peggy

Collection of Esperian fairy tales "Adventures of a little prankster", chapter 10. Once upon a time there was a mischievous animal… His name was Raku, and his house was a hollow tree known as the "Sheltered Shell"... "Daddy, you've already told me that!" the little girl exclaimed. She really wanted to listen to a bedtime story. An old red cat was curled up in her arms, sleeping. "Okay, baby, I'll tell you a new fairy tale," the father patted his daughter's cheek. — About the princess." Once upon a time there was a princess named Peggy. Yes, yes, the same princess from the story about Cancer. She had just celebrated her birthday, crept quietly into the bedroom and locked the door behind her. Removing the curtains and sheets, she tore them up and tied them up. It turned out to be a long rope, which she lowered out through the window. "Come on!" said Peggy to the Cancer, who was sleeping in the wardrobe. She woke him up: "Everyone is asleep, no one will see us!" "Go? Where to go?" grumbled Raku, opening his eyes. After all, he had only recently arrived here, and his head was as if in a fog. "To your home! Run a race with walking stones! Cook magic mushroom soup! Let's catch this Rowan and beat him!" "Daddy! — the girl said suddenly. "Is she talking about my uncle Rowan?" "Baby, it doesn't matter at all," the father couldn't help but smile. "Whoever that Rowan is, the fairy tale is not about him." Peggy hung the seashell she had given to the Crayfish on her belt, tying it with another piece of cloth just in case. "Can we go to the beach? I've never been to the sea!" Raku scratched his stomach. To be honest, he was fine here too. There were a lot of goodies here, and sleeping on clothes in the closet was very warm and comfortable — much better than on dry straw in a Secluded shell. Clutching his head with his paws, he thought it over carefully and decided that friendship was more important. Stretching, Raku lazily crawled out of the wardrobe. "Okay, I'm with you! Only first... — Raku licked his lips. — What do you say is the name of that soft thing that we ate at your party?" When Raku returned from the kitchen, his "transparent cages" hanging on his stomach were filled with cream cakes, and another piece was in his mouth. Now he was ready to go. He followed Peggy out of the window and down the rope. It was dark outside, and not a sound could be heard in the entire palace. Nothing but the clanking of the armor of the guards on duty. Peggy's sheets and curtains turned out to be strong enough, but the rope was still a little weak for two, besides, she began to sway a lot. But Raku also had a very big dinner. Peggy hadn't gotten down yet when the rope finally snapped. The couple fell to the ground with a crash. A guard standing nearby immediately hurried to the noise. However, his footsteps quickly subsided, he never found the fugitives. The couple quickly climbed over the wall and left the palace. They were rushing towards greater peace and freedom. The world outside the palace was really big, much bigger than Peggy had imagined. The borders of the Twilight Forest were enveloped in a thick fog, in which the trees dissolved. Raku told Peggy that they don't like strangers here and that anyone who finds himself in the fog has visions generated by forest magic that make uninvited guests turn back. Raku patted his chest and announced: "Peggy is my friend. In the Twilight Forest, they love friends! Stick with me and everything will be fine! One thing only… Don't eat what you find on the ground, ESPECIALLY mushrooms." That's when it all happened: one moment Peggy goes for the Cancer, and the next she's already lost. A thick fog enveloped her. She couldn't see anything and didn't understand where she was. "What are you doing here, my daughter-in-law?" Rowan, from the marriage with which Peggy fled, suddenly came out of the fog. He got down on one knee in front of her and handed her a bouquet of flowers. "Let's go home. A wonderful wedding is waiting for us!" Without a second's hesitation, Peggy slapped Rowan two hard slaps in the face. "No one is going to marry you, you pathetic little man! The more she thought about it, the more angry she became, and each of her next blows was stronger than the previous one. When the illusion dissipated, it turned out that she had knocked off the heads of a dozen sunflowers, and her palms began to hurt. "Your Highness, behave yourself!" A new phantom emerged from the fog. This time it was Peggy's etiquette teacher, an old maid with a perpetually sour face. "You can't crumple your skirt like that! You can't be so angry about every little thing! Take smaller steps! That's the only way ladies of royal blood behave." Peggy stuck her tongue out at her mentor and made a face. On the way here, the princess walked through the mud, then through dense thickets. Realizing that the skirt was not very suitable for such occasions, she tied it higher and rushed at the phantom mentor. After passing through it, Peggy only sank deeper into the fog. After taking only a couple of steps, she buried her face in the minister's swaying belly. The girl immediately recoiled from him and fell. "People need a smart and decent princess. Peggy hated this minister. He was always coming up with a bunch of rules for everyone, but he never followed them himself. He survived: "Please stop disappointing your father." Peggy was really angry. She frowned and wanted to curse the vile minister when suddenly another figure appeared out of the fog. The king of the light bearers, her father. "Ah... father..." Seeing her father, Peggy was speechless. She immediately drooped and began to straighten her skirt with trembling hands. "My daughter, why did you run away from the castle to such a place? How have I offended you? He didn't seem mad at her at all. — Why all this?" Why? It seems that all adults just love to ask this question. Peggy couldn't answer it, but she didn't really understand why she needed to answer it. Clenching her fists, she straightened up and puffed out her cheeks, ready to vent all her rage: "But there's no need! What's it to you?" A gust of wind swept through the forest and scattered the fog. Together with him, the etiquette teacher, the vile minister, and the king disappeared into thin air. Finally, the Twilight Forest appeared to the girl's eyes for certain. Walking stones, breathing mushrooms, bright shells on the beach and, most importantly, the sea! "Daddy, the father of the princess is so bad! He won't let her play and forces her to marry someone she doesn't even know! He's completely stupid!" — the girl got angry because of how unfair the life of the princess in the fairy tale was, but her anger quickly passed. Yawning, she stroked the cat and said: "I already want to sleep!" "Wait, baby, the fairy tale is not over yet!" — the father objected and continued the story. Peggy was in a hurry to get to the sea, but she had no idea that the imperial guards were hiding in the woods nearby and, whispering, watching her every move. "Don't sleep on duty. The king ordered to secretly protect the princess!" "Thank you and your soup of toadstools — it's necessary, it seemed to me that we were dancing upside down with sheep! If it wasn't for that butterfly girl, we would have stayed in this terrible dream! "Be quiet, don't scare the princess away!" "Wait a minute, there's a raccoon up there in the tree… It seems he noticed us..." "Xpp..." The little girl finally fell asleep and was now snoring in an embrace with the cat. Her father smiled. He recorded many legends, fairy tales and epic tales about heroes and their exploits. He wrote great music, but lately in the evenings he only wanted to tell his daughter good fairy tales so that she would sleep soundly. After extinguishing the candle, he covered the sleeping girl and left the room.