A day at the Castle
Once upon a time, on an island, far, far away, lived a little princess. And there to teach and guard the princess was a fine knight.
One day, in this distant land, the knight took the little princess to visit a castle. They rode upon a magical coach that traveled under the ground. The knight and the princess had never seen a castle like this one before.
They entered through magical doors that opened at their approach. It was a strange castle that had a moat, not around the castle, but rather atop. And, instead of deep murky water with scary things such as spiders and snakes and alligators, the water was clear, and shallow. And in this water were other little princesses; and little princes as well. And under the canopy of the fairgrounds stood and sat other knights and ladies fair watching and caring for their charges.
The knight paid the gatekeepers (twins, of course) to enter the elevated courtyard that contained the moat. The knight noted that his little princess was the fairest in the land and in the water. Being a knight and watching after a little but very busy princess took its toll on the knight, who needed a drink. In the courtyard, stood a magical market that dispensed strange brews. So the knight acquired a kokakola (Coca Cola). And for the princess, he bought a sutoroberi furapachino (strawberry frappuccino). Fortunately the magical market was a vending machine and didn’t care how badly the knight butchered the language in this strange land.
The princess, who misses nothing, observed that a large turret rose next to the moat. The knight scaled the wall with his princess to find another gatekeeper. The princess was prepared and uttered the magical words, “san sai,” which means “I am three.” The princess spoke the language of this gatekeeper and nodded knowingly to the decrees of this gate keeper. Just beyond this gatekeeper laid a vast series of obstacles where young princes and princesses could measure their dexterity and bravery. This test commenced with not one, but two vast and apparently bottomless pits. The princess though was able to make it through these pits by carefully balancing herself on small bubbles that covered the top of the pit.
Past the pit was a forest with lianas to swing on and maneuver through. Beyond the forest (free of R.O.U.S.) were intertwined webbed terraces, which if orchestrated correctly, led to a vast labyrinth in the sky. The princess was having some difficulty, but managed to find the openings in the webbing that allowed her to go higher and reach the labyrinth. Once in the labyrinth, the princess had to pick tubes to go through, bridges to cross and other such obstacles. Danger lurked everywhere and occasionally as if through a trap door, the young princess would slide down to the ground. Over and over she scaled, crawled, searched and slid.
The ever observant knight noted that while his princess was meeting each challenge, not all of the princesses faired as well. One small princess, who was accompanied by a very short queen, became stuck while scaling the webbed terraces. The short queen was paralyzed in fear, unable to leave her princess to seek help, unable to get to her princess; and her princess unable to get unstuck.
The knight realized that no one else was helping. He feared that they all spoke the same language and that the gatekeeper had put them all under a spell to do the same thing at the same time and above all to always, always, always follow the rules. The knight, fortunately did not speak the language of this castle, and subsequently did not feel the need to abide by the rules of this tournament as they were laid out by the gatekeeper. So the knight did what he has always done. Being a rebel and rule breaker at heart, he first smiled. Then he repeated the mantra that was emblazed upon his shield, “He who is a man, must be a non-conformist.”
The knight then did the unthinkable; he leapt a shrubbery, dashed through the forest and quickly arrived at the stranded princess’s side. Sadly, a large thick and nearly impenetrable spider web lay between the knight and the stranded princess. The prince was somewhat relieved to find that the cobweb had been spun by the rare nylon spider that spins its web into perfect squares. The knight managed to get his hand through one of the squares and finally got his arm through to the foot of the stranded princess. But the princess was not a little stuck, but a lot stuck. So the noble knight had to get both arms through the web, one to pull down on the intertwined webbing that the princess’s foot had gone through, and the other to push up on her foot. The little princess immediately stopped crying; the short queen was setting a new record for holding her breath while not swimming in a moat.
Having freed the young princess, the knight reversed his tracks hoping to avoid an encounter with any of the gatekeepers, who would surely reprimand him for having not followed the rules. As the knight emerged, the short queen bowed repeatedly speaking words of thanks that could be understood on any language. He smiled in reply. Then his smile grew as he noted that his princess was about ready to drop through one of the trap doors and slide back down to the ground.
The princess was tired from her day of adventure and requested to return home via the magical coach that traveled under the ground. The princess slept well that night, and the knight awaited the next day’s adventure.
Kodomo no Shiro, The Children’s Castle, is located in Omote-Sando in Tokyo.
Written 11/2004Buy Skype Credit now to make cheap calls internationally
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