The Ivy Princess

The Hunt

The bitter sweet chirping of morning birds awoke the Prince from his slumber. He heard the rush of a river nearby. That could turn out to be helpful when he became hungry. His stomach rumbled. "I guess I'm already hungry," he said to himself. He opened up his supplies bag. He had forgotten to check what was in it before dashing off with it. No food but a rotten apple. He took a bite of it and learned quickly that it wasn't worth it. He threw the apple to the ground and continued searching through the bag. Though there wasn't food, there were quite a few tools including a bow, arrows, fishing rod, traps, a wooden knife, and other trinkets. "That river can't be far," he muttered. "Time to go fishing."

The Prince arrived at the river and was thrilled to see fish swimming around in the water. This will be easy, he thought. What he didn't think about was that he hadn't gone fishing a day in his life. He pulled the rod out, nearly stabbing himself with the hook and cast his line into the water. He waited... And waited... And waited... Hours passed and nothing happened. "Why aren't they biting!" He yelled with frustration. What he hadn't realized was that he had forgotten to put bait on the hook. After a couple more hours, he admitted to his failures and decided to find another method for food.

He pulled out the bow from the bag he had slung over his shoulder and prepared an arrow. The Prince was clearly awful at fishing, but he had learned a thing or two about archery. He knew if he could find an animal, he could kill it and right then, he found one. This animal he recognized completely. He had learned in his studies about a magical species of deer called the double-headed buck. He knew this had to be it. Knowing this, he lowered his bow and turned back. Not only was this species endangered, but there were only twelve left in all the country.

As he was walking back, the Prince remembered the traps he had perfectly stored in his bag. Before he went to bed, he gathered some berries that he knew were safe and set a net trap in the trees. His horse grazed on grass so he didn't worry about feeding him. After a dinner consisting berries and plants, he fell back asleep on his grassy patch and awaited the morning.