routed them all with great skill and aplomb.
Now the time had come. The Princess and her men stood outside the gates of the sleeping beast. They could hear it snoring in its cave, and the men quaked with fear at the horrible sound it made.
General Panwei, ever brave and loyal, stood beside the Princess. “So here we are,” he said. “Now what?”
“Well, we’re here. We might as well.” The Princess drew herself up to her full height and called into the cave. “Ogre!” she called. “Wake up! I’m here!”
By and by the ogre awoke, and out of the cave he stepped. He made the earth tremble with every step. “Fee fi fo--et cetera. Who knocks at my”--he yawned--”gate?”
The Princess announced herself. “I’ve come to fight you.”
“Why?” He blinked his large green eyes in the sun.
“Well, didn’t you want me to?”
“No,” he grumbled. “Who said I did?”
“Our prophetess did!” She drew her sword. It caught a sunbeam and shone in the monster’s eye. He squinted.
“I haven’t spoken to any of those lately.”
***
Back home: the kingdom had fallen to chaos without its ruler, and in their desperation the people had turned to Kang Kai’s son for guidance. He was, after all, the son of a wise woman and the Princess’s royal cousin. Who else would they look to?
You see, Kang Kai truly was a wise woman, and a wily one at that. She knew that the headstrong princess would never turn down an adventure.
Kang Kai counted on the journey to be long and perilous, so there would be more than enough time to destabilize the economy and sow chaos and let her son take the throne.
It was a beautiful plan, really. Very clever, she told herself. But Kang Kai did not count on one thing...
***
Back at the ogre’s home. The Princess and the General sat with the ogre, who had the very strange name of Frank. Frank made a wonderful cup of tea.
“Look. I’m just an ogre, but it sounds to me like you two’ve been taken for a bit of a ride.” He refilled the Princess’ tea cup, and very genteelly spooned exactly the right amount of honey into it.
“It would appear so, friend Frank,” General Panwei said. “You’ve been very kind. But I’m afraid, Princess, that we must return to our kingdom. I think there’s treason afoot”
“Wait a moment. I think I’ve got something that will help.” Frank stood up, holding up a finger. “One second.” He rummaged around in his cave (which, you will be surprised to hear, was very cozy and well decorated), then returned with an egg the size of the Princess’s head.
“Put this into a fire. She’ll help you get back to your kingdom much faster than a horse. No offense, horse.” The horse neighed.
“She?” the Princess wondered but did as she was told. By and by the egg cracked, and out came a fully formed dragon--a baby dragon, all told, the size of a horse. It yawned and looked at the Princess, and gave her a friendly lick on her face.
After they’d made their introductions (of course), the Princess mounted the baby dragon’s back, turned to the ogre and said, “Thank you, my friend. I will repay you one day for your kindness.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Frank said. “Just do come visit again.”
To her General, the Princess said, “I’ll see you back home. I suspect I’ve got some cleaning up to do.” And with that the Princess and the dragon soared out of the cave and into the sky.
There would be a great battle, the Princess knew. One that she would thoroughly enjoy.
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