the woodland prince

Once, in a time not too long ago, there lived a young boy who loved nature. The boy could spend many happy hours, in the woods beyond his house, bonding with the woodland creatures. The creatures adored him, and came bounding up to him when they heard his footsteps approaching. A day could not have been better spent, for the boy and the creatures, than to lounge under their favorite tree by the river, making daisy chains and whistling songs.

One day, as the boy was sitting under his favorite tree, he heard loud noises in the distance. The noises came steadily closer and soon appeared to be coming from all directions, as if it were surrounding him. There were clattering and banging sounds. Clanking and clunking sounds, and distant shots could be heard. The boy didn't know what to do, or how to escape the violent noises. In fear, he began to climb his favorite tree, hoping that he could hide from whatever was coming towards him.

As he was midway up the tree, soldiers began to appear through the trees, and leading the soldiers was a majestic figure, crowned and wearing finery befitting a King...for that is what he was. As soon as the boy saw the King, he knew that the King had seen him, and he began his downward climb, all hopes of hiding in the tree fading away.

"I see you there, son" bellowed the King, for that is who the young boy was, the King's son, the crown Prince, the next in line to rule the kingdom, and he was due back at the castle for battle-training.

Morosely, the boy leapt to the ground. As he did, something sparked inside him and he knew that his future did not have to consist of fighting battles, and defending his kingdom. He could make a choice and stand up to the great man before him, deny his place at the throne, and retreat back to the little world he so loved in the forest.

"I will not come with you, Father," began the young Prince.
"Guards!" shouted the King, ignoring the words from his son's mouth, "carry away those beasts, and bring my son to me".
"I do not want to fight your battles!" the young Prince meekly yelled, "I cannot go to war against your enemies, and I will not leave my kingdom of the woods!"

As if he had not heard a word of what the young Prince said, the King continued to order his soldiers about, instructing them to remove all creatures from the forest so that they would prove less of a distraction to his son, the Prince.

"Stop!" yelled the boy, this time with greater force, "I am not coming with you, Father! Giving him a sideways glance, the King shook his head in shame. "What have I done to create such an insolent child?" he questioned out loud, to nobody in particular, "Why do you deny every privilege that is given to you?" he asked the young boy, solemnly.

"I will not leave my forest," the boy persisted, "it is the only place where I feel truly at home, and I cannot abandon my friends here. There are beings here that understand me more fully than any human ever could. They do not fight with ghastly weapons, they are contented to simply live, love, and frolic in the woods. I wish to remain here, with them, and renounce my title as Prince...I do not feel that I can live the life you wish me to, as the head of your kingdom."

"Nonsense!" bellowed the King, angered by the words coming from his one and only child, the heir to his throne. "You will come with me now, and that is the last I will hear about this forest! Guards! Burn this place to the ground, and fight anything that tries to stop you!" The King turned, and with a hint of sorrow, began to make his way back to the castle.

The boy tearfully looked around at the soldiers who were beginning to gather up sticks and logs, and were rounding up all of his woodland friends. "No!" he exclaimed, "you cannot do this! They are beings, just like you and me. This is their home! You cannot destroy everything they have!"

But his words went unnoticed, and the soldiers kept going, even taking the limbs off of the young boy's favorite tree. They piled up all of the pinecones, branches and dried leaves from the forest floor, and continued to make what would be a great bonfire. They had collected all of the smaller animals into a quickly created corral, and were busy herding the larger animals into another area.

The boy noticed that the animals were getting anxious, and some were beginning to run away. A hint of his battle-training flickered in the boy's memory, "stop!" he cried to his creature pals, "we need to make a stand and protect our forest!" The creatures perked their ears, and appeared to understand what he was saying. They began to take formation behind the Prince, lining up, and ready to take his orders. The animals loved the boy and would do anything for him; they knew that he always had their best interest in mind.

Sensing the silenced animals, the soldiers looked up from their tasks to see a woodland army facing them, led by the crown Prince. Not knowing what else to do, the soldiers raised their weapons as the creatures bounded towards them, heads down, ready to attack.

Horns hit flesh. Guns fired. The sounds of beings falling to the ground resonated throughout the woods. The King, from far away, heard these noises and headed back to the riverbank, although he was already too late to stop the worst from happening.

Smoke parted as the King entered the recently silenced clearing in the woods. Guiltily, the remaining soldiers and creatures looked up at him perched on his steed. Sensing that something gravely wrong had occurred, the King looked about the small clearing, his eyes falling on a group of creatures huddled around a small form.

"No…!" gasped the King, instinctively knowing, before clearly seeing, what had passed in his absence, "not the Prince...not my son...my...child." He leaped from his noble horse and slowly made his way towards the body, already knowing what he was about to see. It was, indeed, the body of his, now deceased, son who had been shot during the brief battle, between human soldier and woodland creature, for the peaceful area in which they now all were silent.

The soldiers looked down at their feet, knowing that they were responsible for causing the King more sorrow than he had ever known. The woodland creatures were silent, not even a peep could be heard from the most insolent squirrel, understanding intuitively that the humans were mourning the loss of a wonderful being.

Slowly, the King raised his head to look away from the bloodied body of his only child. As his gaze moved across the small clearing, the sun peeked out from behind a shadow, flooding the area with a warm glow, causing the river to sparkle more beautifully than a thousand diamonds, and the light danced on the bodies of the woodland creatures and made their sad little faces stare up at the King with compassion and empathy.

The King looked over at the soldiers, and saw their bloody weapons and their stained and rusted armor, their hardened faces and their steady stances even at such a morbid moment as this, and he finally understood. His son had not wanted to join this bloodied army, he had somehow known the sorrow that comes with war, and had wanted to remain in this beautiful place, removed from all of the ugly battles and politics that came with running a kingdom. The King, too late, understood the serenity that his son had known there, in that clearing surrounded by woodland creatures, basking in the glow of an autumn beam of sunshine.

The end.