Smart or Brave?

In the great Kingdom of Odd, there stands a lake. A great, wonderful lake filled with clear, cold water.

It covers many miles of the prosperous kingdom and provides much-needed life-giving water to people, livestock and crops.

 

Now this lake has been there since anyone—even great Grampa Earnest—can remember. It is a central focal point. A sign-post. A natural, life-giving wonder. Welcome diversion for the foot-sore world wanderer. Even a tourist destination.

 

Its beaches beckon. To the young and high-spirited for parties. To the young families for castle-building and sunburns. And to the middle-aged and elderly for a spot to park their umbrellas and themselves for a much-needed rest.

 

For years, it was simply named: The Lake. Short. Succinct. All that was needed because, it’s the only lake for hundreds of miles in any direction. And easy to remember because, let’s face it, It’s a lake.

 

But then, the name was changed. It was named after a would-be prince for his . . . Exploits? Deeds? Actions? How about we let you decide because this is where our story starts . . .

 

A good, kind and fair king had an only daughter. A lovely, dark-eyed, dark-haired (and most importantly, intelligent) girl. Now, because this girl would one day be queen, her father felt she needed a partner.

 

Someone who cared more for her than he did for fame, politics or money. Who she could turn to for honest advice/encouragement. And would support her in all her royal decisions; and some household ones as well.

 

Now, because there were many, many young men in the Kingdom who possessed at least one of the specified qualifications—ie. they were male—it was decided that a contest would be held. Testing their various abilities.

 

Extended visits with the queen-to-be to ascertain compatible-ness. Debates. Tests of general Kingdom dos and don’ts—legal, ethical and etiquette-ical. Visits to nurseries and pre-schools because, hey, maybe some royal children some day, right?

 

Testing began in July—because that’s when they had time—and was meant to wrap up mid-August, but, because there were many more young men than anticipated (some even satellited in from neighbouring countries) things went waaaay overtime.

The finalists, two of them, were officially announced the first of October in a flurry of balls and celebrations. What followed was an intense week of conclusive competitions, culminating in a final act of supreme bravery.

 

Now this act of bravery was to be chosen by each of the young men who were to disclose it to the king, then set out to fulfill. Whoever succeeded (and/or lived), would become the Queen’s partner.

 

One young man determined to travel to a far-away land and fetch back a magic feather, purported to give its bearer added intelligence, mega experience, bonus lives and/or warrior abilities. And he did. And it did.

 

The other man, had been planning his ‘if-I-get-chosen’ act of bravery for months: he would swim the entire width of The Lake. Now admittedly, this determination was originally made in the summer. For a spectacular summer enactment.

 

Nevertheless (and disregarding the thick layer of Autumnal ice that had formed pre-maturely on The Lake), he chopped a hole just large enough for his handsome self and dove in. Never to be seen by anyone again.

 

After a few days, in the noticeable absence of further competition, Mr. Feather Procurer was declared the winner and he and the future queen were duly married and embarked on what would be a very happy life together. 

 

And now the point of my story: The naming of The Lake. In memory of the brave young man who had risked all in that final act of brave-ry, the name of The Lake was changed. To Lake Stupid.

 

Swim at your own risk.

Today’s post is a writing challenge! Each month one of the participating bloggers pick a number between 12 and 50. All bloggers taking part that month are then challenged to write using that exact number of words in their post either once or multiple times. 

 

This month’s word count number is: 37

It was chosen by: ME!

 

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them out!

 

Baking In A Tornado

Messymimi’s Meanderings