The proud procession approached the Castle to surprisingly little fanfare.
All the King’s subjects were still rather downhearted after the theft of their Kingdom’s gold and it appeared they were ill prepared for a grand reception, let alone a triumphant parade. As Ryan bid entry to the Castle a guard simply shrugged his shoulders, sighed and opened the Castle gate.
As the procession passed however a glare caught the guard’s eye …
A familiar glare …
The familiar glare of sunlight’s sparkle on glorious gold.
Could it be true!
The guard stared hard, blinked and stared some more.
It was true! Here it was, the Kingdom’s treasure!
The guard quickly shut the gate and ran to catch up with the procession, joining many others as they too stared, blinked and stared some more.
Men, woman and children rushed from everywhere to celebrate, and soon enough a jubilant crowd had lined the streets, all in awe of the sight of proud pirates and manly mimes weighed down with gold galore.
The Kingdom may have been unprepared for a party but they no longer lacked enthusiasm, and tearing every piece of paper they could find they created mountains of confetti and threw handful after handful as the hero’s headed toward the throne room and a King’s gratitude.
“This confetti brings back memories of our hazardous trip through Monkey Jungle,” said Ryan, a wide grin on his face as he marched his men through cheers, applause and loud ‘Hurrahs!’.
“Yes Sir, although this confetti is a lot less painful,” said Stumpy, wiping some scraps of paper from his big bushy beard.
The procession arrived at the throne room to three loud cheers from all.
“Hurrah!” Cried the crowd
“Hurrah!” Cried the crowd once more
“Hurrah!” Concluded the crowd as per tradition.
Ryan turned to the crowd, took a deep breath and proclaimed, “Stumpy, the box!”
Stumpy hastily withdrew the red velvet box from his rucksack and with a flourish presented it to the Pirate Prince.
The doors to the throne room then opened and with one final wave to the crowd the dashing Pirate Prince and his magnificent men turned and strode down the red carpet toward the King, Queen and the beautiful Princess Pippi.
The King sat slouched, dozing on his wooden throne, a bowl of soup in his lap, the Queen sat quietly distracted by her knitting, only Princess Pippi sat attentively awaiting the return of the pirate who had enchanted her so.
Ryan and his men approached.
Fifty trumpeters trumpeted fifty trumpets.
Ryan grimaced.
Stumpy groaned.
Indigo, Swift and Tall Frank covered their ears.
The Mimes screamed, all except Gerald who for once was rather glad he was wearing ear muffs.
The King awoke with a start, spilling soup all over his King pants. “Oh bother!” Shouted the King. “This is a complete nightmare, a frustrating, infuriating, hair tearing and teeth chattering …”
“Enough nattering about the soup,” said the Queen nudging the King with her elbow, “I think there are far more important matters at hand.”
“Yes father,” said Pippi, “I believe you are in for a welcome surprise.”
“What? Who? Where? Why?” said the King, looking up from his soup stained pants to a far more pleasant sight indeed. “Oh my golly!” He exclaimed. “Captain Ryan, you have returned sporting a superb mustache …” the King paused, his eyes widened in amaze and delight, “… and with gold, gold, glorious gold!”
Ryan bowed and as he did so each pirate and each Mime stepped forward and emptied his arms until a marvelous pile of gold reached the throne room ceiling.
The trumpeters put their trumpets to their lips in anticipation of a royal order to celebrate with a rasping chorus of trumpetry.
Quickly the King waved them down. “No need for that! No need for that! I believe a good solid cheer is a suitable reaction.” And so it was the King lead the first ‘Hurrah!’ of his Kingly life.
“Hurrah!” He cried.
“Hurrah!” All replied.
“Well, I think that went rather well,” said the King, rather pleased with himself.
The King now turned his attention to the Pirate Prince. “Captain Ryan, you have achieved the unachievable, conquered the unconquerable, defeated the undefeatable, delivered the …”
“Short and sharp dear,” interrupted the Queen.
“Yes, sorry my darling,” said the King to his beloved. “Prince of Pirates, you have returned a Kingdom to its former glory and brought grand glee to us all. How can we ever repay you?”
“Heroism is reward enough Sire,” said Ryan. “You have granted me the opportunity to fight the good fight and you have delivered a quest for treasure. You have already done more for this pirate than you could ever imagine.”
“Well surely there is something the Kingdom can offer?” Asked the King.
“Well Sire,” replied Ryan, “I have had the pleasure of fighting alongside some rather remarkable Mimes, Mimes who have expressed a desire to live as Mimes and Mimes alone.”
“Perfect,” said the King, who’d just had a rather wonderful idea. “I have had quite enough of any number of trumpeters and their blasting trumpets, they are far too much for these sensitive royal ears. Mime seems a rather splendid art, so creative … and so quiet. And so …” continued the King with a great Kingly grin on his great Kingly face, “I hereby invite these Mimes to become Mimes of the Royal House, with the task of training and transforming the Royal Trumpeters into the Royal Mime Players. From now on any guest of the kingdom will approach the throne through the majesty of Mime! Hurrah!”
“Hurrah!” Cried the Mimes.
“And hurrah for Ryan and his Pirate-Mime Crew for recovering this glorious buried treasure!” Cried the King.
“Hurrah!” Cried the crowd.
“It wasn’t buried, but thanks all the same,” Replied Ryan.
“Double hurrah!” Cried the King.
“Double hurrah!” Cried the crowd.
The Queen gave the King another nudge, afraid the ‘Hurrahs!’ would last well into the night.
All eyes now turned toward the beautiful Princess Pippi as she stepped down from her throne and approached Ryan, and all fell silent as she leaned forward and lay a kiss on his cheek.
“Fluffaluff,” she said.
“Fluffaluff? Is that like Bless You?” Whispered Ryan.
“It is a word I’ve invented just this moment,” replied the Princess. “Perfect for when somebody is blushing.”
Ryan covered his cheeks with his hands, beneath which they were certainly bright red. As the Princess returned to her throne the Captain recovered and managed to turn to Stumpy and say, with an ever so slight stutter,
“Sh … sh … she kissed me!”
“Yes Sir,” replied Stumpy.
“Well Stumpy, I believe this could very well have been our greatest adventure of all.”
“Yes Sir,” replied Stumpy putting his fingers in his ears. He was a wise pirate for he knew what was most certainly to come next.
And surely enough, with the kiss still fresh on his cheek the Prince of Pirates jumped high into the air, performed somersault after somersault and gave a “Tally Ho!” for all the world to hear.
