once upon a marigold excerpt
TRANSCRIPT
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Copyright 2002 by Jean Ferris
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Sandpiper, an imprint
of Houghton Miin H arcourt Publishing Company. Originally published inhardcover in the United States by Harcourt Childrens Books, an imprint of
Houghton Miin H arcourt Publishing Company, 2002.
SANDPIPER and the SANDPIPER logo are trademarks of
Houghton Miin H arcourt Publishing Company.
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, Houghton Miin H arcourt Publishing Company,215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
www.hmhbooks.com
Te text of this book is set in Berling.
Book design by Lydia Dmoch
Te Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Ferris, Jean.
Once upon a Marigold/Jean Ferris.
p. cm.
Summary: A young man with a mysterious past and a penchant for
inventing things leaves the troll who raised him, meets an unhappy princess
he has loved from afar, and discovers a plot against her and her father.
[1. Fairy tales. 2. PrincessesFiction. 3. Kings, queens, rulers, etc.Fiction.
4. Family lifeFiction. 5. TrollsFiction. 6. Humorous stories.]
I. Title. PZ8.F387On 2002 [Fic]dc212002000311
ISBN: 978-0-15-216791-2 hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-544-05400-4 paperback
Manufactured in the United States of America
DOC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
4500397040
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Part One
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E d r i c knew he should head for home. I t would be
dark soon, and even though he was as familiar w i t h
his part of the forest as he was w i t h the back and
the front of his hand, there were dangers when the
lights went o u t w i l d animals, ev il sp irits, b ig glow ing
eyes attached to who-knew-what, stuff l ike that. But
Beelzebub and Hecate were having such a good t ime
sniffing under every bush and barking all the grouse
out f rom their hiding places that Ed was reluctant to
spoil thei r fun. Besides, he'd been having a very goodday of gathering.
Some days there was nothing; nobody passing
th rough the forest dropped a thing. But today h e 'd
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found a ring w i t h a big shiny p in kstone, a collapsible
telescope, a book of Greek myths, an almost-new
leather jerkin, and a flask halffu l l (he knew there were
some people who w o u l d have said half empty) of a
quite palatable winerather frisky, w i t h some floral
notes and a nice, lin gerin g, jau n ty sort o f finish. It had
been a very good day indeed.
He heard the dogs yapping their heads off up
ahead. N o t an encouraging sign. H e cou ld tell Bub was
working himself into a state, t rying to act as fierce as
he looked, and Cate was overemoting, as usual. What
ever they w ere barking at m u st have gone straight u p a
tree, taken off for parts unknown, or had a coronary.
"Hey, you guys!" Ed yelled. "Cut that out!" He
came t h rough the trees and saw the two dogsbig
shaggy Beelzebub and petite well-groomed Hecate
in front of a clump of bushes, carrying on as if they
d idn ' t have a br ain in either of th eir heads.
"Hey!" he yelled again. "Stop that!"
A b r u p d y they stopped barking. But both noses
were p ointed at the bushes, both tails out straight and
quivering.
"What's in there?" Ed asked nervously. The lightwas fading through the trees, casting long shadows
th at wavered and fooled th e eye into th in kin g thr eat-
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ening things lurked in th e gloom . O r maybe th e shad
ows w eren ' t fooling at all.
"Com e on ," Ed ric said in a lo w voice. "Let's go
home."
The dogs didn ' t move.
"Would you listen to me?" he pleaded, peering
anxiously around as the light grew dimmer. If only
he ' d though t t o bring along some squirrel knuckles,
their favorite treat, he could have lured them away
easily.
He wasn't supposed to be snaring squirrels, of
course, since these were King Swithbert 's woods, or
maybe King Beau fort 'sit w as hard to tel l where the
boun daries betw een the t w o kingd oms lay bu t w h o
was going to miss a few squirrels when there were so
many? Well, the other squirrels, maybe, but he d idn ' t
le t himself t h i nk about that. Hayes Centaur, King
Swithbert 's gamekeeper, was conscientious (unlike
King Beaufort's more laid-back Claypool Sasquatch)
and w o u l d love n ot h in g better th an to catch Ed ric
poaching a squirrel, but even he couldn ' t keep count
o f a ll th e squ irrels, or tel l which were Swithbert 's and
which were Beaufort's.Ed pushed his way between the dogs, who were
quivering so hard that they sent up a fa in t hum. He
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extended the collapsible telescope and poked i t gin
gerly into the bushes. "Hello?" he said tentatively.
"Hello," came a small voice.
Edric and the dogs jumped in unison.
"Who's in there?" Ed demanded gruffly, hoping he
sounded seven feet ta l l instead of his actual three feet,
four inches.
"Me," came th e sma ll voice. A n d a hand some l i t t le
boy w i t h big brown eyes and tousled brown haira
few leaves clingin g hap hazard ly to itst u ck his head
ou t of the bushes. " W i l l those dogs eat me?" he asked
solemnly.
Edric was so relieved, his knees went weak. "Naw,"
he said. "This one"he put his hand on Beelzebub's
shaggy neck and felt the dog's shivers of terror"is a
coward who hides behind his big bark. And this
one"he scratched Hecate's ears"is a show -off w h o
ju st w ants to be th e center of at tention." Cate waggedh e r p lu my t a i l vigorously and grinn ed .
"Who are you?"th e boy asked, craw ling farth er ou t
of the bushes.
"Edric's my name. But mostly I'm called Ed. And
w h o are you?""Christian," the boy said. "I'm six."
"Well, come out of there, Christian, and tell m e
w h a t you're doing here."
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Christian craw led a ll the w ay ou t from th e bushes
and stood up. "I'm almost as big as you," he said,
surprised.
Ed pul led himself to his f u l l height. "I 'm t a l l for a
t r o l l , " he said defensively.
"I've never met a t r o l l before," Christian said.
Ed stu ck o u t his han d and shook Christian's. "N o w
you have. A n d w h at about you?"
" I 'm a boy," Christian said seriously. "Can't you
tell?"
"Well, sure. I know you're a boy. What I want to
know is, where are your folks? It's almost dark out
here."
" I don' t know where they are now. They looked
fo r me for a long tim e, b u t th eir voices got farther an d
farther away u n t i l I couldn' t hear th em at all ."
"You mean you were hiding from them?" Ed
asked. "Why?"
" I d on ' t w ant to live w i t h them anymore. It 's too
hard."
"So yo u th ou gh t y ou 'd live in the forest?Do you
have any idea how hard thatw o u l d be for somebody
wearing a... a.. . What is that? A velvet suit?""Wh at sh ou ld I wear instead?"
"What I mean is, somebody like you doesn't know
anything about l iv ing in a forest. That cup of tea is
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definitely n ot d o w n your alley, if you know w h a t I
mean. What w o u l d you do for shelter? Food? Heat?
Protection?"
" I was going to live in that bush." Christian ges-
t u red . "It has berries on i t . "
Ed rolled his eyes. " I can see I ' m beating m y head
against a dead horse. There are berries now because
it's sum mer. There wo n ' t be any in a few m ore weeks."
H e considered for abou t h alf a second and then said ,
"You'd better come home w i t h me. I can take you
back to your folks in t he morning."
Christian's lower lip came out . " I ' l l go w i t h you
now, bu t I wo n ' t go hom e in the morning . I don ' t even
know w here hom e is."
Ed p u t his han d on Chr istian's shoulder. "Let's get
ou t of here. I t ' l l be pi tch-darkin a few m inu tes, and I
d on ' t want t o ru n into any m ore surp rises. We can fin-
ish this conversation once we're inside. Come on,Bub. Get going, Cate. Let's get th is show on th e ball."
Cate scampered ahead, t h rowing herself into her
performance as a courageous gu ide dog. Bu b, stickin g
close to Ed , could feel a sickheadache com ing onhe
always got one after he'd had to be braveand hecould hardly wait to f lop down in front of the fire and
p u l l h im self together.
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"Wh at 's th at shiny blu e stu ff u p there?" Ch ristia n
asked after they'd w o u n d along narrow r u t t e d paths
for a while , doing their bests not to ru n into any trees,
fall in any stream s, or become supp er for anything else
wander ing around ou t there.
"Wh ere?" Ed asked. "O h , yeah . Grea t! That's t h e
cave. We're almost home." The dogs ran ahead and
disappeared into the shadows.
"You live in a cave?" Christian asked. "Why is it
blue?"
"It's blue, and red, and green, and pink, and
purp le , and yellow, t oo ," Ed said . "It's a big cave w i t h
lots of room s, and in each roo m th e w alls and ceilings
are studded w i t h a different k i n d of crystal. I don't
know how, b u t they glow in the d ark. Kind of pretty,
don ' t you th ink?"
"Yeah," Ch rist ian breath ed as th ey ap p roached . "It
looks like magic."
"Well, m aybe i t is. I d on 't know of another cave like
i t . W h en I d iscovered i t , th e entrance was a ll blocked
by rocks and d i r t . I was sick of being a nomad and
knew I ' d finally found my home. Trolls have to spend
at least one h u n d re d years of th eir lives in a cave; d idyou know that? It's a t radi t ion . I've been here, oh,
must be one hu n d red and seventeen years n ow ."
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In th e large yellow -cry stal r oo m th at Ed used for
his m ain p arlor, he bui l t u p t h e fire, stu m bling repeat
edly over Bub, who was laid out in front of it like a
hearth rug, breathing deeply in relief at being safe at
home.
For supper there was leftover raccoon ragout, sea-
soned w i t h w i l d garlic, onion, parsley, sage, rosemary,
and thyme. There were acorn-meal biscuits and new
strawberries and the wine Ed had found that day.
W h e n it was all gone, Ed let out a satisfied b u r p .
Christian imitated h im and giggled. "I f I d id that at
hom e, I 'd be sent to m y roo m ," he said. "Actually, I ' d
be dragged o ff to m y ro om , p roba bly by m y ear."
A bit drastic for a b u r p , Ed thought , but maybe
he 'd lived in a cave for so long he'd lost whatever so
cial graces he might once have had.
"And y ou can forget about ta kin g m e back th ere,"
Christian w ent on. "I ' m t ired of being to ld w ha t to do ,and of being too clean, and of not being able to make
a mess. Inventing is messy, and that 's w h at I like to do .
M y parents w i l l be glad I ' m gone."
" I t hou gh t t hey searched for you all afterno on ."
"Oh, they ' l l forget about m e p r ett y soon. Theyhave lots of other kids," Ch r ist ian said . "Father never
listens to m e. A n d M ot h er only cares about how clean
I am an d I' m never clean enou gh . The rest of th e
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time she just wants to play bezique and piquet w i t h
her lady friends."
Ed could see there was no point in arguing w i t h
th is k id . H e figured he could manage to pu t up w i t h
the l i t t le squirt for one night and then he'd track
d o w n the parents and hand him over. "Come on," he
said. "It's late. You can wear this for a nightshirt." He
handed the boy a shirt of t h i n cambric that he had
found beside a pond. Well, he had to admit he could
see th e own er of th e shir t splashing in th e p on d , b u t
he'd left him his boots and his breeches, hadn't he?
Wh a t else d id a body need to get home in on a warm
summer day?
Ed made a bed for Christian out of furs in the
dark-blue-crystal room. Sleeping in there was like
sleeping u p in the n ight sky w i t h the glitter ofStardust
all aroun d you . The l i t t le boy looked quite happy bed
ded down in the furs, the sleeves of his nightshirtrolled up four and a half times. As soon as he p u t his
head down, bo th dogs came padding in to flop on ei
ther side of h im .
W i t h an arm around each f u r r y neck, he mur
mured sleepily, "You can throw that stupid velvetsuit away. I'm never wearing it again." Then his eyes
closed, and three sets ofsoft snores rose to the shining
ceiling.
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"Who does he t h in k he is?" Ed m u tter ed , p icking
u p th e t r a i l of discarded clothing as he went back to
the fire in the yellow-crystal room. "Imperious l i t t le
son of a gun, acting like some big cheese in a small
pond , expecting m e t o p ick u p after h im like I was his
servant."
H e d rop p ed the cloth ing in fron t of the fire and sat
on the p icnic ru g he 'd fou n d years before, way over on
King Beau fort's side of th e forest. I t was a p icnic th a t
had been inte rr u p ted sud denly; he could tell tha t
much f rom the scattered plates and utensils and foo d .
N ot that there was much food left. Whatever animal
had come u p on th e picnickers ha d enjoyed th e m ealmore than they had. But Ed had enjoyed the kitchen-
ware, the hamper, the big napkins embroidered w i t h
the letter B, and the rug, all of which he'd hauled
home.
He shook out each small item of clothing anddusted it off. As he folded the velvet shorts, he heard
a faint tinkle. In the pocket he found a gold chain
w i t h a gold en cha rm han ging fr om it . The charm was
in the shape of a b i rd unlike any Ed had ever seen in
the forest, though that certainly didn ' t mean it didn ' texist. The w o r l d was f u l l of fantastical creatures. Th e
b i rd seemed to be part pheasant and p ar t eagle.
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Ed retu rn ed the chain to the pocket. Un d er other
circumstances he w o u l d have added it to his collec-
t ion, but he had a feeling the kid's parents w o u l d n o
tice if i t was missing. Then he wrapped the stack of
clothing in one of the big picnic napkins, stashed the
bu nd le in the hamper, and sett led d ow n w i t h his briar
pipe and the book of Greek myths. Nothing l ike a
l i t t le fratricide, patricide, matricide, and infanticide to
send a fellow righ t off to sleep.
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I n the morn ing Christian folded his arms across his
sturdy chest and said, "I'm not going out there w i t h
you . I told you I d idn ' t want to be found."
"Oh , give me a break," Ed said, annoyed. The last
th ing he needed was a l i t t le boy, for pete's sake."What can be so bad about going home?"
" I to ld yo u . There're too m any stupid rules. You
can't ta lk unless somebody asks you a question, even
i fyou have som eth ing really good to say, and you can 't
h i t your brother even if he's done something mean,and you have to have a ll those boring lessons, a n d "
"But those are normal rules parents are supposed
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t o have," Ed inte rr u p ted . "Min e d id , and I . . . " He al
m ost said, ". . . and I never ran away." Bu t he had .
Every one of his eight brothers had, too. It was a t r o l l
t radi t ion . "Well, anyway, if I let you stay here, I'd feel
like a kid nap p er or something."
Christian stuck o u t his low er lip and said, "I f yo u
tel l anybody where I am, I ' l l tel l them you did kidnap
m e. A n d th at you w ere going to ask for a w h ole lot o f
money to give me back, and that even after you got
the money, you were still going to torture me and
then kil l m e. H ow d o you th in k m y parents w o u l d like
that?"
Beads ofsweat popped out on Ed's forehead. Why,
th e k id was a scoun d rel. A con m an . A rascal and a
rogue. A n d there w asn't a thin g Ed could do about i t .
H e did k n o w w h a t those parents would th ink . A n d
w h a t they w o u l d probably do to h im . Wh o w o u l d be
lieve the t r u t h coming f rom h im , a mere forest t ro l l ,
compared to a big lie coming from an adorable kid
w i t h the heart of a weasel?
"Jeez," he said. "You're a menace."
"Only w h e n I have to be," Christian said w i t h an
u n h a p p y l i t t le tr em ble in his voice, and w en t to lie infront of the fire w i t h Cate and Bub.
A n d as much as Ed wanted to t u r n him over his
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knee and give him a good spanking, he couldn't help
noticing h ow relieved the boy looked to be p iled u p
w i t h the undemanding, comforting dogs.
Christian stayed there almost all day, dozing or
playing w i t h the dogs, not asking for anything, just
saying "Than k y ou " very politely w h en Ed br ou gh t
h im something to eat.
"I've got to go out for a while ," Ed said. A t Chr is
tian's ferocious look, he ad d ed, "An d I' m no t te llin g
anybody anything, so quit giving me that black eye."
Outside, the forest was unusually stil l , as if all the
creatures in it , even the fiercest, u gliest, most fire-
breathing ones, w ere ho ld ing th eir breaths. Even th e
leaves hung motionless in the dusty golden sunlight.
Ed stood sti l l himself and listened. Far off he heard
th e yod el of h u n tin g horns and th e baying of blo od
hound s, and he un d erstood w h y the forest creatures
were lying low. Nobody likes to be hunted d o w n .Bu t maybe th e horns and the dogs wer en't h u n tin g
animals. Maybe they were after a l i t t le boy. Ed set out
th rough th e trees, following the soundsbut they
ju st kep t gettin g fa r th er and fa r ther aw ay. A n d w i t h
them went his chance to u nload the l i t t le rapscallion.Wha t had possessed h im to br ing the k id home
w i t h him? If he 'd left him in the bushes, his parents
would doubtless have found him by now. As the
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sounds finally faded completely away and darkness
began to sett le arou nd h im , Ed sighed and tu rn ed to
ward home. Oh wel l . He'd but tered his bread, and
n ow he ha d t o lie in i t .
C H R I S T I A N WAS W A I T I N G by the fire, one arm
clutched t ightly around each dog, his eyes wide .
Ed flung his jacket onto a chair. "They were out
there, loo kin g for yo u , b u t they're gone now ."
The dogs w en t tearing ou t of th e cave. They 'd fe lt
some instinctive protectiveness toward the boy and
w o u l d n ' t have left him alone. But now that Ed was
hom e, they w ere w ay overdu e for a r u n .
"Wi l l they come back?" Ch ristia n asked.
"The dogs? Of course. They live here."
"Not them. The people looking."
"How should I know? H ow bad do they w an t you?"
"Maybe not very m u ch. They d on ' t like m y ideas."
"Ideas? W h a t k i n d of ideas can a l i t t le k id have?"
Ed asked. "For pete's sake."
" I have ideas," Christian said indignantly, coming
over to Ed, t r ipp ing on the di r ty t a i l of the big cam
bric shirt he sti l l wore .
"Tell me one," Ed said. He needed some ideas h i m -
self. Like, w h at th e heck was he going to d o w i t h a
kid?
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" I th in k people shouldn ' t have children unless they
really want them," Christian said.
Well, Ed agreed w i t h that idea. He definitely
didn ' t w ant a kid . "Wh at else?" Ed asked grumpi ly .
" I th in k people should be nice to each other and
share what they have w i t h people who need things."
Ed swallowed hard. He couldn't exactly disagree
w i t h that, but he was getting the uneasy feeling that
he was being manipulated. " H u h , " he grunted.
" I th in k everybody should have six hugs a day,"
Christ ian went on.
"Well, that's hogwash," Ed said. "I can't remember
the last t ime anybody hugged me, and I 'm doing fine."
"Bub and Cate," Christian said.
"What about 'em?" Ed asked.
I hey re your hugs.
"Hogwash," Ed said again, just as Bub and Cate
came racing back from sniffing whatever they'd beensniffing and ju m p ed u p on Ed . Together, they knocked
h im over, walked on him, licked him, as if they hadn't
seen h im for ten years instead of ten minutes.
"Get off me, you mangy mutts," Ed to ld t h e m ,
struggling to get away, but not too hard.Well, they'd heard that before. They d idn ' t pay
any attention.
When Ed had r ighted himself and picked the
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leaves ou t of his beard , he headed into the p ink-crysta l
room, the one he used for his office, tr ailed by Ch ris
t ian and the dogs.
" I d o n ' t have t ime for this nonsense," he said
stiffly, hoping the whole problem would somehow
go away if he didn ' t look at it . "I 'm a very busy per
son, waging an important campaign, and my time is
valuable."
"What impor tant campaign?" Christian asked.
"I 'm going to bust Mab's monopoly if it 's the last
th ing I ever do."
"You mean Queen Mab?" Christian asked. "The
Tooth Fairy?"
"Tooth Tyrant is more like i t , " Ed grumbled. "She's
got more w or k th an she can hand le, even w i t h t ha t
incom p etent flock of flying assistants she's got, most
of which couldn' t read a map to save their l ivesif
she even has any decent maps, which I doubt ."
H e warm ed to his subject, which had begun as yet
another t ro l l t radi t ionthe one that says the highest
achievement a t ro l l should aspire to is to take on a
special task that w i l l benefit the greatest number of
p eople (even if th ey are ch ild ren )an d h ad become acrusade. Most of the reason that i t had was because
Mab's inefficiency was so outrageous, it ju st p lain gave
h im t he whim-whams .
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Ed continued. "More than once I've seen t h e m
buzzing arou nd in the forest, ru n n ing into trees and
dropp ing their l i t t le parcels of money. I ' l l bet there are
plenty ofkids w h o neverget th eir lost teeth p icked u p .
A n d there are plenty of others who get those pr in ted
messages about how her secretary's out sick so every
thing's backed up, or how bad weather caused flight
delays, or whatever. The t r u t h is, Mab's overwhelmed
and she w on 't ad m it it . A n d she w on 't let go of any
of the business, either. Monopoly's not good, you
know. Makes an enterprise lazy and uncreative. I've
got some good ideas. I could give her a run for her
eyeteeth if I could just get a nose under the door. I 'mvery busy," he repeated.
After a pause Ch ristian said qu ietly, " I cou ld help
you . I could learn to do things. I could probably even
invent something that would make whatever you're
doing easier.""N o way, Jose," Ed said . "Im p ossible. O u t of th e
question. We're going to find you r fam ily. Tru st m e."
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