Page 45 - Tree of Happiness

All of this talk about overthrowing the Queen stopped the day the Queen announced that she had raised her army and would be leaving for the Black Forest the following Monday. Now all of a sudden there was a lot of commotion among the Advisors about her safety. “But your majesty,” they whined, ‘’The dragon is so large and dangerous you might be killed
or worse.”
The Queen just laughed. She turned to them and said, “The only thing worse than being killed, is hiding away in my castle knowing that the dragon is terrorizing my people.” She paused, looked at them and said, “I appreciate your concern but this is something I must do and do now.” With that, she dismissed all of her advisors and began preparations for the following Monday.
Monday came quickly or so it seemed. The army of peasants assembled outside the castle and waited for the Queen. They were armed with shovels, hoes, old rusty swords and clubs. The Queen put on her armor and mounted her horse The peasants cheered as the Queen came out of the castle. Accompanying her, they sang as she rode her horse into the Black Forest.
It was a long, slow march and it took all day to reach the forest. That night as they sat around the campfires, the talk was about the following day. Many of the Queen’s followers were fearful but they all had confidence in the Queen.
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