My name is Prudence Wynklbean, and I live in a castle with my seventeen brothers and sisters. We have five uncles, eight aunts, twenty two cousins, Breasal the butler, a gardener, seven painters, nine plumbers, forty three horses, six dogs, four cats, a turtle colony, and a dragon, and they all live here in the castle with us.
Well, except the dragon, who lives just outside the castle, in the moat. But she sometimes puts her head through my window and talks to me, so she sort of lives inside. Sometimes. The turtles aren't technically inside any of the buildings, but they live in one of the courtyards, which is inside the castle walls, so that's okay. And I think the horses' stables count as a building, no matter what Earnest thinks.
My brother Earnest says I can't count the animals as people, but I don't know why I can't. They have names just like all the other people here, and are a lot more fun to play with. But Earnest is very serious all the time. He doesn't believe in pretending or imagining things, and tells me not to be so silly. I suppose it's because he's the oldest of us, and will be the King someday, so he has to concentrate a lot and learn to be wise so that he does a good job. But I think he would be much wiser if he practiced playing sometimes, too.
Earnest won't have to be the King for a long time, anyway. That's my father's job. My mom's the Queen, and she's really good at it. She and my dad are on a tour of the kingdom, so they aren't here in the castle just now. That's why all of our aunts and uncles and cousins are here living with us.
When my parents were packing up for their trip, my mom gave me this diary, so that I could write down everything that happened while they were away. She says that someday I'm going to be a Chronicler, so I need to learn how to describe things and explain them for other people to read. I think it would be more fun if my diary could talk back to me, though. After all, if I were trying to explain something to people, wouldn't they ask me questions?
Posted by thinkum at April 14, 2004 07:57 PM