Episode 3: The Tricky Elf

Once upon a time in the land of Atheria, there was a Princess Nea and a Princess Lulu, and they went on the most amazing adventures. They had, in fact, just disguised themselves as ogres using magic cloaks and snuck into the ogre king’s village and learned that the ogre king had found one of the star crystals that fell from the sky and had taken it from another ogre (one with glasses). 

After learning that the ogre king had one of the crystals, Nea and Lulu needed to put together a plan to retrieve. It was clear to Nea and to Lulu that the ogre king did not have pure intentions when it came to using the crystal – and although they didn’t know why that was a problem – they knew they could trust Tuck and Tuck had told them that if the keeper of a crystal wasn’t prepared to make good choices, then bad things were bound to happen in Atheria.  

So Nea and Lulu sent word to their cousin Paul that the ogre king had found a crystal. And together the three of them devised a plan. Not only did ogre’s love strombozi (as you may well remember) but they also loved beautiful songs and music because that was equally rare for ogres – you see, ogre’s have very gruffy voices that don’t sound as good as human voices do when they sing.  

So Princess Lulu and Princess Nea wrote King Bealock of Gozdur a note saying, “We, the ogres from the other ogre village across the way would like to invite you to a concert where we will sing a special collection of songs dedicated to you and the other ogres.”  

And the King Bealock immediately replied, “Definitely! It was great meeting you both and I will meet you at the Echo Valley tomorrow night.” (For everyone knew that all great concerts took place at Echo Valley. 

So, the plan was to have Prince Paul – as another great guest – sit by the ogre kind during the concert and for the two princesses to sing to the ogre king a wonderful song – so wonderful and sweet it would put him fast to sleep. And as soon as he was asleep. Paul would reach over and take the crystal back. Keeping it away from anybody who had bad intentions and wanted the use crystal only for themselves – because what everyone hadn’t learned yet is that these crystals needed to be used to heal Atheria, they were very special and very powerful.  

So the time came for them to sing. And the ogre king was riding in his special carriage towards Echo Valley. Nea and Lulu wore their magic capes so they looked like ogres, and Tuck had even given one to Paul so he fit in as well. Everybody was in their places, Paul and the princesses. And they started to sing the most amazing, beautiful songs. And they sang song after song, after song, every song they could think of the princesses sang. Every song they could ever imagine … because the Ogre King wasn't falling asleep! But they were diligent and they kept singing more songs, and then, when they ran out of songs, they sang some songs over again.  

Finally, after singing their favorite song a THIRD time, King Bealock started to doze off and fall asleep. In fact every other ogre that the king had brought with them … and even Paul … had fallen asleep. Nea and Lulu tip-toed over to the kings pouch decided they needed to retrieve the crystal. Only when they got there – it was already gone. Someone else had already taken it!  

At that very moment, they heard a noise – almost like a giggle coming from the far left, where an ogre stood hiding in some bushes. And that’s when they saw the ogre pull out earplugs, take off her cloak and slowly turn into an elf of all things! It was an elf using a magic cloak! She looked directly at the two princesses and snickered. And that’s when Nea and Lulu noticed she had something glowing in her hand – the purple crystal. That sneaky elf! She had taken Nea and Lulu’s plan and stolen the crystal from the ogre king before they could.  

“You come back here, elf!” yelled Nea. 

But the elf darted off into the hills. Nea and Lulu immediately chased after her. But the tricky thing about elves is they’re very, very, very fast. And this one was no exception. And Nea and Lulu ran after her. Through the trees and over the hills, they ran. At one point the elf tripped and the girls almost had her,  

“Why did you take the crystal?” they asked. 

“We need it!” she replied. And then looked behind the princesses like there was a big, scary giant behind them. Only when the girls turned around there was no giant and by the time they turned back around the elf was gone. Elves were not only fast, but tricky as well. Something Nea and Lulu would not soon forget after that.  

“Why on earth does everyone want these crystals?” Lulu asked, walking back home to Sparland Castle.  

Nea just shrugged. “Maybe Tuck can tell us a little more about these things.” 

The end.