Today I want to tell you two stories.  One of which will be very short and easily understood, the second will not.  I am Ame and I live in France. I spent my whole life expecting someone to come and make me the queen I was destined to be. Well, now I know that sometimes this does not happen. My sisters all went off and got married to the man our father thought best for them. Then it was my turn, the youngest princess to be married off. There were three princes left and well, my father had a hard time choosing. There was Amis. He was a strong man from the south of England. Not much to look at but he was there if you needed something heavy lifted. Then there was Law. He was from England as well, but he was not anything like Amis. He did nothing right. Then Jurian, from Germany, came to ask for my hand. My father did not like any of the men.

So I did not have a suitor. See told you the first story would be simple. The second story is not. You see while all this was going on, there was talk of a creature being in the north. Something my father would never let me hear about, but the servants thought I needed to know. One day Flore, my helper, came and talked to me of a dragon that was terrorizing the north and the peasants had no one to go fight for them. My father did not tell me or anyone else about this that I had known of so I thought he did not know.

The next day, I went and told my father about the dragon. “Oh Ame! There is nothing to worry about. It is an old legend. There is no dragon in the north.” I looked at my father, “Are you sure papa?” He shook his head yes and went about his business. I did not know what else to do. My father is the king after all and he knows more about the kingdom than anyone else does. I decided to go to the north and see for myself. I did not tell my mother or father where I was going but I knew that I would have to take someone with me. Someone that I knew I could trust.

Gris decided he would go with me. Gris was a very nice older gentleman that I wish you could have meet. I am sorry to say that he died not too long after the events of the story you are now reading. His son Gilles decided that he would also come with us to the north. We rode in silence most of the way. I do not know if the men did not know what to say to me or if they wanted me to be masked in some way. I wore something that would allow me to be masked, as the men asked me to.

We rode on for what seemed like forever before we found evidence of the dragon. There were charred homes and crops throughout the north. I could not explain it to you now if I wanted to. We rode longer until Gris saw the giant beast. It was brown and about 15 feet tall. I could not understand why my father would deny the existence of this creature. The three of us had to ride our horses as fast as we could out that day because the beast caught sight of us and decided we would make a good meal.

Upon our arrival, I took Gris and Gilles with me to see my father. We pleaded with him about the dragon, but he would not hear of it. Finally I yelled, “Papa! I almost died! Why do you not believe me?” He looked at me and just smiled. “I believe you. It is not that. I know the dragon lives up there but he does me a favor. He kills the other members that could claim the crown.” I looked at him confused. Gris spoke up when he saw that I could not: “So you let people die, in order to keep your throne?” He shook his head yes. “No one is to kill the creature! You hear me?” He looked right at me as he said it.

We left my father more confuse than ever that day. I did not know what to do. Finally I looked and found a sword. “My father should not let people die so he can remain king. That is not right. I need to do something about it.” I went to the square and made an announcement no one saw coming. “I am princess Ame! I will marry the man that is brave enough to go to the north and kill the dragon!” Fifteen men got on their horses and started to the north. I got on my horse and was about to leave when my father caught me.

“I told you no one is to kill the dragon!” I looked at him. “Papa, no one should die so you can remain in power. I will slay the dragon myself if I have to.” I left knowing my father was not happy with what I was planning to do. Gris and Gilles followed me to where the dragon was. We saw the men we sent up become scared and not knowing what the next move should be. Many left as soon as the fire came out of the dragon. I watched as these so called men rode away. I was sadden by this.

Gilles knew that I would kill the dragon. “I will distract him Ame. You should kill him.” Gilles did just that. He rode around and distracted the dragon. I went and waited for the perfect moment to kill the dragon. Gris could not sit back and watch us. He rode as fast as he could. I think he thought he would be the one to kill the dragon but it did not work out that way. The dragon saw him and shot the death flames at the poor old man. He died on his horse.

Not only did I now have to kill the dragon but I also had to not cry because this man died for me. Gilles made one last attempt to distract the dragon and that was all I needed. I shoved the sword up as far as I could into the neck and the dragon fell to the ground. The people of the village came out of hiding after hearing the dragon fall. The were overjoyed now that the terror was no more in their lives.

My father rode up to find the dragon dead. He was not happy, he was not mad, I do not know what emotion was running through him at that point. I got off my horse and looked at his face. “It is ok Papa. Sometimes we as women have to slay our own dragons.” He just looked at me as I said this and walked away from him.  He never did talk to me about the dragon or anything else that happened that day. The people do! They all know now that sometimes you must slay your our dragon in order to become who you need to be.