once upon a marigold excerpt

7/29/2019 Once Upon A Marigold Excerpt

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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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once upon a marigold excerpt

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