Well, A Prince...

Once upon a time...

there were two princes who lived in a magical kingdom far, far away.

The older brother, Logan, was brave and strong. He could climb to the very top of the playground, swim in the deep end of the pool, and jump from one couch to the other in a single leap.

The younger brother, Jake, was creative and clever. He could zip up his own jacket, paint a picture with all the colours of the rainbow, and spread peanut butter on his toast all by himself.

But only one of them could become King.

"I should be King because I was born first. Snooze, you lose," said Logan.

Jake scoffed. "Surely, the second born is best. The first born is merely practice!"

Prince Logan prepared his battle tortoise for war. Prince Jake saddled his army of shih tzus. But just as they were about to fight, a giant fire-breathing unicorn invaded their kingdom. It scared away the army of shih tzus by shooting fireworks from its horn, and snatched up defenceless Prince Jake. Prince Logan tried to save him, but his attack tortoise was too slow.

As much as Prince Logan wanted to be King, he could not leave his little brother to be eaten by a fire-breathing unicorn. Who would be player two in his video games if his little brother was gone? Prince Logan decided to chase the unicorn and get his brother back. The unicorn was easy to follow, because it left a trail of sparkles wherever it went.

Prince Logan scaled the tallest mountain, swam through the fastest river, and leapt across the deepest ravine, finally finding the castle where the fire-breathing unicorn lived. He knocked on the door and said quietly, "Hello, unicorn?" No-one answered. He banged on the door and yelled as loud as he could, "Hey! Unicorn!"

The fire-breathing unicorn stuck its head out of the window and said, "well... a prince! I love eating princes, but I already have a prince to eat today, and I'm on a strict diet. Please come back tomorrow." The unicorn went back inside and slammed the window shut. Then it pressed a button that put the castle in lock-down mode, turning on thirty-seven lazer beams, seventeen lava sling-shots, and releasing one very ornery guard llama.

Inside, the fire-breathing unicorn continued to prepare Prince Jake for supper. The unicorn put Prince Jake in a pot with liquirice and ice cream, then added strawberries, canolies, and vanilla frozen yogurt. Prince Jake, being very clever indeed, said, "why, Unicorn, why don't you add pepper? Some spice might be nice!"

The fire-breathing unicorn nodded in agreement, and took out the pepper. But! Just as it began sprinkling the pepper, Prince Jake blew a huge breath just like if he was blowing out the candles on a birthday cake (he'd been practicing), and the pepper went up the fire-breathing unicorn's nose. The unicorn started to sneeze, and sneeze, and sneeze! He couldn't stop sneezing!

Prince Jake leapt down from the pot, grabbed the key from the unicorn's pocket, and ran to the door. Just as he was unlocking it, Prince Logan broke through with his attack tortoise (who had finally caught up). Behind him, the army of shih tzus took out the lazer beams and sling-shots and chased away the guard llama.

The two brothers hugged one another tight, happy to be reunited.

"You came to rescue me! You are very brave and strong to have made it all the way here on your own," said Prince Jake.

"Of course I did! Though, you seem to have been able to escape all by yourself. You are very clever, indeed," said Prince Logan.

Then, someone sneezed.

"Gesundheit," said Prince Logan.

But Prince Jake knew where that sneeze came from. The fire-breathing unicorn was right behind them! Prince Logan was about to send his army in to attack, but Prince Jake stopped him.

"Excuse me, Unicorn," Prince Jake said, "I heard you mention earlier that you're on a strict diet. Have you considered the benefits of vegetarianism?"

The fire-breathing unicorn pondered this for a moment. "You know, I did watch a documentary about that on Netflix the other day."

So, the two princes invited the fire-breathing unicorn back to their kingdom for dinner where they ate lots of banana-chocolate-chip-muffins, made pillow and blanket forts, and played video games late into the night. The fire-breathing unicorn didn't eat a single prince that night, not even once.

And the two princes realized that they could accomplish so much more working as a team, and decided to change the law so they could both be King, ruling the kingdom together.

THE END

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This story is inspired by the children's books written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko-- both of whom are Canadian, just like my family! My boys love sitting on my lap to read the giant book of stories gifted to them by their great-grandpa Les, and giggle every time I do the voice of the dragon in our favourite installment, The Paper Bag Princess. I remember reading this story when I was a little girl, sitting on the lap of my own mother. I loved that the Princess was the hero, and didn't need anything but her wits to save the Prince-- who ended up being a bum.

My two little boys don't always get along, but I hope that as they grow up they will learn to appreciate that they're built-in best friends, that they work best as a team, and that they will take care of each other.

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