The Sleeping Prince

     There once was a bright young prince. He was beloved by the people of the kingdom. He would often spend time helping teach the people in the kingdom things he had learned from his tutors. His own tutelage of the people often was met with mixed feelings, but many appreciated that he was wise, and willing to share his knowledge.

     On the eve of his 11th birthday, an evil sorceress versed in black arts made a ransom demand on the king and queen. A letter had arrived in the morning, addressed to the royal family. It read:

Foolish royals! How long have I suffered in the swamps since you banished me into its depths! Now I shall surely get my revenge upon your kingdom, which I have been so wrongly denied a place within.

If you do not grant me all that my heart desires, I shall bring ruin upon you and your kingdom, once and for all.

-Svetartia, Dark Sorceress of the Swamp

     The king and queen were not concerned, however, by this ransom note. Thinking it yet another ruse by the clever sorceress who had been known (before her banishment) for her dishonest dealings, they chose to ignore her letter. Svetartia listed no explicit demands, so it was assumed that the kingdom was safe. The king, however, had the letter posted in the public square, where it was read by the common people.

     The sorceresses and witches that read this letter were appalled by Svetartia's ransom! How dare she threaten to use her powers for such nefarious ends! Of course, this simply reassured them all that she deserved the banishment that she had received.

     Having been ignored, that evening, Svetartia entered town disguised as an old man. When she saw her note displayed in the public square as an object of mockery and ridicule, she knew her plan to get what she desired had failed, so she took her revenge.

     Svetartia made her way to the castle, and using her dark powers, sneaked into the bedroom of the young prince. There he slept, in his bed, peacefully. Spilling her own blood to write runes around his bed on the floor, she cast upon him a wicked spell before she once again stole off into the night.

     When the young prince's hand-servant arrived in the morning, he was unable to rouse the young prince from his slumber. Frantic, the servant attempted to get help, but alas, nobody was able to get the young prince to waken from his sleep. The king and queen panicked. All they wanted was to be able to have their son back, but alas, there was nothing they could do.

     It was, therefore, by royal decree that all people possessed of magick powers were to have an audience with the prince in an attempt to disenchant the poor young prince of his affliction. It was, however, a failure. Each of the good sorceresses and witches in the kingdom tried their spells, but none of them knew how to break the curse that had been placed upon him. The wizards, warlocks, and sorcerers came from throughout the kingdom, but none of them, whatever their background, could find a way beyond the arcane ties that bound him inside his body in a dreamless and endless sleep.

    So, for years, the young prince was bound in a sleep from which he could not waken. His body aged as usual, but he needed no food nor drink, and his body never developed sores from not being moved... but alas, he also never awoke.

     The people of the kingdom were sad, for their poor prince, whom they loved dearly, was tragically lost to this sleep. Then one day, his royal highness, the king, received a letter from a wise mage in a distant land. It stated:

Your highness, it has recently come to my attention through some rumours circulating through the land that your young prince has fallen tragically to a curse of dreamless sleep from which he will not awaken.

Fear not, your highness. I have seen this spell cast once before, in the distant past, when I was still just an apprentice to an even older and wiser mage than myself (who sadly has departed to be joined with arcane powers even greater than I can imagine).

The solution to this curse is known to me as well, and now, as a sign of good will, I shall disclose it to you here. To break the curse, your young prince need only be kissed upon his lips by his one true love. Then shall he be freed from the bond of sleep under which his body endures but his mind cannot escape.

Best of luck to you and your kin, High Mage Pontrico

    The king, with such useful information at his fingertips, rushed to see to it that the prince would once again have his chance to live out his life, and return to the land of the waking. So it was that the solution to this terrible dilemma was posted throughout the kingdom, with a reward for the one who broke the curse: a promise that whomsoever should break the curse would be wed to the prince.

     Shortly before the first applicant had arrived, the hand-servant had found the young prince's journal. Inside, the young prince admitted his longing to be with another fellow one day whom would share with him all times, both good and bad, the joys and the pains which life would bring. This journal was quickly presented to the queen, who declared that by the words in the journal, it should be so that no girl nor woman would be able to satisfy the conditions of being the one true love needed to break the spell.

     Days passed, and although the reward promised was great, nobody came forward to even make the attempt to waken the young prince from his slumber. And so, moons did pass, and yet still not one soul came to visit the prince in hopes of freeing him from his curse. As the seasons wore on, the king and queen began to lose hope that they would ever again see their poor young prince return to his former youthful vigour.

     Years later, the king and queen passed on, and still the prince (no longer so young) had not awakened. Alas, with the reward being hardly less than a claim to the throne, women and girls from miles around flocked to the prince in a hope to be able to be the one true love. Without the queen to remind them that it would be a failure, each of these women made their way to the prince, only to leave dejected as they found out that they were not the true love of this prince.

     Over time, the prince grew into his middle ages, but never once did he awaken. The kingdom had no leadership of a king, and as such, the advisers of the court decided amongst themselves to choose a new ruler. The prince was left to his slumber, and knowledge of him faded into the obscurity of time. Never did he find his true love, and in his slumber he did die, forgotten and alone.

     As a historian, I, however, have seen it fit to preserve memory of the young prince through the writing of this summary in this tome of historical events. It is unlikely that anyone should find or read it, and even less likely that someone should care, aside from greying haired historians such as myself. Nevertheless, this concludes the story of our dear Prince *illegible*.

- Stomrowe Tomesmith

Royal Historian, Kingdom of *also illegible*, rule of King Patros XII.