Chapter 10
After the dishes were all done, it was time for the cat’s early lunch. Francis helped with that and was familiar with the procedure now.
After that, he walked with Hasim to the kitten pavilion. They had been fed as well and were in various stages of playing and falling asleep where they sat, as kittens tended to do. Hasim found his little companion and tucked the sleepy kitten inside his robes for a snuggle.
Francis asked if there was any work he could do, but Hasim said they would have lunch first. They reclined on big cushions inside the pavilion, cuddled the kittens, and ate the food brought out on gold trays by two of the ladies in pink.
Children from very young ages to older played with the kittens and fed tiny ones from glass bottles.
Hasim explained ones who had no mothers needed hand feeding, and they taught the children to do this so they could grow up to be cat helpers here.
Everyone had food brought to them, the trays set onto low rise tables to stop the kittens from diving into the plates of fruit, cheese, and sweet breads. Although, being kittens, they did try.
Francis was quite content to stay here forever. He hadn’t felt so happy in years.
After lunch, with most of the kittens now dozing, Hasim asked Francis if he liked stories and fairy tales.
Francis loved stories and told Hasim so. “My nose is always in a book,” he confessed. “I adore stories.”
Hasim smiled in response. “My favourite story growing up was The Dragon Prince. Do you know this?”
“No, I’ve never heard this one,” Francis said, propping himself up eagerly on the cushion and getting comfortable. “Do tell.”
“Once upon a time,” Hasim began, “there was a sultan and sultana, that is a king and queen, who longed for a child of their own.
“They tried everything, all of the different ways to make love, all of the best herbs to help a pregnancy, and all of the prayers to God, but still they were without a child for many years. They were so sad. ‘We will never have a child of our own,’ they said!
“‘Oh, but did you pray to the dragon,’ said their advisor. ‘Pray to the dragon, maybe it will answer.’ So, they prayed and made offerings to the dragon, an elder god from the time before time, and soon the queen’s belly grew big, and she gave birth to a son.
“But the baby was not as they expected. This baby had shiny scales all over him, and golden eyes. He looked like a serpent in the shape of a baby, and the king and queen did not like this. They sent their son, their new baby they had so desperately wanted, to the topmost tower, with the wet nurse, where they couldn’t see him.
“There he stayed many years, growing up in the shape of a man, but with the skin and hot breath of a dragon. People called him The Dragon Prince, and they were afraid of his temper, afraid he would eat them. In fact, he did eat many servants over the years.
“Then, when the dragon prince came of age, he said he wished to marry. ‘I want a wife,’ he told his parents. So, the king and queen, fearful of angering him, requested eligible young women from all across their lands, to come and meet their son.
“But each young woman he met, the dragon prince devoured her.
“‘We cannot go on like this,’ the queen told her husband.
‘He will never find a wife and he will blame us!’ The king despaired of what to do.
Then, an advisor told him, what if instead of prospective wives, you send a hunter instead?
There are tribes in the north and the east who have warrior women among them.
A wife like that may stand more of a chance.
“So, they said, bring in the hunting women from the farthest reaches of the lands! Send them to the dragon prince.
“And the suitors arrive once more, only this time instead of shy young maids, they are fierce warriors, disguised as noble ladies, with deadly weapons concealed in their robes.
“The first warrior brought a knife. She waited until the dragon prince came bearing down on her before drawing it. But the prince’s tough scales were too thick for her knife to pierce. He devoured her.
“The second warrior brought poison. She waited until their supper and slipped the poison into the prince’s cup. But his fiery breath burnt it away, and then he devoured her too.
“The third warrior came, and she dressed in armour and a mask covered in porcupine quills. So sharp and long were these quills, that the dragon prince couldn’t come near her without pricking his eyes and his tongue when he opened his mouth to devour her.
“They circled each other in the bed chamber, neither one able to best the other. Frustrated, the dragon prince commanded her, ‘Remove your spikes!’ And she replied, ‘I will remove my spikes, my prince, once you remove your dragon scales.’”
“Ferociously hungry, the dragon prince agreed. He removed his dragon scales, revealing for the first time, the naked form of a beautiful young man.
“The woman, cunning as she was, took the scales and tossed them into the fire, burning them for good. When she removed her spikes, they could finally be together and be married.
“And that is the story of The Dragon Prince,” Hasim finished with a smile.
Francis was enchanted.
“That was very enjoyable,” he told Hasim.
“I could tell more, but…” Hasim glanced at the sleepy children and cats. “Perhaps another place?”
“What did you have in mind?” Francis asked.
Hasim carefully handed his sleeping kitten to one of the attendants to take care of. “Come.” He held out his hand, and Francis took it.
“Where are we going?”
“I will show you my city,” Hasim said.