anything again on Coronation Day. And she won’t accept explanations that some dwarf has caused trouble, either. She’ll blame it on Estella herself.
“What was it you wanted to ask?” Estella prodded him.
The dwarf hesitated again. He’s shy when it comes to business. But he can carry heavy things like a big man.
“Where did that trunk come from and what’s in it?” Estella became suspicious.
“The chest is from your own treasure,” the dwarf admitted, “but I am by no means a thief. I have not taken a single penny from the treasure. Everything was left inside the chest.”
“Why did you take it without asking?”
“I wanted to do you a favor. I saw how dreamily you looked at the locked treasury, and I thought I should fulfill your whim. Pity I could only get one chest, and even that I had to beat off the occupants of the keep. They nearly sounded the alarm, but in the end we came to an agreement.”
“It’s curious!” Estella drummed her nails on the armrest of her throne.
It was funny that the dwarf had stolen the treasure chest from her only to present it to her. After all, the chest is locked. Perhaps it contains cursed gold which has caused the dwarf so much trouble that he has decided to give it back to its owner. It’s a pity he didn’t come with a confession, but an urgently concocted lie. Gisela would have called the guards to put the thief in prison. But Estella was not called a simpleton for nothing. She decided to take the dwarf at his word. The dwarf was still flirting and wailing:
“You are very beautiful, but I, alas, was driven here by an unpaid debt. I owe so much to your father, that hundreds of years of hard work in the mines will not pay it off. But I can give you a treasure that alone is worth more than all the riches of the world.”
“And what is that?”
“It is your best advisor.”
“What is it? Is it instead of jewels?” Estela was instantly disappointed and was about to call the guards. It sounds too much like fraud. She may be stupid, but she’s not that stupid.
“Think about it. Everyone says you lack wisdom.”
It is right,” she said nervously, remembering a conversation she’d overheard recently that had upset her greatly. The courtiers were arguing about who was sillier – the hen or the princess?
“Would you like to be wise?”
Estella didn’t know what to answer. Her fingernails scratched nervously at the armrest of the throne.
“It is to shut up all those insolent courtiers who tell you that you are foolish and unworthy to rule?” The dwarf continued slyly.
He knows how to flatter! He’s right at the heart of it, like a knife through her heart. One dreams of love and beauty. She dreams of common sense.
Estella nodded slowly.
“So, he will be your mind!” The dwarf proclaimed and disappeared.
Who did he mean? Estella took a step toward the chest. It looks like it’s locked. No, the key is in the keyhole. Estella turned it. The lock gave way easily. There was gold shining through the crack under the lid. The chest seemed to be full of gems, ingots and coins. But where’s the Counselor? Or was the dwarf speaking metaphorically? She wished she were smart enough to understand it all! Was the gift really just a trick to mock the stupidity of a gullible princess?
“What should I do?” Estella opened the lid, which was heavy.
Suddenly a monster the size of a monkey jumped out of the chest. She wanted to scream as it nestled onto her shoulder, but it was suave.
“The Fair Lady has been expecting me!” It cried out in a human voice. “You are as pretty as a rose. You should never wait long.”
It was clearly a compliment, but it wasn’t the compliment that startled the princess. It wasn’t even that the creature’s claws were caressing her cheek, repeating the caress of a lover.
“Can you speak?” Estella opened her mouth in amazement. “Oh, yes!”
“I can do many things!” He boasted as he wrapped his black tail around her neck like a noose.
“Get down! I can’t breathe!” Estella complained.
“You can’t really live without me! I must always be near you.”
“Who are you? And why were you sitting in the box?”
“The better question is not why, but who locked me in?”
“That’s right! That’s what you should have said. I’m not thinking straight. Thanks for the tip.”
“From now on, you will think like a great sage!” The monster promised.
“I don’t think so! I can’t think at all. That’s what they all say.”
“Well, you’d better take my advice,” he advised her kindly, running his black claws tenderly across her forehead. “I am your lost mind. You have just rescued me. The trunk was stuffy and cramped. I am much more comfortable with you, my lady.”
“Am I your lady?” That’s what servants usually call their masters, but the beast acted as if it owned her. Is that how a mind is supposed to behave?
“I’ll call you Reason.”
It wriggled.
“But my name is Gloom.”
“It doesn’t suit you.”
“It sure does. If you’ve noticed, I’m as black as the darkness of night.”
“You are like a firebrand from a furnace!”
“I can see why they call you a fool.”
“It is a simpleton, not a fool. It’s a little different.”
“And you’re smart, too. And you’re not stupid. Aren’t you ashamed not to trust your intelligence?”
“You mean you?” She glanced at the monster on her shoulder.
“Who else could it be?”
“They say the mind is in the head, not on the clavicle.”
“It’s harder to get into your head, though it’s empty, but it’s not much room.” He scratched her shoulder as if he were putting a stamp on it.
“Oh, I wish you’d gone into my head and got lost there.”
“Do you know how hard it is for those who don’t listen to their wits, but do things their own way?” Reason quipped.
“That’s what all the duenna’s told me! I didn’t think you’d be so tedious.”
“Go ahead!”
