The Ereri Project!

Rock (FairyTale)

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there lived a prince who was the only child of the King and Queen who ruled.

Prince Eren had begged his parents for seasons to allow him to be married, but so worried were they for him, as he was their only child, they were very strict about who they would allow him to court.

Eren brought home many kind young men and ladies but without fail his parents put them through one stupid, unwinnable test. They placed a pea on the bed beneath twenty mattresses and asked them to stay over.

In the morning his mother would ask how they slept and they would be asked to leave when their answer was, "Fine, thank you."

Eren grew tired of his parents' stupid game, but was unable to tell them to stop. It would break his heart to hurt their feelings in such a way, so he waited and went along with it.

One day when the young prince went into the village for a walk, he came across a young man working as a glassblower. "Excuse me," he said. "But I do believe we have never met before."

The glassblower looked up at him with a cautious smile. "It would not have surprised me if we had never met before my dying day, your royal highness."

"Tis a shame," Eren says, smiling. "It would have been a crime for me to never have lain eyes on a face such as yours."

The glassblower blushed. "If you're not here to buy anything, I'd thank you to leave. If anyone sees you're here they'll flock in and break my wares."

"Even if they did, I'd pay you back for all of it," Eren replies. "But since I'm here, I ought to buy something." On a shelf in the corner, is a glass flower; a rose. "I'll take this," says the prince. "And your name."

"My name is Levi, your highness."

"Call me Eren."

When Eren goes home that night, he leaves the glass rose by his bedside and dreams of the beautiful glassblower.

For many days, he goes to visit that young man and they become close.

When he comes home late one night, his mother asks, "My gentle son, where have you been running off to day after day?"

"Nowhere, dearest mother," he replies, but his expression gives away how giddy he's been.

"You've met someone, haven't you?" his father asks.

"I cannot lie, father, I have met someone; a glassblower boy who lives in the village."

"Oh?" he mother asks. "Bring him here, your father and I will test him."

Eren covers how his cringes and nods. "Yes, mother."

When he brings Levi to the castle the following night, the raven haired man is in complete awe. "I've never been somewhere so nice," he says.

"If my parents like you, you might get to see these sights every day."

Levi blushes and Eren escorts him to the dining room. Toward the end of dinner, the Queen looks toward Eren. "My dear, would you be so kind as to make sure our guest's bed is prepared, I'm feeling a bit tired this evening."

He nods and leaves them, making his way to the guest room across the hall from his own. Earlier in the day, he hid a large rock in the wardrobe. With much effort, he rolled it beneath the lowest mattress and sat on top to make sure he could feel it. "Perfect," he said, smiling.

The next morning, over breakfast, the Queen asked Levi, "How did you sleep, my dear?"

"Terrible," Levi replied. "Like there was a boulder under my bed."

The Queen smiled and nodded to her husband and then to Eren. Eren, giddy and triumphant, held Levi's hand under the table.

And they lived happily ever after!