Ffionn and the Twilight Princess – a fairytale
(This story arose out of roleplay at the Spring Swayers Dance hosted by the Hobbitry in Arms kinship in February 2024 - it was first read at Green Dragon Friday on 1st March)
(Any resemblance to real hobbit characters is entirely intentional)
Once upon a time there lived beside a river a shy young hobbit lad called Ffionn. He came from a very humble background, and he loved to play his lute and dance on the riverbank, even though, if truth be told, he played many wrong notes and had two left feet.
He had always dreamed that one day he would go to a grand ball and dance all night long with the finest and grandest gentlehobbits from all around, and that there he might meet a beautiful princess and they would live happily ever after.
So, you can imagine how excited he was when news came that the Red Queen of Hobbitry was to hold a grand masked ball in her palatial smials. Straightaway, Ffionn set off down the river, filled with excited anticipation.
It was only when he was nearly there, at a place where the river ran through a wood, that a terrible thought struck him. He didn’t have a mask! Well, the poor lad stopped in his tracks, sat himself down and wept.
He was still weeping, head in his hands, when a load roar was heard behind him. He turned round to see a huge brown bear staring at him. He was about to take to his heels and run when, to his surprise, the bear spoke to him, in a deep growly voice:
“Why are you weeping so?”
Ffionn gave a stuttering reply:
“I cannot go to the Red Queen’s Ball, for I don’t have a mask.”
“I can help,” said the bear and he led Ffionn to his house in the wood and from a cupboard produced a beautiful mask in the shape of a bear which fitted snugly over the top half of Ffionn’s head.
“Thank you so much,” cried the delighted Ffionn.
“Just remember to bring it back,” warned the bear.
The bear also gave Ffionn a wonderful red tunic and a pair of matching trousers.
“Where on earth did you get these?” asked the astonished lad.
“You don’t want to know!” said the bear.
In no time at all Ffionn was on his way once more, looking forward to the ball and feeling that he cut quite a dash in his new bear mask and fine clothes.
Not so far away from Ffionn’s home there lived a shy young hobbit lass – for the purpose of this story let’s call her Eve.
Although she was very beautiful, her family were very poor and when she heard the news of the Red Queen’s masked ball, she knew that though she’d love to go it would be quite impossible for not only did she not have a mask, but all her clothes were ragged and torn.
She tried to hide her disappointment from her family and took herself off to the riverbank where she sat herself down and cried. Suddenly, there came a voice behind her and when she turned, she saw standing there a beautiful lady dressed in a long silver robe.
“Goodness, you startled me,” said Eve.
“Why are you crying, dear?” asked the lady.
“Oh, I’d so love to go to the masked ball, but I’ve no mask and nothing to wear,” she sobbed.
“Do not despair, dear,” said the lady and with that she waved her hands in the air before Eve and the ragged pinafore she was wearing was transformed into the most beautiful dress and her worn shoes were turned into a pair of soft doeskin dancing slippers. Then, from the folds of her robes the lady produced a wonderful pink mask with the visage of a warrior princess which she handed to Eve.
“Oh! Thank you so much,” gasped the lass, “you have made me so happy.”
“That’s what Fairy Godmothers are for,” said the lady and, with a flick of her fingers she disappeared in a small puff of smoke.
Eve wasted no time in setting off for the Red Queen’s masked ball.
When Ffionn arrived at the Red Queen’s smials and entered the great ballroom he stood transfixed by the wonderful sights that greeted him there. Young lads and lasses danced together dressed in magnificent clothes, all wearing the most wonderful masks depicting every kind of creature you could imagine.
Up on the stage the Red Queen herself presided over the evening and Ffionn was mightily impressed to see that she had a court jester dressed as a sheep who ran around making some of the silliest jokes Fionn had ever heard. But as the grand music played Fionn’s eye was drawn to one vision of wonder and beauty above all others.
Her slender figure swayed so gracefully, accentuated by the long, flowing movement of her gown. As he looked upon that exquisite creation in royal purple with silver sleeves, and then upon the mask she wore, Ffionn knew for sure that he had found his princess.
He realised too that she kept glancing at him, and as the evening wore on the young couple danced closer and closer together and, although they were both too shy to say very much, each felt a warm, comfortable glow in the presence of the other.
Shortly before the stroke of midnight came the time when the Red Queen invited everyone to unmask and reveal their identity. Ffionn couldn’t wait to see the face of his princess but as went to remove his own mask he was filled with horror. His mask was stuck! Tug at it as he might, he could not remove the mask the bear had given him.
The poor lad was so embarrassed that he fled from the hall in horror, and he ran and ran until he came to the woods, all the time tugging at his mask to no avail, quite devastated that he had made such a fool of himself, and certain that he would never see his princess again.
Eve had no idea why the handsome-looking lad she had been dancing with all evening had suddenly fled from her sight, but even though she couldn’t see his face she knew he had been in distress. The kind-hearted lass realised too that she just had to see him again, and at once she ran from the room and out into the cold night, determined to find him at any cost.
She searched and searched, and the cold light of dawn brought her to a wood and a little way off she saw a house in a clearing. As she approached, she saw that the front door was open. Now she had heard enough fairy tales to be rightly suspicious of houses in woods, but having established that it was not made of gingerbread the brave lass plucked up her courage and entered.
Set there before her on a table were three bowls of cooling porridge but she wisely chose to ignore these and instead made her way upstairs. On the landing were two doors. She tried one but found only an empty room with a giant bed in it. The other door had a key in the lock, and she turned it and went inside. There was Ffionn, crouching in the corner of the room next to a small bed, still wearing his bear mask.
“They captured me,’ he cried. “They said they want me for their baby bear! Quickly, we must run before they come back!”
The young couple ran downstairs and as they went outside, they heard a loud growl in the distance. Hand in hand, the pair ran through the woods as fast as their legs could carry them, until at last they came to the safety of the riverbank.
“Oh!” cried Eve, “I’ve lost my mask.”
“Never mind,” said Ffionn, who was still unable to remove his, “you’ll always be my twilight princess!”
“And you’ll always be my bear!” she replied.
And somewhere, in a land far away, two young people woke from their dreams and found their world to be a happier place.
