Once upon a time in a far away land, a Princess, the Queen, and the King lived in a giant castle. They ruled over the entire village and had done so for years and years. The princess was due to be crowned the Queen in the next few days to carry on the tradition as her parents were ready to pass it down.
The village loved the royal family because of how generous and kind they all were. A man named Jester knew this and thought that meant they had to be gullible as well. Anyone who is as giving as they are, are bound to get swindled at some point, right?
You see, Jester had spent most of his life in the village getting made fun of because he wasn't like everyone else. He worked three jobs just to get by and spent his weekends not socializing with everyone else, but building things. These things ranged from cannons to birdhouses to the most evil machine you could think of. I know what you're thinking. That seems a little extreme right? Oh, how I wish it was.
This specific machine is shaped like a crown and when placed onto the Princess's head, it would turn her into his minion and she would do whatever he asked. He could rule the entire kingdom and finally be better than the very people who had put him down his entire life. For this to happen, though, his plan had to be executed perfectly.
Getting close to the Princess would be easy, since one of those three jobs mentioned earlier was being the royal family's personal security guard.
Jester and the Queen went way back. They met back in primary school and quickly became friends. The Queen was one of the few people who showed kindness towards Jester, which was why this mission was so hard for him inside. He was focused on the big picture, however, and was ready for revenge.
Night of the Coronation
"Hello, Princess. I have your original crown and your new crown waiting here for you whenever the time comes," Jester said.
"Thank you for all of your help with this. I don't know what we would do without you," beamed the Princess as she finished getting ready.
Jester led the Princess out into the hall, carrying the evil crown in his hands, waiting for the right moment. He passed by the King and Queen and nodded at them respectively as they waited for the ceremony to begin.
The Queen took a look at the crown in Jester's hand and realized the diamonds were in the wrong spot.
"Those diamonds shouldn't be placed like that. Everything about that crown is wrong," she thought to herself silently.
It quickly dawned on her that the crown in Jester's hand was fake. She flashed back to a time back in middle school during a science fair where Jester's project was a collar for his childhood dog that would make the dog obey him and do whatever he said. He must have taken that experiment and figured out how to make it work on humans. She figured out Jester's evil plan and ran up to the stage as the crown was being picked up to be placed on her daughter's head.
Jester realized his plan was backfiring and rushed out of the castle. The Queen snatched the crown before it got placed on the Princess and dashed after Jester. She finally caught up to him just before he reached the main door and shoved the crown onto his head and ordered him to stop immediately.
He stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes glazed over like a zombie. He was been thrown in the dungeon never to be seen or heard from again, all because he wanted a little bit of revenge.
The Princess went ahead with her coronation and became the Queen. She still rules the kingdom to this day with the same generosity and kindness as she and her parents did before. In a village full of amazing people, there's always one cunning Jester. Keep your eyes open and remember, just because they say they are your friend, doesn't mean they really are.
Author's Note:
This story is based on The Cunning Crane and the Crab by W.H.D Rouse. In the story, the Crane convinced these fish in a shallow pond that he would take them over to a larger lake one by one to escape the heat. He takes them but ends up eating them and deceiving them in the end. He gets a little conceited at how well his game worked and decided to try it on the Crab. What the Crane didn't know is that the Crab watched him the whole time and knew what was going to happen. The Crab started to pretend like he trusted him and outsmarted the Crane by killing him first before he could be killed. I interpreted this story as a story of karma and not trusting people so easily. I used this story of Jester and the Queen and made Jester the Crane and the Queen the Crab. Because Jester had a history with the Queen and was one of the royal family's most trusted friends, I thought it would be a good way to tie in the not trusting people so easily and the theme of "they may seem like your friend but in reality they aren't." There are a lot of different things you can do with the story of The Cunning Crane and the Crab because the moral of the story is so universal. I liked doing this spin on it because sometimes it really is hard to see who is your real friend and who isn't.
Image Credits: Dark Castle: Shadow Park
Bibliography: The Cunning Crane and the Crab by W.H.D Rouse