who both appreciated my last offering.
Once upon a time there was a handsome Prince. He was happy, loved life, was kind to others, and his favourite occupation was to ride on horseback about his father`s kingdom chatting to his father`s subjects. One day, however, as he was returning to the palace, his horse stumbled and knocked over an elderly witch. The witch was furious, and cursed him, saying "Your favourite occupation is chatting to your father`s subjects, but from tomorrow morning you will only be able to utter one word every year".
The Prince laughed, and continued on his way, thinking it was a load of nonsense. The next morning, however, when his valet asked him which clothes he wanted to wear the Prince found he could only say "The", and not another word could he utter.
Unfortunately, in those days, only Bishops, Monks and scholars could read and write, so the poor Prince had no means of communication open to him.
For the rest of that year the poor Prince was speechless, and all he could think about was which word he would say the next year, and when he would say it. But as the New Year approached, he thought "Perhaps if I don`t say anything next year I can save up my one word, and then the year after I shall be able to say two words", so for the next year he remained speechless, and at the end of that year he realised that two words were hardly worth saying anyway, so he decided to remain speechless for yet another year and have three words saved up.
One day, as he was riding about the kingdom, he saw a most beautiful girl - with long fair hair, sparkling blue eyes, and the most luscious of rosy red lips - and was greatly attracted to her, and although he could not speak (apart from the three words he had saved up) he took every opportunity to be in her company, while she, in her turn, was charmed by this handsome young Prince who never spoke but was so attentive to her. For the rest of that year this situation continued, until the Prince realised that he was deeply in love with the girl, and wanted to tell her so. Unfortunately he had (by now) still only saved up four words, and he didn`t think that he could do full justice to his feelings towards her with only four words, so he decided to save up for another year or two.
Two years later, the Prince realised that he loved the girl so much that he could not live unless he could persuade the girl to marry him, but to express his love and propose to her would take more than six words, so he decided to save up for another three years until he had nine words to use. Although the years dragged, he managed to contain his impatience, and at the start of the tenth year he went to see the girl again, and when once they were alone, he knelt down before her, took her hand in his, and said "My Darling, I love you, will you marry me?". And the beautiful young maiden turned those sparkling blue eyes towards him, and opened those luscious rosy red lips and smiled, and said
"Pardon?"
