Chapter 4

The girl in the tavern sat and moped over the prince, and the prince in his castle sat and moped over his princess, and the people avoided each other's eyes in the streets and snapped at their loved ones, and it seemed as though the kindom had been cursed.

Then, suddenly the girl got up. She looked out of the window and the street was empty. In the distance she could see the red castle on the hill but nothing moved there; the only life in the town was two black and white birds flying low overhead, calling to each other. The man who owned the tavern came into the room, straining to carry a heavy barrel and muttering to himself. The girl turned and smiled a radiant smile and the man was so suprised that he stopped and stared as the girl came over, took the barrel and put it away behind the bar. Then the girl fetched her coat and told the man that she was going out for a while, and the tavern keeper noticed that he had been smiling without realising it. The girl stepped out of the tavern and walked down the road. First she went to visit her friends and some of them joined her, and they walked through the kingdom together laughing gaily. And they would smile at the people they passed by, and people would come out to speak with them, and then they would see other people that they knew and instead of returning to work, stopped to speak with them as well. Gradually the streets filled with people again, and they remembered what good friends they had, and how much they enjoyed each other's company.

The sounds of laughter spread up the hill to the castle and the prince looked out the window, astonished. His servants were giggling in the corridors and they smiled fondly at him as he emerged, bemused, from his room. He went outside and people gave him a friendly nod as they passed, before continuing other conversations, and though they smiled at him, they smiled more at each other and the prince walked unhindered through the town. As he looked around at the smiling faces, he realised that he was smiling too, and seeing his subjects so happy made him forget all about his own sorrows. He turned a corner and there was the girl who polished the tables at the tavern; she glanced at him with sparkling eyes that matched his own, then came up to him and kissed him once on the cheek before walking away with her friends around her, leaving the prince standing and staring all around in amazement.

The kingdom was always happy after that; even when times were hard the people remembered that they could rely on each other and that their friendships were strong and valuable. The prince went out less, he talked with his own friends, and they created something together that they could share through joy and sorrow. And when the prince did go out, he looked around and everything he saw made him happy and he was glad and grateful for the gift that other people gave him.