While Olivia and Ian were walking, Ian noticed that he and Olivia were feeling hot. They had entered the summer kingdom! The summer kingdom was known for its silliness, and court jester was a great honor to have, it was the best job in town. Olivia and Ian walked towards a man. "Excuse me, sir," said Olivia, "Could you tell me what's going on in town?" "Everyone's lining up for the big contest," said the man, "If they can get Princess Amanda to laugh, they will. Princess Amanda never laughs, grins, or chuckles, so they're just trying to make her laugh, like me." "Well, maybe she just doesn't feel like laughing," said Olivia, "Don't you know where you are?" the man asked. They realized it was the summer kingdom!" "I, Ricky Riddles, have signed up too!" said the man. "The contest is about to start!"
And so, the jester came and said, "Her Majesty, Princess Amanda! All rise!" They all rose up, as Princess Molly sat down. The jester introduced each contestant, who told her three jokes, but the Princess wouldn't laugh. Finally, it was Ricky's turn. "The Princess prefers intellectual humor," said Olivia, "Trust me!" "Okay," said Ricky, "What word becomes shorter, when you add two letters to it?" Ricky asked. "I don't know," said he Princess. "It's the word 'short'," said Ricky, because if you add 'er', it becomes shorter!" Princess Amanda began to laugh. "What type of joke is that?" she asked, "It's called a riddle!" said Ricky.
"What is your name?" asked the Princess. "Ricky Riddles!" said Ricky. "Then we'll call your joke a 'riddle', and you become my court jester and you can tell me riddles!" After Ricky told the Princess another riddle, she said, "Three cheers for Ricky Riddle!", and everyone cheered. "From this day forward, you shall be known as Jester Riddles!" said Princess Amanda.
"I couldn't have done it without my dear friends, Olivia and Ian," said Ricky. "Olivia and Ian," said the Princess, "What a pleasure to meet you. Any friend of a court jester is my friend. In fact, you're welcome to stay at the castle!" "I wish we could," said Olivia, "But we have to find our pen pal, who's been taken by the Snow Queen. What should we do?" "The summer kingdom will help you," said Princess Amanda, "We'll give you a carriage to take the path north and stick to the road ahead of you. And you'll enter the Autumn Forest. There are reindeer that live there. Come on, the snow Queen can't mess with the summer."
