The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince

Thankful Goats

  The meat turned out perfectly! The goats were utterly delighted and immediately ate all of it. "Cooked meat is amazing, mah!"

  "Thanks. You helped us, mah. We almost starved to death, mah." One of the goats said, thanking the two.

  "I'm glad! Can we stay here tonight?" the princess asked.

  "Of course, mah! It's a little dirty and overrun by mushrooms though, mah." The goats took them into their home.

The long day finally came to a close. The prince was exhausted and dozed off, but the nocturnal wolf could not sleep.

  The restless wolf wandered outside the cabin and found one of the goats chasing a rabbit. The rabbit ran swiftly and nimbly, and the goat was unable to catch it.

  "Oh, hi wolf. Hunting's hard, mah. But you got so much meat in a blink of an eye. You're pretty good, mah!" the goat said, innocently praising the wolf's hunting skills.

  The wolf shrugged off the compliment. She was worried the prince would overhear the goat calling her a wolf. While she tried to cut the conversation short...

  "Oh, that human... Is he emergency rations, mah?" the goat asked frankly, which startled the wolf, "Not a bad idea. Maybe we should start doing that so we won't starve again, mah. Uh, but if I were you, I'd get a fatter human. He's so skinny, he'd be a midnight snack, mah."

  Normally, the wolf would engage in this banter, as eating humans was common amongst monsters. But now that she was traveling with the prince, she became alarmed at the goat's words.

  "No, no! The prince isn't like that!" the wolf inadvertently denied. The goat didn't let her blunder go unnoticed.

  "Hmm? Could it be...? You want to get along with humans, mah?!" The wolf knew the goat knew the truth, but she refused to admit it and kept quiet, "You know it's impossible for monsters and humans to get along."

  It sounded as if she couldn't be friends with the prince. The wolf opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. "You hear of it too, don't you, mah? Monsters gobbling up humans, humans killing monsters, mah..." The wolf hung her head as the goat continued.

  "No good will come from this, mah. But you did save us, so if it's something you really want, I'll support you. Good luck, mah." The goat returned to the cabin.

  The wolf curled up and tried to sleep as the goat's words replayed endlessly in her mind. She felt uneasy ; up until then, she'd been happy to hold the prince's hand as the princess, believing there was nothing to fear. But her true form was a monster that the prince hated. And he still didn't know that she was the one who had blinded him. If he EVER found out...

  "It'll be okay," the wolf told herself, "If I can just keep this up a bit longer..." She didn't sleep that night.

The next morning...

  The princess and the prince left the cabin. The goats thanked them again and prayed for their safe travels. "Good luck, mah. Don't eat him by accident!" said the goat the wolf had talked to the night before. The prince didn't understand, but she did.

  "I won't eat him..." the princess thought. Needing to calm her anxious heart, she pulled the prince's hand and set off again.