Overheard at Booth 3: The Story of the Princess and the King

#2WordPrompt
Princess and King

"I wish to marry for love!" demanded the princess.

So the King relented and allowed her to wed the serf.  

The Prince from the other kingdom waged war.  Many died. Including the serf.

"Why?" the princess in tears, asked her father.

"I chose Love," he replied.

 

2025-0906 

Story inspired by a writing prompt, #2WordPrompt, and uses a theme that I have been mulling over for many years, which runs contrary to the current idea of a medieval or Renaissance princess choosing her own mate against arranged marriages.   The idea is that many of these arranged marriages were for uniting various kingdoms, usually for protection, and often to prevent wars between said kingdoms.

 

Here is a longer version of the story.

 

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was of the age to be married.  Her father had indulged her and protected her as a child; however, he had never shied away from letting her know that one day she would be married, and that he would choose the husband from several of the princes of nearby kingdoms.

However, she was a willful child, and a favorite of her father, and as she was becoming a young woman, she realized that she had fallen in love with the stable boy.  They had practically grown up together, and he had become a handsome young man.

Her father told her one day of her impending marriage to a prince in a nearby kingdom.  She immediately rejected the idea, telling her father that she was in love with the stable boy and that she demanded to marry for love, not for station.

Her father begged her to reconsider and consent, but the princess would hear none of it.  Her father told her that the marriage had been arranged ever since she and the prince were children.  She did not care.  She would not be wed to a man she did not know - only to the one she did know and loved.

So, her father relented and she was free to love the stable boy and plan their wedding.

 However, because the arrangement was annulled, war broke out between the two kingdoms.  The invading army from the nearby kingdom, led by the prince, swept over the mountains and through the hills and plains and killed many, many of the king's subjects.

The stable boy, who was called to be a page to one of the knights and ride out to the fighting to tend the horses, himself was killed in one of the battles.   Word came back to the princess that the prince himself had killed the lad.

The princess ran to her father, who sat on his throne, despondent, while the dark clouds gathered all around the land.   "Why?" she demanded of him.  "Why this sacrifice?  Why did all this happen?"

"Because I chose Love," the king said to his daughter. 

 

 

[I can submit this to Bunker Squirrels, but as it is roughly 363 words, I will need to reduce it to 250 words]

 

[I can also use this in Anomaly] 

 

 

 

Overheard at Booth 3: The Church Today

How does the Church look today?

The Church is supposed to look like Christ,
but if we are to be honest,
it looks more like Satan.

The Church today
roars like a lion - 
hunting meat - 
eating without ceasing - 
ravenous, raving.

It searches for those whom
it can destroy, the Church 
yells and rages in the streets,
it turns people into hunters of each other

The Church today covers itself in
rich clothing, gold, diamonds, dripping with jewels
but if can't cover the stench of 
bile in its wretched mouth,
or the venomous pus in its clouded eyes.

Overheard at Booth 3: Texas Maternal Health

 https://www.voanews.com/a/maternal-mortality-review-panels-are-in-the-spotlight-here-s-what-they-do/7889322.html

 https://www.tpr.org/podcast/the-source/2024-12-02/texas-committee-wont-review-maternal-mortality-cases-of-first-two-years-after-abortion-ban

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/patient-safety-outcomes/texas-committee-wont-review-pregnancy-related-deaths-from-2022-2023.html

https://www.oaoa.com/local-news/texas-maternal-mortality-committee-faces-backlash-for-not-reviewing-deaths-from-first-two-years-post-dobbs/

 

 

Overheard at Booth 3: American Rage

No human demonstrates uncontrolled rage like an American who has been mildly inconvenienced.

Overheard at Booth 3: Temples

Do you hear how the Satanic Temple is putting all their statues in schools and in City Halls all around the country?

I think that's being a bit overblown.

No it's not. There's all these TikTok videos on Instagram about it.  Satan is winning!

No, he's not.  He's already been defeated.  We know that.  You know that.

Well, then why is everybody letting this happen.

I blame us Christians..

How can you blame us?  Our faith?

When you don't present your case as clearly and accurately as possible, you shouldn't be upset when someone else comes along presenting something that's more attractive and seemingly fulfilling.

Overheard at Booth 3: Feral Luna Watches Everything

[written on the back of an invoice for the spaying of the feral Luna]

Feral Luna Watches Everything

Feral Luna watches everything
as her babes climb all about her.
Golden-eyed, she peers into shadows,
discerning, recording
each footfall, every voice
of every human who tries to pet her.

A scruff of the ear,
a caress of the chin,

but be mindful, human!
She is not yours - do not
try to pull her into your lap -
snap-clawed, she'll scurry 
under the armoire or 
shelter under the couch
and from the safety of her secret nook,
she'll peer out for hours,
discerning, recording.

Feral Luna watches everything.

2023-1029

Overheard at Booth 3: Dr Pentecost Dice

Dr Pentecost dice: Hay preguntas para aprender, y hay preguntas para enseñar

Overheard at Booth 3: Poem "Note Left on a Dining Room Table"

Note Left on a Dining Room Table

I killed myself today.
Thought you should know.
No particular reason
Just seemed like the time to go.

MR

2023-1010

Overheard at Booth 3: Crazy World

It's a crazy world.

Sure is.

How do you stay sane in a world like this?

Easy.  You don't.

Overheard at Booth 3: Cryptoquotes - One by Einstein

 "Where the world ceases to be the scene of our personal hopes and wishes, where we face it as free beings admiring, asking and observing, there we enter the realm of Art and Science."
— Albert Einstein

maradnu
March 3, 2015, 4:04 pm
Too many only want to live in a scene of hopes and wishes
vintage38
December 30, 2017, 1:50 am
54 seconds
Capy
April 23, 2019, 9:21 am
To question all the time. My hero AE
pickleball
November 25, 2020, 1:01 pm
and what a world it is !!
hrossa
March 14, 2021, 5:51 pm
Art and science are one realm. Lovely thought, thanks AE.
Fudi
July 11, 2022, 10:50 pm
I was trying to fake it as a free being ... as usual.




https://cryptograms.puzzlebaron.com/

Overheard at Booth 3: Rochefoucauld and Wilde Talk about the Sun and Death

In Booth 3, Francois de la Rochefoucauld opines, "Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye."

Oscar Wilde retorts, "Watching the flight of Icarus, thus, must be doubly vertiginous."

Overheard at Booth 3: Sunglasses Make You Go Blind

... my wife keeps sending me all these Instagram reels with this one Australian woman talking about natural health and how everything is bad for you, and this last reel the woman was saying that root canal will give you cancer because microbes will get into the dead root and multiply.

So then I tried to find her name and I couldn't, but I was going through all the clips of her and in one she was talking about the dangers of sunglasses for everyone who isn't skiing, that the lenses don't let your eyes "learn how to adjust to the light" which will make your eyes, over time, go blind.

Didn't really catch it, but I think her point was that eyes need the sunlight to stay healthy.

 

Overheard at Booth 3: "I Kill the Mockingbird" by Paul Acampora

 I enjoyed this book immensely, but in full confession, I read it just after reading Paolo Coehlo's The Pilgrimage, which was so offensive to a true Follower of Christ that anything after that would have been a relief.  This book was a perfect relief and a much-needed bright "lift" after reading something so evil.   Thus, my review should probably be taken in that context.

The story is simple enough: Jr High students start a "reverse psychology" campaign to encourage people to read "To Kill a Mockingbird" by hiding all the copies in the local bookstore.  They have given the illusion that the supply is reduced, thus increasing demand.  They also send out a multi-media effort to pretend that the book has been banned, which also increases interest in the book.

The novel is fleshed out with several subplots, such as the main character dealing with her mother's cancer as well as her burgeoning more-than-Platonic interest in her friend.  

Some harsher critics will (and have) dismissed the book's characters as reading like an adult's dream of how teens should act, and to be fair, yes, it is difficult to imagine a teenager who is a baseball star and whose favorite author is Charles Dickens; however, this is a delightful tale about bibliophiles and it obviously is designed to target the child in all of us who actually enjoy reading and enjoy reading well.  So yes, while it may have been more believable had these kids been reading "The Fault in Our Stars" more than "Fahrenheit 451," that doesn't change the fact that, however, fanciful, these characters are alive and, more importantly, fun.

It's a fun book.  Even with dealing with a cancer diagnosis.  It is about that summer between Jr High and High School, when everything is on the cusp of changing, and the last vestiges of childhood and innocence are going to be left behind.

Overheard at Booth 3: A Few Proverbs for Your Day

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein


"With lies you may go ahead in the world, but you can never go back. "
- Proverb


"Give crayons. Adults are disturbingly impoverished of these magical dream sticks."
- Dr Sun Wolf

Overheard at Booth 3: Creativity Stir, Disaster Edition

Grew up in Tornado Alley.
Seen them take out friends homes, shopping malls, trailer parks.

Always had the fear they were somehow stalking me.

Probably why I moved to Norway, in the Arctic Circle.
So, the day that I saw it destroy my house there… I knew my fears had been real.