League of Extraordinary Robots, Yolanda Jackson [leveled readers TXT] 📗

THE SPOILED PRINCE

In the land of Mayfair, lived a king by the name of Alfred and his wife, Queen Jasline. King Alfred and Queen Jasline had two children, the oldest Prince Harry and his younger sister, Princess Cilla.
Prince Harry was a very happy little prince because you see Harry was very spoiled and rotten. Nobody, absolutely nobody was allowed to say ‘no’ to Prince Harry when he wanted something, or to punish him when he did something wrong or even to criticize him. Whatever Harry wanted to have, Harry had and whatever Harry wanted to do, Harry did and that was just the way it was.
Prince Harry was always getting into mischief, whether it was chasing his sister around the castle with his scary mask or snatching the clothing off the line for the hired help to re-clean them all over again. Harry thought this last was hilarious and he would laugh at all the servants, as he caused their jobs to be much harder as they had to do some of them all over again.
“Please, your Highness,” said the little laundry girl, who was just barely tall enough to reach the clothesline to hang things up. “Please don’t throw the washing on the ground again. My back hurts and I am so tired of washing clothes and hanging them on the line.”
Prince Harry just laughed and grabbing the King’s royal cape off the line he chased the little laundry girl all over the yard until he knocked her down with it, then he dropped it down over her head and of course it was so wet that by the time she got it off from herself she was soaking wet and very, very angry.
“I’ll give him what for,” she muttered to herself and started after Prince Harry with the king’s royal cape tucked under her arm.
“I’ll give him a taste of his own medicine.” The little laundry girl had four brothers and she knew just how to deal with boys when they acted spoiled and rotten.
“No, no, you mustn’t,” cried one of the laundry women, who ran out and grabbed the laundry girl by the arm and pulled her back. “No one is allowed to discipline the prince or even to criticize him, remember? The last people who told King Alfred that his son was spoiled and rotten disappeared and have never been heard from again. Remember, it is strictly against the law to say anything negative about the royal family. I know that boy is trouble on wheels, but you just mustn’t say anything or you’ll be the one in trouble.”
The little laundry girl went with the older woman but the look she gave Prince Harry, well, if looks really could kill, nobody would have had to worry about Prince Harry’s mischief again.
Every day Prince Harry had a birthday party, even though it wasn’t his birthday. And when it was his birthday, well, you can imagine the kind of a celebration they had then. The king and queen wanted to please Harry and stop him from having his tantrums, so they supplied him with a birthday party every day.
They knew that if Harry did not have his birthday party he would be a very unhappy little boy and an unhappy Harry was a terrible thing, a very terrible thing indeed!
Most importantly, the town’s people got tired of it. A birthday party every day for the same person became boring. Prince Harry had everything he could ever want, so every time someone would bring him a gift, Harry would toss it to the floor like a piece of garbage, often without even bothering to unwrap it.
Royalty and high society came from near and far to see Harry, because they knew that someday he would be the king, but when they left, they had a bad taste in their mouths.
“That boy is a spoiled brat!” said Harry’s Great Uncle Claudius to his wife Isabella. “He’s just like his father was at that age.”
“Shhh,” said Great Aunt Isabella, pushing him quickly towards their carriage. “You know better than to say anything like that. It’s against the law to criticize a member of the royal family, remember? What if someone heard you?”
“But I am a member of the royal family,” argued Great Uncle Claudius. “If anyone heard what I said and told, why then they’d be criticizing a member of the royal family so I’m safe, right?”
“I’m not sure and I don’t want to find out,” said Great Aunt Isabella. “Now hurry and get yourself in that carriage before you say something that will get us in trouble.”
“All right, all right,” grumbled Great Uncle Claudius. “But somebody, who shan’t be mentioned, could do with some good old fashioned discipline. A birthday party every day, the idea, such foolishness! His grandfather and I weren’t raised that way!”
“If you’re talking about the royal pain I completely agree with you, your highness,” said their coachman, as he held the door open for them to climb into the coach.
“Reginald!” said Great Aunt Isadora sharply. “I’ll thank you to keep your mouth closed about such things. I don’t want to disappear never to be seen again even if you two wouldn’t mind.”
“Yes Princess Isadora,” said the coachman. He managed, just barely, to keep a straight face but Great Uncle Claudius grinned as he climbed into the coach behind his wife and gave him a big wink.
“It’s a shame, a real shame,” said Great Uncle Claudius when they had driven far enough away from the castle to know that no one was near enough to hear what they were saying. “That boy is totally out of control and his parents just stand by and let him do as he feels fit. Because they are the king and queen, no one is brave enough to say anything. Even the members of the royal family are afraid to speak about Harry’s rude behavior. His parents aren’t doing him any favor. It’s a shame, a real shame.”
Now that you know a bit about the royal family, let me tell you about the land of Mayfair itself and the other lands around it.
Mayfair was one of the few mystical, magical lands left; most of the others had been invaded by the Bots. Actually invaded may not be the right word. The Bots weren’t a warlike group that overpowered nations and took over, in fact, they were really very friendly and kind beings, it was just that there were so many of them, that when they moved into an area, they simply took over and because they were such an advanced society and had so much to offer, most of the residents were glad to have them there.
King Alfred however did not like the idea of having the Bots move into Mayfair. He very much liked being the king and having his own way about everything and he wanted things to stay just the way they were. It is very easy to see who young Prince Harry took after isn’t it?
King Alfred ordered a 100 million mile wall to be built. “It is the longest wall ever built,” he told the people of Mayfair. “I will have guards guarding the wall day and night, thousands of guards lined up to keep watch. They will make sure that none of the evil Bots get into our beautiful land. I will make sure that you are all protected from the evil Bots.”
The king didn’t add that in keeping watch so that no Bots could enter Mayfair, the guards were also keeping watch to make sure that none of the people of Mayfair could leave without the king knowing about it and giving permission and King Alfred was not about to give permission. “I like things just the way they are,” he told Queen Jasline. “And that’s just the way I plan to keep them.”
“Please your majesty,” called Julius, an older man who had lived in Mayfair all of his life, at least so far, as he liked to tell people. “None of us have ever seen a Bot. Could you tell us what the Bots are like?”
“Gladly,” said King Alfred. He held his hands high in the air and curled his fingers so that they looked like claws and made the scariest face he could possibly make. “They look sort of like this only worse,” he told the people. They are huge ape like creatures over fifteen feet tall and they weight over a ton or more. They carry big clubs and they could kill each one of you with one blow of their clubs without even half trying. They came to some of our neighboring lands in armies of hundreds, killing and destroying everything in sight. But you don’t have to worry, we have our wall and as long as you stay right here in our own land, right behind the wall, you will be safe from the Bots but if you go out beyond the wall you will be in danger of being caught and destroyed by the Bots.”
Many of the people were beginning to feel sick of the royal family. “I feel as if we are being held prisioners in our own land,” whispered Andrea, to her neighbor Bettina. “I think the king is just making up about the Bots in order to keep us all here, but on the other hand, what if he’s not? What if he’s really not?”
Many of the people felt the same way but they were careful not to let the king or any of his guards hear them say so because of the law about saying anything negative about a member of the royal family. None of them wanted to disappear in the night, never to be seen again.
There was one old man by the name of Wisker, who always questioned the king, but he was careful to do it underground in his secret tunnel that not even King Alfred knew about. Wisker wasn’t just any old man; he was an old wizard who at one time had worked for the king, performing magical tricks for the king and his royal visitors. The king had gotten sick of Wisker’s same tricks and had thrown him to the side. “You are not a real wizard,” he had told Wisker. “You don’t do real magic, just silly tricks. You are not a real wizard at all!”
Now this wasn’t true. Wisker was not only a real wizard but a very powerful one at that. He was tall, with very pale skin, and he wore a black cape and a black hood to match. He had a magical book, one so very powerful, that he dare not let it leave his hands. “This book is full of magic spells,” Wisker told his friends. “I hate to think what would happen if it ever fell into the wrong hands and someone found out how to open it.” The book was made of pure leather and had a golden lock to which only Wisker himself knew the combination.
One day Wisker went to the royal throne room to confront the king. “You are not ruling the kingdom of Mayfair