text: Snowdream A benevolent King and his wife, the Queen Consort, reigned in a far country. But the Queen died from a mysterious illness. Their daughter, Princess Snowdream, was blessed with great beauty of sleek raven hair, violet eyes and a heart-shaped face. The young woman also had a gentle, caring nature. She spent many hours working in a shelter for the homeless and returned as dusk fell. Her limbs were heavy but her heart light. The King’s subjects admired her, cheering as she passed by. However, the King missed his Queen’s soothing presence and razor-sharp mind, a foil to his tendency to melancholy. An avaricious Lady in Waiting for the deceased Queen had long-held designs on this weak-willed King. The canny old Queen had spotted the woman’s deceitful nature. She demoted her to a kitchen maid when she caught her stealing an emerald ring. Burning for revenge, the woman rubbed her hands with glee when, after cornering the King in the palace gardens, she had her way with him and won his heart. They were married in a grand ceremony in the Cathedral. The new Queen wore an exquisite satin and lace gown made by the King’s dressmaker, her body glittering with jewels. However, in truth, the new Queen did not desire the King. She despised the man and wished to dispose of him and Snowdream to reign in her own right. So the Queen consorted with the military behind the King’s back. She learned that one of the King’s military aides, a balding Colonel, desired power, too, so they plotted to kill the King and Princess. The Colonel hired a sniper who hid in bushes by the lane where the King, on a white Stallion, and the Princess, on a chestnut mare, often rode. The sniper shot the King dead as he passed but missed the Princess. She galloped away until a talent scout, out on a morning ride, saw the mare approaching him. He stopped the frightened horse and impressed by Princess Snowdream’s figure and grace, and offered her the girl the leading role in his next movie. The Princess accepted and moved away from her wicked stepmother to film sets in exotic locations. When the Queen heard, she became incandescent with rage, hurling several priceless silver candlesticks at the castle’s marble fireplaces and smashing mirrors. Then, despairingly, she hired a private detective to find the girl and ordered the sniper to kill her. But the sniper, having seen the Princess’s beauty, fell in love with the girl and could not carry out his mission. He became afraid the Queen would have him arrested and water tortured or worse. So, he committed suicide, his body rotting in the hinterland, where it attracted flies and circling birds of prey. With her blood boiling at men’s weaknesses, the Queen plotted to kill the girl herself, using poison. But first, with her beetle-browed, red-veined face screwed up, she consulted an astrologer and asked him who was more beautiful, she or Princess Snowdream? He consulted his crystal ball and pronounced the Princess the most beautiful. Incandescent with rage, the Queen lit several candles, which she threw at the bed in The Princess’s chamber, setting it alight. The Fire Service was called to save the castle. But the Queen’s room was destroyed too, so she called in an interior designer, decorated the walls with pale blue silk paint, and commissioned dark blue silk bedding to coordinate with the blue velvet drapes and sumptuous carpet. She had sweetmeats delivered to her chamber to taste their delights whenever she fancied and entertained the Colonel whom she promoted to General. But the jealousy of Princess Snowdream’s youthful, sensual beauty consumed the vengeful Queen, who visited the astrologer twice more. Each time he reported the Princess had the most outstanding beauty. So, the jealous Queen poisoned him with black mamba venom she bought from a snake handler and dripped on a $100.00 bill. The unsuspecting astrologer kissed the bill in thanks. He died in agony, his limbs contorted, within the hour. The Queen cackled with glee. Weeks passed without sight of th e Princess. Ascending to the throne as Regent, the Queen ate taste-bud tantalising caviar and drank head-dizzying champagne. She slept in isolated splendour in her slinky silk bedroom except when entertaining the General. The Queen considered cosmetic surgery to make her face youthful with cat-like eyes and made an appointment with a surgeon. She ordered a curfew on all women between eighteen and twenty-five, hoping to catch the Princess on her return from filming. Then she would poison her with the black mamba venom and watch her die. “Ah, it would be sweet revenge,” thought the Queen. However, the seven homeless men from the shelter learned of the Queen’s plots from a palace gardener and decided to act. They were all military veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan down on their luck. But armed to the teeth with assault rifles, grenades, and other military hardware, they surrounded the castle. They broke in and assassinated the Queen asleep in her sumptuous bed. All her flunkies, holding a party in the castle’s dungeons, were assassinated, too. In time, the Princess completed filming and took her rightful place on the throne. She married the youngest of the seven homeless men, who became her King Consort. Travelling in a golden coach drawn by four palomino horses, they were crowned in a ceremony of splendour and grace, the Cathedral glittering with candlelight. The six other men were knighted in the Queen’s Coronation Honours and given land and property. Each married a kitchen maid and elevated her to a Duchess. The film in which Snowdream starred, ‘Snowdrops and the Warrior’, was a box office hit, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe and was released on Netflix. In the streaming charts, the theme tune ‘ Snowdreams get in your mind’ went to number one. So do not be avaricious and jealous. Revenge can trample on snowdrops and destroy your dreams.