Prince Benjamin and the Elf part Two

Saying for the Day-Destiny has two ways of crushing us - by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.Henri Frederic Amiel

If you didn’t read yesterdays blog please scroll down and do so or else today’s blog will make even less sense. Here as Paul Harvey is want to say is the rest of the story.
The years went by and poor Benjamin remained third in line for the thrown of Inner Bohemia. Day after day he waited for the magic that would make him King of Outer Bohemia but it either wasn’t coming or was very slow. It seems that speed is not a requirement of Elfin magic. Every time he checked Reginald Grumpus the Sixth was still King of Outer Bohemia and his daughter Marigold , an only child and according to local legend the result of elfin magic, was the only heir to the thrown.
When Benjamin turned twenty one his father and mother decided that the United States, now in the grips of the Isolationist President Hilary the First, could no longer be trusted to defend them. They needed to cement their relationship to Outer Bohemia so that they could resist any external threat together. One cements relationships between Kingdoms not with cement but with marriage. They knew that King Grumpus was looking to step down and was desperately trying to find a suitable husband for his daughter. Outer Bohemia it seemed needed a King as well as a Queen.
So they proposed a marriage between Prince Benjamin and Princess Marigold. One would have thought they would have suggested Prince Fredrick but he felt that it would be too hard to be King of two countries at one time ( they don’t make Princes like they used to). The next choice would have been Prince Joseph but he had gone to America to study and never came back. They didn’t even know where he was. There was a rumor that he was managing a McDonalds somewhere near Chicago but that was just a rumor.
So the task of providing Kingdom cement fell to Benjamin who was more than happy to oblige. He saw it as the fulfillment of his elfin wish.
After all the proper paper work was completed , and cementing relationships by marriage takes a ton of paperwork, the great day arrived. CBS and NBC carried the event live for though Americans don’t want a King they really love to watch royal marriages on television. King Grumpus sold them the joint right to telecast the event and provided them the use of Outer Bohemia’s one satellite. He also agreed that the entire event would be in English rather than Outer Bohemian ( he didn’t tell them nobody speaks Outer Bohemian any more except to tourists).
True to the greatest of Royal traditions Benjamin was not permitted to see the bride before the wedding. But he didn’t care. She was not important. Love was not important. Being King was important. And he would be King.
On the day of the wedding Prince , soon to be King, Benjamin rode to the Cathedral in a silver coach and Princess Marigold rode in a golden one. Hundreds of American women and thousands of American girls would dream of those coaches. Oddly enough not a single American boy would have such dreams. Who wants to be King when you can grow up and become the manager of McDonalds?
The Archbishop Philipp Melanchthon presided over the ceremony. The combined choirs of Inner and Outer Bohemia sang the liturgical parts. It was the most beautiful royal wedding ever televised. It got as high a rating as the Super Bowl but then it came at a time just after football season ended and what else was there to do?
Then came the moment Benjamin had waited for. The Archbishop pronounced them man and wife. Now for the first time he would see his bride. The archbishop pulled back the veil and said “ you may kiss the bride”.
That’s when Benjamin learned he should have listened to his mother. O! he would be King but he would also be married to the ugliest woman in the world for the rest of his life. You can always count on Elfen magic.
#### News from Pigeon Falls-The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal .Petrovich passed out copies of his translation of driblet 97 which reads as follows:
I saw the city of the birds and people were very happy. My heart rejoiced for them. But then I saw the trees move. Back trees I said but they did not go back. They moved and moved. Now the people are no longer happy. There is weeping and crying. People are afraid.
This is a horrible vision but it goes on. The people are starving but the whirly birds come and drop food. Never have I seen such birds.
Now one drops something. It looks like it will lift people out of the city. I rejoice for they are saved. But wait a vine shoots out and the whirly bird crashes to the ground. They are not saved. I can not stand the vision. Be gone evil forest be gone. But it does not go.
But I see a light. There is a big tree with a hole. There is a box. A voice says “ Open the box and the trees will go away”
A man comes and reaches for the box but he falls to the ground and is dragged away.
A voice says only “one who is pure of heart may open the box“.
People are crying. The preacher comes. They drag her away.
I can take no more.
Be gone O evil vision.
Be gone.
The prophet awakens.
*****

Today's Link-FinaDrea-The adventure of putting the kid to bed.
It started out as a good day. I bloged. Betty and I got the eBay sales from yesterday mailed out. I worked in the basement. Betty drove out and did a variety of things. All was going well until I blew a fuse. Well I thought I threw a circuit breaker but none of them was thrown. But all the basement outlets are down. I can't find out why. I am not very good at that sort of thing. They will stay down until Monday when I can get some body in to look at them. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA