The Secret Forest

Once upon a time, in a country far, far away, in the Lovdia Forest, lived a king and his queen in the extraordinary Ballisima Castle. Prince Samurai married the lady of his dreams, Princess Poppy.

Prince Samurai and Princess Poppy believed they would live happily ever after.....

Soon after the lavish wedding, Prince Samurai's parents were killed in a hunting accident and he became King Samurai and the lovely Princess Poppy, became the Queen.

Life in the Ballisima Castle was good!

During the day, while King Samurai was busy with strategic planning to protect the castle against possible attacks from the enemy, Queen Poppy just loved walking in the Lovdia Forest with her two best friends, Melancoli and Maska.

Joker was always somewhere close in the vicinity, trying his best to entertain the ladies. Queen Poppy knew Joker's presence had more to do with their safety, than entertainment, but she didn't tell her friends. King Samurai is very protective and doesn't want to see them wandering in the forest alone.

The ladies are picking fresh flowers for a bouquet in the castle's hallway and Joker is getting bored!

"Riddle time! The cuckoo and the gowk, The laverock and the lark, The twire-snipe, the weather-bleak; How many birds is that?"

The ladies look at Joker and laugh. They know him so well. Now he will pester them with a million riddles.

"That is easy - there are six birds," Maska replies.

Joker just laughs and laughs his hollow laugh.

Melancoli shakes her head: "No, there are only three birds, cuckoo and gowk, are two different words for the same bird, and so are laverock and lark and.........."

A loud vehement clash of thunder sounds through the forest.

With a loud swishing sound, Sophia the witch comes flying through the forsest, chanting an ugly song:

" A top hat of truffles lectured to on May day morn

A shoe of ear mushrooms gathered at dawn

A boot of oysters cooked after an extravagant tea

one tablespoon desiccated beak of salamander

A parrot cage of deadly nightshade burned when Halley's comet is in the sky

Mashed feet of toad

Now they see you - now they DON'T"

With a flash and sparks on the bristles of her broom Sophia disappeared from view again, just as quick as she came.

Princess Rosie, Melancoli and Maska look around them. Everything is earily quiet and seems to be in place......

Everthing exept for JOKER!

Joker is no where to be seen!

King Samurai heard the loud noise and came running to the forest.

He couldn't see the four people any where.

Queen Poppy is so relieved to see her husband and she runs to him.

King Samurai gets the fright of his life, when he sees Queen Poppy! She is fading! She is becoming invisible!

He hugs her close to him and immediately he starts to fade too!

The whole Lovdia Forest and Ballisima Castle faded into an invisible vacuum.

Life in Lovdia Forest became very depressing.

No visitors ever came to visit.

No enemy soldiers came to attack.

King Samurai saddled his horse and tried to ride out of the forest, but he was stopped by an invisible wall. Nobody could get in or out of the Lovdia Forest.

For all realistic purposes, Lovdia Forest doesn't exist.

"How will my prince ever find me, if he can't even see me," Melancoli asks.

She has been even more melancolic than before!

Maska tries to be cheerful, but all she wants to do is cry. Life used to be such fun.

King Samurai is very frustrated! He is the king of an invisible kingdom! What good is that? He is married to the most beautiful, invisible queen in the world.

They are living in a permanent state of hide and seek to the outside world.

It is horrible.

If only they could figure out why Sophia the Witch hated them so much.

Queen Poppy has a bright idea........

A complete record of the history of Lovdia Forest and Ballisimo Castle is kept in the attic of the castle. Without hessitation the ladies started their research.

After two months of research Maska found something interesting!

Witch Sophia is the great, great granddaughter of Godiva Black!

Maska reads: "Godiva Black was f'rcefully evict'd from the f'rest today, because she doesn't wanteth to stopeth h'r bad portance and vindictive acts. She swears that she will hast h'r revenge some day, some how."

As soon as the secret was out, bright lights started flashing like fire works going off in the dark night.

King Samurai came running down to the attic, but he wasn't the only one to join the ladies....

Joker is back!

The visibility of everyone and everything is reappearing too!

Joker fills in the missing detail:

"Godiva Black used to be a lovely girl. She came from a line of witches, but she decided not to become a witch, because she fell in love with the young prince, Anthony. His father, King Birch, refused the marriage, and Godiva Black's heart became black with hatred and bitterness. A love so strong turned into a powerful hatered! She made life impossible for everybody in the Lovdia Forest and that lead to her eviction. She decided to persue a life as a witch and related everything in her diary. She was never alble to get her revenge and through the years the possible spell grew weaker and weaker. Sophia is the great great granddaughter of Godiva. She inherited the diary and made it her mission to get revenge in behalf of Godiva Black.

With each passing year the power of the original spell declined and as soon as the secret was found, it would dissapear completely, with no possibility of reuccurance. Sophia had one chance only."

King Samurai hugged his beautiful wife Queen Poppy to his chest.

"Maybe we can have our 'happily ever after' now...."

And they did!