Rosie and the Peacock King

Once upon a time there lived a king and queen. They had two handsome sons – the older was called Prince Biggus and the younger Prince Tinyus. A beautiful young princess was born to the royal couple one day. The little girl they had so longed for! They named their first daughter Rosie. She charmed everyone with her beauty, for no one could take their eyes off her. Shortly after her birth, the king and the queen held a huge celebration in her honour. The sound of celebratory trumpets echoed throughout the whole land. So many guests had never been seen in the castle before! Everyone wanted to see the little princess, including the fairy godmothers, who were supposed to foretell her fate. But when the time came for the godmothers’ prophecy, they didn’t rush to share it. Instead, they kept on changing the subject for some reason.

But the queen insisted, so one of the fairy godmothers finally whispered to her:

“Your majesty, we can’t tell you much except that both of your sons will suffer great misfortune because of the princess.”

The queen’s throat suddenly tightened in fear, and from that day on, she pondered about those words, all sad and brooding. The king noticed that something was bothering his wife, but despite his never-ending questions, she didn’t say a word – until one day when the king lost all his patience and she had to spill the terrible news.

When the king heard the prophecy, he felt a pang in his heart.

“If we want to save our sons, Rosie needs to die as soon as possible. What other choice do we have?” he said after a moment of silence.

But the queen wouldn’t hear of it. She would never allow it.

A terrible…