The Paranoid Prince and His Protective Bubble

There once was a regal wizarding prince. He was very protective of his kingdom and never wanted anything to happen to the town. One day, he devised a plan to put up a protective bubble full of enchantments so no one could ever get in, in case anyone tried to attack them. People tried to get the prince to see reason because no one had threatened to attack his kingdom at all, not even a little stunning spell.

But still, the prince wouldn’t listen; he was too protective. So, the following day he went out and cast the bubble charm and other incantations all around his kingdom. At first, he almost received a kind of praise. People thought he was a great prince for being so protective and caring about his kingdom. Witches, wizards, and Squibs all loved him and went to the castle to offer him praise.

But eventually, over time, people grew agitated. They had family and friends in surrounding kingdoms and they wanted to be able to see them. They begged the prince to let their family in, or to let them out. The prince said no, repeatedly, no matter how many people begged him, including his family.

People would try every day to find the counter-curses to these incantations. The prince was smarter though. He had made the magic so difficult that for years, no one could find these counter-curses. People would try flying out on broomsticks, firing curses, everything from A to Z, and no one could figure out how to break out of the protective bubble that their prince had burdened them with.

Eventually, the witches and wizards of the kingdom got so angry and violent, the king had to lock himself in the castle and not let anyone in. Everyone was so miserable until one day, a young witch named Marigola came around.

Marigola was the brightest witch of her age; however, she was amazingly shy and superbly quiet. No one even noticed how bright she was because she would never tell anyone what she made in school, and she would never brag because she was just too humble.

However, Marigola had a problem. She had only come to the kingdom for school. The school in this kingdom was one of the best around as far as wizardry and witchcraft goes. Marigola had left her family, her mother, father, two brothers, and three sisters, to attend the school.

She had completed school now, though. She was anxious to back to her homeland, get herself a great job with her fantastic education, and see her family members she hadn’t seen in seven years. The protective bubble surrounding the kingdom was the only thing stopping Marigola from going home. She decided she had to devise a plan to get rid of the bubble, or, for one, the town would go insane, and two, she would never see her family again.

Marigola brushed up on her reading and tried numerous incantations. Nothing worked; meanwhile, the prince noticed Marigola’s efforts and laughed. He was relentless; nothing was going to change his mind.

Finally one day, Marigola broke the incantations. Everyone: witches, wizards, and goblins alike, all fled the town and kingdom in less than five minutes, leaving all their possessions behind. Even the prince’s family left him alone and locked up in the castle. So, the paranoid prince spent the rest of his life alone because no one ever did come back for him. Sometimes, at random, he would cast up the bubble again when he was feeling especially paranoid. No one ever planned an attack on this prince and his nonexistent kingdom. No, the prince just lived a lonely, paranoid life. The moral of this story, you ask? Don’t cross a bridge until you’ve come to it.

Translated by BreBear