Chapter 3: The Princess

Peri was normally easy-going and unflappable. But it was Halloween and the warning of Ma Gabor was still in the back of his mind. Especially, since he had now met a witch he believed might have eaten him instead of cursing him. The storm broke before Peri had found shelter for the night and he took refuge beneath a large overhanging stone.

Little did he know the stone was the partly toppled monument to a long-forgotten princess! The stone provided scant shelter and no warmth as Peregrine huddled there shivering.

“Has my Prince Charming has come at last?” whispered a voice near Peri’s ear. He jumped nearly out of his skin and spun to look at the vision of a beautiful young woman.

“I’m ... I’m ... I’m not a prince!” he gasped as he looked at her.

“A knight? His squire?”

“N-n-n-o. I’m just a wanderer seeking shelter from the storm.”

“You’ll do.”

“Do for what?” Peri asked in horror as the beauty moved toward him.

“To marry me! Love me! Be with me forever?”

“Are you my Eve?” he asked, fearing the worst.

“Eve? Hmm. I don’t think that was my name. People only ever called me Princess. Never a name like I should have had. Oh, damn! I suppose I’m dead, aren’t I? Still waiting by my window at the castle for my prince to come.” Then the ghost, for so Peri now identified her, sat next to where Peri had huddled and began to cry.

“Did you not know it?” Peri asked.

“Oh, I suppose I did. But there’s nothing to do here but live in my dreams of the days in the castle planning my wedding and waiting for a handsome prince to come calling.”

Peri sat beside the ghost and reached out to comfort her. His hand passed right through her.

“That wasn’t pleasant!” she snapped. “Keep your hands to yourself.”

“I’m so sorry! I only thought to comfort you.”

“Thanks for the thought. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve becoming a ghost tied to this old rock. I remember being in the castle waiting for a prince, but what we got was an army to destroy us. I fought, you know. In those days everyone who could swing a sword or a pitchfork fought. The last I remembered was a handsome man in gleaming armor. ‘My Prince!’ I cried, opening my arms. And then he killed me.”

“How sad. Is there anything I can do to help you?” he asked politely.

“I don’t suppose you’d consider dying and living with me forever, would you?”

“Uh ... No, Miss Princess. I’m sure you’d be pleasant company, but I must continue the quest to find my Eve or I shall never find peace.”

“Ugh! That sounds worse than I have it. Why must you continue?”

“A witch cursed me because I stole an apple. I must wander until I find the key to the heart of my Eve or my heart will be as empty as my belly.” As if to punctuate his statement, Peri’s stomach growled.

“Could you at least get rid of the gophers, then?”

“What?”

“Gophers have been digging all around my grave. That’s why the stone is tilted. I’m afraid they’ll dig right through me one day,” said the ghost princess.

“I might be able to help,” Peri said. He searched around the stone as the ghost watched until he found a gopher hole. “Br’er Gopher, Br’er Gopher! Pop up and say hello.”