Princess in the Woods?

Once upon a time,

a lovely maiden and her handsome husband knight

took their humble carriage into the woods

looking for magical creatures and wonderous things.

They stopped at a lovely spot

to have a picnic amongst the enchanted forest trees.

Something sparkly caught the maiden's eye...

"No! She thought..this cannot be so!"

"I cannot really be seeing what I THINK I am seeing!"

So, she called the Knight over to see if she might be mistaken.

The Knight warned the maiden: "Do not touch them! They might be cursed!

It is surely a TRICK!".

The Maiden heeded the Knight's warning and did the only wise thing

the Maiden could have done.

She took a picture of them:

Oh, yes....Princess slippers!

Right in the MIDDLE of the enchanted forest....just sitting there!!!

Then, the Maiden decided that perhaps she should take some MORE pictures of them.

Maybe she could get some clues as to where the Princess who owned them were...

(The Maiden was a little concerned about how dirty the INSIDE of the magic Princess shoes were and wondered why the Princess shoes were missing some sparkle, but tried NOT to think about why).

But then, the Maiden noticed even something MORE strange.

It appeared that the missing Princess who lost these shoes
in the middle of the enchanted forest,
didn't know if she was COMING or GOING!:

The Maiden asked the Knight: "What do you make of this Sire?"

"Was the Princess confused as to her direction in life?"

"Was Princess life too stressful for her so she twirled in opposite directions and got all twisted up?"

"Where do you think the Princess who lost these shoes is?"

and even WORSE....
the Maiden began to really worry:
"What if the Princess has had an evil spell put on her and she has been changed into something or someone ELSE???"

The Maiden looked around the enchanted forest for clues.

And she spied the most beautiful butterfly on a nearby branch:

Could THIS be the Princess of the Missing Shoes?

But the butterfly giggled just like a butterfly giggles,
and softly flittered away.





Or, "Oh Mon Deux!" (said the Maiden who only had two years of high school French, therefore could not think anything else in French).."could the Princess of the Missing Shoes
have been turned into THIS (by an evil WITCH?)":

"Oh Gosh, I hope not!"said the Maiden. "Because WHO would want to live out the rest of a Princess life as a FUNGI?"




The Maiden saw a puddle on the side of the road then.

And she was AMAZED
to see little fish swimming in the PUDDLE!

Surely one of them was the Princess of the Missing Shoes...
because HOW ON EARTH did these fish end up in a puddle???:

So the Maiden asked the fish, one by one...
"Are you a Princess of the Missing Shoes?"
but
none of them answered her.

(Which obviously means either the fish were stuck up
or they didn't understand English.)

Either way, it didn't solve the mystery.




Just then, the Maiden heard some tapping in the Enchanted Forest.

"Perhaps that is the Princess of the Missing Shoes trying to communicate with me!", she exitedly exclaimed.

She looked everywhere to find the source of the sound.

Finally, the Mainden saw what creature was tapping:

A pileated woodpecker!!!
Or WAS it?

Was THIS the Princess of the Missing Shoes???

I mean, look at that gorgeous red crown...it was certainly FIT for a Princess!!

But the bird quit tapping and flew away.

Surely if the bird WAS the Princess of the Missing Shoes, she would have stayed and kept trying to tap out a message to get rescued by the Knight or the Maiden.

Wouldn't you think?

And, for some reason, the Knight wasn't even concerned about the Maiden and her frantic search for the Princess of the Missing Shoes....

In fact, instead, ...the Knight kept repeating to the Maiden:
"Don't TOUCH those shoes...who knows where they've BEEN??"
followed by:
"And why on earth are you taking photos of them?"

Sigh.

Non-blogging Knights just don't get it sometimes.

But it was getting dark by this time in the enchanged forest.

Besides, the Maiden had to get home (to do maidenly things)
and
the Knight had to get home (to do whatever Knights do).

It was time to get back in the carriage and do just that.

The Maiden was very sad that she could not find
the Princess of the Missing Shoes.

The Knight continued to not give a shit.

So, for the MAIDEN's SAKE----(ignore the Knight!)
whatever you do....

if you see any critters you think might be
the cursed Princess of the Missing Shoes in the woods....

please have her get in touch with the Maiden immediately
(through my blog of course)...
so the Maiden can tell the Princess of the Missing Shoes
exactly where they are.

This is most important, because after a hard winter in the U.P. of Michigan,
her sparkly slippers
are going to be
in pretty bad shape....
OR
a deer might be sporting them for attention.

And just try and explain THAT to a U.P. Hunter on November 15th!!

The END.

*******************************************************
Do you realize that you only have
TWO MORE DAYS
to enter the September
FREE PHOTO CONTEST????

September's theme is:
FOUNTAINS
or
WATERFALLS...

so get your picture into me
no later than midnight
on Sept. 30th.
Just don't sit there on YOUR royal you-know-what...
get busy!!!!