Princess without a Palace: A King Thrushbeard Fairy Tale

by Kristen Niedfeldt

  The next day, the sun was beating down so intensely, Liesel feared she might actually melt right where she sat in the marketplace. She feverishly fanned herself as she waited for a new customer to approach. Glancing up, she could tell from the sun’s position that she still had half the day left. She groaned. She wished she could hurry the sun along.

  Selling during the morning had been slightly better than the day before. She hadn’t earned as much as she would have liked, but at least no one had stolen anything. At least as far as she knew.

  For the hundredth time that day, her idle thoughts strayed to Roderick. Now that man was a riddle. At her father’s decree, he had regarded her with scorn, but now he was her greatest ally. He should have hated her, but instead he was only showing great kindness and encouragement. She could tell he had a naturally cheerful disposition, which probably aided his transformation, but she was still surprised by such sudden loyalty. Perhaps as a peasant he had to be more practical than emotional, and couldn’t waste time being angry when there were chores to be done.

  Regardless, she could only conclude that he had an unnaturally good heart. Unless her father had bribed him to be nice to her … but no, that seemed unlikely and Roderick seemed too genuine.

  She sighed. She still didn’t want to marry Roderick and be a peasant forever, but she felt the pricks of regret in her heart that he hadn’t been born a prince. Perhaps he could have softened her to the idea of marriage, and this disaster could have been avoided altogether. He certainly had the looks of a man who would have caught her eye …

  But such thoughts were futile so she forced them again from her mind. Roderick was a peasant. A very fine peasant, but a poor man nonetheless. She still had no intention of resigning herself to such a life.

  Roderick took a short break from his work that afternoon to escape to the marketplace. He quickly found Liesel in the same place he had taken her the day before, but he kept his distance so he could watch as two women drew near to her. Liesel forced a smile and bartered back and forth with them for a while until an agreement was finally made.

  As the money changed hands, Roderick nodded his approval. Liesel was coming along quite nicely. Even better than he had hoped or expected. What she lacked in experience, she more than compensated for with her endless supply of stubborn determination.

  Maybe there was actually hope he would be able to keep his end of the bargain he had made with her father. In exchange for his cooperation with the betrothal, Roderick had been promised that if Liesel could be humbled and taught to appreciate all she had been given, he would be released from the betrothal when her father traveled through Brenhausen at the end of the month. All he had to do was accomplish that great task, while keeping the deal a secret from Liesel.

  Convincing Maria to cooperate had taken more effort than he had expected, but at least she seemed to be resigned to the situation now. He would have to find a way to thank her for being such a supportive sister when the month was over and the deal was complete.

  But with Liesel’s efforts at the spinning wheel and now in the marketplace, Roderick was beginning to see that his future freedom might actually become a reality. Liesel may have been spoiled, but she wasn’t without grit. He could see that the strong spirit that had been her downfall would also be what would save her.

  He watched Liesel wearily fan herself until another customer approached. After squaring her shoulders and burying her fatigue, she smiled brightly at the old woman who had arrived to inspect her pottery. He was impressed with how well she concealed her misery.

  There was obviously more to Liesel than just her beauty and royal bearing, although she had both in abundant supply. He hoped he would be able to help Liesel see that too in time.

  Over the next few days, Liesel steadily improved in her new profession at the marketplace. With an increasing income, she no longer found herself embarrassed to add her earnings to the savings jar at the end of each day. Long gone was the faint echo of her first few meager coins. Now the coins sounded more like a brief and heavy downpour as she deposited them into the jar each day.

  But as Liesel watched the line of coins inside the jar steadily rising, she found herself battling mixed feelings. She couldn’t deny the pleasure she found in her apparent success, but she also felt uneasy as the distance from the top of the jar to the top of the coins narrowed. If she continued performing so well, it would only be a matter of weeks before the goal would be met … and she was definitely not ready for that to happen yet.

  If she wanted to decrease the pace and delay her marriage, she supposed that was well within her control. But there was just something about irking Maria, Liesel admitted, that made it too irresistible to want to continue to succeed. At first, Maria had shown unabashed surprise at her success, but now Liesel could only guess at what Maria thought of it. It was amusing how Maria never happened to be around anymore when Liesel arrived at home to deposit her coins …

  Liesel was reveling in such thoughts when Roderick surprised her with a visit in the marketplace.

  “What are you doing here?” she questioned him as he suddenly appeared before her.

  “I finished harvesting a field and was released for the day. I thought I’d come see how you were faring here.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s been a typical, uneventful day.”

  “But what about those three jugs you sold,” Albert cut in at her side. The old man had camped out in the space next to her all week. “If I remember correctly, you made a fair profit from that sale.”

  “That’s right! How could I forget?”

  She then explained to Roderick, “I was fortunate enough that a lady wanted three matching jugs. Mine were the only ones she had been able to find. She was willing to pay anything for them.”

  “Well done,” Roderick approved. He then turned toward the old man. “And who might this be?”

  “This is Albert,” Liesel said, motioning toward the old man. “He has been my loyal neighbor here in the marketplace all week.”

  “Then you have indeed made a friend?” Roderick teased.

  “She tolerates me because she likes my jewelry,” Albert explained.

  “I’ve never said any such thing!”

  “But I’ve seen you staring at it …” Albert insisted.

  “Well, I … it’s all very beautiful,” Liesel admitted with a hint of sorrow.

  “You know, Liesel,” Roderick began. “It seems to me that after so much hard work this week, you deserve a small reward.”

  Her eyes strayed to the jewelry, and her hopes began to soar.

  “Although we can’t afford anything as fine as what Albert sells,” Roderick began, sending Liesel’s hopes crashing back down in a rush. “I do think we could afford to buy you a new dress if you would like.”

  Her spirits were flying high once again.

  “Do you mean it?” she questioned, not daring to believe it quite yet.

  “Of course I mean it! You would have to retire from selling for the day though, if we want enough time to find something before everyone else leaves.”

  “I’m ready now!” she eagerly declared. No enticement of extra earnings could keep her from the prospect of a new dress.

  Roderick helped her gather all of her pottery onto her cart, which Albert then graciously offered to watch so they wouldn’t have to be burdened by it during their search.

  As they walked away, Liesel felt lighter and happier than she had in several weeks. A new dress! She could barely contain her excitement. Who knew this day would hold such a prize for her!

  At the end of the lane, they found a woman with dozens of dresses for sale. Although Liesel’s eyes naturally gravitated toward the finer dresses, she pried them away so she could sort through the dresses that seemed more suitable for her station.

  But it turned out that even those were a little too fine for their budget.

  “This way, Liesel,” Roderick called her to the end of the line of dresses.


  “We have twenty bronze bits to spend,” he informed the seamstress. “Show us which dresses we can afford.”

  As the woman turned around to rifle through a pile of dresses folded on the floor, Liesel shook her head at Roderick.

  “Naming a price without even bargaining?” Liesel clicked her tongue. “I’m disappointed in you.”

  “Just wait,” he assured her quietly with a grin.

  When the woman stood up, she had three dresses in her arms. One was brown, one was orange, and the last one was blue with long, white sleeves.

  “This is all I have at that price,” the woman informed them gruffly.

  Liesel swallowed her disappointment at the scanty selection and immediately began inspecting the dresses. They were not as fine as she had hoped, but they were all certainly better than the dress she was currently wearing.

  “What do you think?” she questioned Roderick, waving toward the three dresses.

  “I think you’re the one who will be wearing it every day so you should choose.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Which one do you think would look the best on me?”

  “The brown one wouldn’t show dirt as much …”

  Even the seamstress shook her head at him then.

  “That’s not what I mean either,” Liesel clarified. “Which dress do you think is the prettiest?”

  “How would I know that?”

  “Here. You can see how they’d look.” Liesel then held up the dresses in front of her so he could appraise each of them in turn.

  “The blue one compliments your eyes,” he admitted at length. But then he cleared his throat and added, “But the white sleeves are hardly practical. You’ll have to scrub them every other day to try to keep them looking clean.”

  “I don’t care about practical,” she answered with a smile. She held the blue one up again. “But you think this dress makes my eyes look pretty?”

  “Very,” he answered honestly.

  Feeling heat spread across her cheeks, she looked down to hide her blush. But after debating between the dresses for a few seconds, she finally dared to glance up again and clutched the blue dress to her chest and declared, “This is the one I want.”

  Roderick wasn’t sorry about her selection. The blue dress really did compliment her eyes and made her look lovely. Even if the other dresses were more practical and appeared more durable, he wouldn’t have traded the glow the blue dress brought to Liesel’s countenance.

  After Liesel had insisted on wearing it home, the merchant woman had offered Liesel her tent so she could change. When she emerged, Roderick surprised her with a tan shawl he had convinced the seamstress to add to their purchase for free.

  “Bargaining doesn’t always have to do with just the price,” he informed Liesel with a smile.

  “I should have had more faith in you,” she admitted.

  As they walked home, Roderick was amazed at Liesel’s transformation. It was more than just her appearance. She seemed to be more talkative and more lively than usual. He also noticed that her face was never without at least a hint of a smile. She simply radiated pure joy.

  He found it peculiar that a dress could make such a difference. Personally, he felt like he was always the same person no matter what clothes he was wearing.

  Liesel looked up at him expectantly, and he realized that he had been so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t heard what she had been saying.

  “I’m sorry,” he admitted, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. “What did you say?”

  She linked a hand around his arm, and repeated, “I was just saying thank you again for the dress. It really is lovely.”

  She turned her smiling face up to him, and he noticed that her large blue eyes held more than just gratitude. He wondered if there was trust there now as well.

  Perhaps it wasn’t necessarily only the dress that had changed her, he realized after some thought … It was the gesture.

  Chapter Nine

  Maria was behind the hut working on the wash when she heard laughter approaching. She wrung the last shirt out and hung it on the line with a sigh. She wished she had time for laughter. Ever since Roderick had dumped his princess on her doorstep, her list of chores had grown to a seemingly insurmountable list. She longed for the life she had known before. It was so much easier to care for one than care for three. Especially when one of those persons was revoltingly helpless.

  Just three more weeks, she reminded herself. Three more weeks and she would be free. But how could she take comfort in such a thought when just one week had pushed her patience to her limits?

  She dried her hands and then walked toward the front of the hut to discover the source of the laughter. Her curiosity was piqued. It was too early in the evening to expect Roderick or Liesel and hardly anyone else traversed the bumpy path in front of her home.

  She rounded the corner, but then came to a quick halt. Her brother and Liesel had indeed returned early, but it wasn’t the unexpected arrival that caused such a startled reaction.

  Maria’s eyes fell to Liesel’s new dress before she turned them to her approaching brother with a question.

  “Has Liesel gone off and spent all your money?” she asked without concealing her shock.

  “No, no,” Roderick assured as the pair came to a stop just feet away. “I bought it for her.”

  “Is that so?” Maria asked, looking the dress over from top to bottom once more.

  She put her hands on her hips in dismay. Had her brother lost his mind? A new dress was the last thing the spoiled princess needed right now. And she would let her brother know it.

  “Liesel,” Maria cut in suddenly to claim the princess’s attention. “Don’t forget it is your night again to milk the goat. I hear her bleating so you better get to it.”

  Liesel turned back to Roderick. She tucked some stray hairs behind her ear and then said, “I suppose I shouldn’t keep the poor girl waiting, but thank you again for the dress. I can’t even tell you how grateful I feel.”

  She gave him one last smile before she walked away, and Roderick watched her until she had disappeared from view.

  Maria did not like what she was seeing.

  She snapped her fingers to regain her brother’s attention.

  “Look at me, Roderick.”

  He reluctantly turned to face her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The dress?”

  “After all of her efforts, I thought she deserved a reward,” he explained.

  “After all of her efforts?” she asked with disbelief. “I suppose after one week of hard work, she has earned it.”

  “Exactly,” he answered, oblivious of her tone.

  “I wasn’t serious.”

  “Maria, what’s wrong? I don’t see why this should bother you so much.”

  “Don’t you see it? You are losing your head to that girl!”

  “Nonsense.”

  Maria folded her arms. “She’s not a right match for you. Don’t trade your future for a pretty face.”

  “You are overreacting. A dress isn’t a proposal.”

  “What a reassurance when you are already betrothed!”

  “Maria, I only meant to show her some kindness. Nothing more. Please don’t begrudge me that.”

  She shook her head. “I’m worried for you, brother.”

  “I know—I can see that—but you don’t need to be,” he said, patting her arm. He then grabbed the handcart again and turned toward the hut. “Let’s go in. Since I’m home earlier than usual tonight, you can take advantage of the additional time and give me some extra chores to do.”

  But Maria wasn’t softened so easily. Instead, she remained where she stood while she watched him deposit the cart of pottery into the barn and then disappear into the hut.

  She needed time to process all that she had just witnessed.

  Her brother was getting dis
tracted. That was beyond obvious.

  He probably hadn’t even noticed that she hadn’t followed him indoors yet. His thoughts were decidedly elsewhere.

  What was she going to do about that?

  What could she do?

  She looked down as she pondered the problem over in her mind and couldn’t help notice the crooked lines of mending and wear in her own dress. One week of work and the princess had earned herself a dress. If only she could be so lucky … she would have had a closet overflowing with dresses by now.

  She shook her head to push such thoughts from her mind. It wasn’t about the dress. It was about the motives behind the dress, she reminded herself. And something needed to be done to help Roderick right his course.

  She wasn’t sure what she should do yet.

  But she was sure she would think of something.

  The next day, Liesel marched to the market with her head held a little higher. She was immensely grateful to be able to put the shame of her old dress behind her. Dressed in her old peasant clothes, she had been constantly tortured by the relentless remembrance of her great and foolish error. How that dress had haunted her!

  Now, with the infamous dress tucked away and hidden from view, she was ready for a fresh start. It was time to plod forth and try to salvage what she could of her future.

  She hadn’t realized just how deeply her banishment had wounded her until Roderick had surprised her with his unexpected kindness. After all, how can anyone not question their self-worth after being discarded by their own parents?

  But Roderick’s act had given her hope; hope that she could still be valued and even accepted. For the first time, she was realizing that she had much to be grateful for in her new circumstances. How thankful she was that her parents had not cast her out alone and defenseless! At least she had Roderick. Somehow she knew she could trust that he would not let any harm come to her.

  And even though Maria had the cheerfulness of a thunderstorm, Liesel realized she was grateful for all she had done to house and feed her too. Maria wasn’t very likeable, but her help was invaluable.