“It’s you they’re curtseying to,” Mary whispered. “You’re the hero who’s rescued us!”
Alfie couldn’t answer. At the end of the hall were two high thrones, and sitting on them were a king and a queen, wearing royal robes of red and gold. Mary tugged at his arm. “They won’t hurt you, Alfie. Look how they’re smiling! They’re thrilled to bits!”
She was right. The queen had jumped to her feet and was running to meet them. She threw her arms first round Mary, then Alfie, while the king patted Alfie’s back over and over again muttering, “Splendid! Thank you, old chap! Thank you so much! Splendid! Splendid!”
“Mother, Father,” Mary said. “this is Alfie Onion. We’re going to be married – isn’t it fun?”
“Darlings!” the queen said. “Come and sit down … and Alfie, tell me all about yourself.” She gave her daughter a loving kiss. “It’s so good to see you so happy.” Mary kissed her mother back. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been!” She pirouetted across the hall. “Alfie – can we go outside? I haven’t been outside for a hundred years!”
A moment later the two of them were hurrying out through the castle door. As they did so, a row of heralds dressed in scarlet and silver played a trumpet fanfare, and Alfie shook his head in wonder.
“It’s just like a fairy tale. It really is! Mary, would it be all right to bring my mother here, do you think? It’s what she’s always dreamed of…”
“Of course it’d be all right! She can come and live here any time. There’s a whole wing of the castle that’s empty – she can have that.” Mary blew Alfie a kiss. “But we can live wherever we want, Alfie dearest. We can run over the hills and far away … wherever we are, we’ll live Happily Ever After for certain sure.”
“For certain sure,” Alfie agreed. “We’ll live Happily Ever After.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
AND ALFIE ONION and Princess Mary Onion did live Happily Ever After. Mary was delighted to meet Penelope and Norman, and suggested that they might like to live in the castle rather than beside it. This pleased Penelope very much, but Norman complained that he missed the fresh air. Adeline settled happily into the royal stables, and waited hopefully for the first royal baby to arrive. Bowser took to royal life with enthusiasm; the bones were the biggest he’d ever seen, and he adored Princess Mary. Kev and Perce were rewarded with a whole heap of twinkly sparkly shiny stuff, and Perce had a warm hen’s egg every Thursday for breakfast.
Happiest of all was Aggie Onion. She spent half the year at Pigsticking Farm – Garf Onion refused to leave his pigs, and Princess Mary refused to build a royal pigsty beside the castle – and the other half in Rosewall Castle enjoying Glorious Luxury. It had taken her a little while to adjust to having an exceptionally large ogre as a daughter-in-law, but Bilinda worked so hard, and was so very strong, that Aggie had nothing to do all day except paint her toenails and curl her hair. Magnifico had done well for himself, Aggie told her neighbours. Surprisingly well, all things considered. But nobody had done as well as her darling son, Alfie. Alfie, Aggie said, was her hero.
And Aggie also was waiting hopefully for the first royal baby. She had a book to read to him or her…
A book of fairy tales.
Vivian French
lives in Edinburgh, and writes in a messy workroom stuffed full of fairy tales and folk tales – the stories she loves best. She’s brilliant at retelling classic tales, as she did for The Most Wonderful Thing in the World, and has created worlds of her own in the Tales From the Five Kingdoms and the Tiara Club series. Vivian teaches at Edinburgh College of Art and can be seen at festivals all over the country. She is one of the most borrowed children’s authors in UK libraries, and in 2016 was awarded the MBE for services to literature, literacy, illustration and the arts.
Marta Kissi
is an exciting new talent in the world of children’s book illustration. Originally from Warsaw, she came to Britain to study Illustration and Animation at Kingston University, and then Art and Design at the Royal College of Art. Her favourite part of being an illustrator is bringing stories to life by designing charming characters and the wonderful worlds they live in. Marta shares a studio in London with her boyfriend and their pet plant Trevor.
Other books by Vivian French
The Most Wonderful Thing in the World
Tales from the Five Kingdoms:
The Robe of Skulls
The Bag of Bones
The Heart of Glass
The Flight of Dragons
The Music of Zombies
The Snarling of Wolves
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.
First published 2016 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
Text © 2016 Vivian French
Illustrations © 2016 Marta Kissi
The right of Vivian French and Marta Kissi to be identified as author and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-7045-4 (ePub)
www.walker.co.uk
The Adventures of Alfie Onion Page 9