Princess Lavender (Part 1 of 2)

We've all heard the story of Sleeping Beauty. You know, that gal who got cursed by a witch and slept in a castle tower until Prince Charming woke her up with a kiss. What is little known, however, is that Sleeping Beauty actually had a cousin named Princess Lavender who had her own curse to reckon with.

In many regards these two princesses were very similar. They were both beautiful. They were both kind. And they both wanted to marry the prince of their dreams. But unlike Sleeping Beauty, Princess Lavender had a harder time finding her true love.

It wasn't because the princes weren't interested. Young men would come from miles around to court the princess and ask for her hand. Her Father, King Ferdinand, even offered half the gold in his treasury as a matrimonial inducement. But invariably, the princes would ride home in a huff without so much as a second date.

What was wrong with the Princess to make her so undesirable? Well, no one could tell at first, but soon a pattern emerged that gave everyone in the royal family great alarm (which is probably why you never heard about it from Sleeping Beauty). Prince X would be shone to the throne room, introduce himself, and then take Princess Lavendar for a ride in the forest or a walk in the garden. Then came dinner, dessert, and the evening entertainment. Everything went just fine until the kiss goodnight.

You see, while Sleeping Beauty was cursed to a semi-eternal slumber until her true love's kiss, Princess Lavender's kiss invariably cursed its recipient to a week in bed.

"Royal Butler!" she'd call from the doorway, "It happened again!" At this, the butler, along with two or three guards (depending upon the size of the suitor) would hoist the sleeping prince to a large guest bedroom (that often housed other slumbering princes from the nights before). A week later, the prince would wake up, shake the cobwebs from his head, and run for the door as quickly as possible (without saying goodbye, this time).

Princess Lavender would sigh and then sit on her throne until another prince was shown in. As the months turned into years, the princes showed up less and less often. The little princess grew quite despondent for it seemed she would never get married, or if she did it would have to be to someone who was too respulsive to kiss.

But all that changed the day Prince Ian knocked on the door...