There was a king who was well loved by this people though he did not know it. This king was clumsy and always stumbling over things and knocking stuff off shelves. People loved this king even though they laughed at his clumsiness.
The king lived in a grand castle that was painted gleaming white all over. The castle was next to a deep wide river. The king had everything a king could wish for and yet was still unhappy. More than anything he wanted to be able to walk gracefully without tripping over!
Down at the bottom of the river there was a forest and in this forest there was a hut. This hut was home to an evil wizard. The wizard wore a cape made of dragon skin, and a tall pointed black hat. His top was midnight black and his belt was mad of the finest brown leather. His shoes were pointy like his hat and shiny black. The wizard was envious of the king because of the king’s power and more than anything he wanted to live in the king’s castle. He was an evil, nasty wizard.
One day the king decided to have a wonderful banquet. The banquet was going perfectly fine until the king did something clumsy and knocked over a goblet full of wine. A moment later a beautiful servant girl came to clean up the mess. The king noticed how elegantly she was walking. He took her to one side and asked her quietly if she would teach him how to walk like that.
“I will teach you how to walk stylishly, my king. I would be honoured!”
The next day she started secretly teaching the king. Very carefully the servant girl placed a couple of books on the king’s head. With the books on his head he walked perfectly.
A few days later the king had learnt to walk without the books on his head. He could now walk with poise and dignity. It was amazing!
He was so pleased that in return he gave the servant girl an emerald from his crown. He told her he would never replace it to remind him how she had helped him. What’s more he revealed that the emerald was not an ordinary precious stone.
“This emerald is unlike any other. It is a magic emerald given to me by a good wizard. It has the power to unlock any door in the kingdom!”
Meanwhile the wizard was plotting an evil plan to take over the castle. He searched in the forest and found a rare poisonous blue toad and took it home. The toad had black splodges all over its back.......
His plan was to put this poisonous blue toad in the well to pollute the king’s water supply. “My plan cannot fail!” He laughed evilly. “Soon I shall be king and live in the castle!”
The poison took effect and all of the people in the castle froze as if in a deep sleep! The wizard then crept into the castle so quietly that nobody would have heard even if they had been awake. He found the sleeping king and dragged his body down a spiral staircase and shoved him into his own dungeon!
“You shall stay here forever and I shall be king!” He screeched. “And here have my toad for company!” He mocked cruelly and threw the poor toad next to the king.
The Evil Wizard dressed up in the King’s clothes. He put on the King’s silky red cloak and his gleaming gold crown, but as he is doing this he notices one of the jewels is missing.
“I can’t be a king if my crown is tatty, the gem must be replaced!” the wizard shrieked. The wizard replaces the jewel with a sparkling ruby. As he finishes he notices that all the people in the castle have started to move again. They were all carrying on their jobs without realising they had been asleep.
He quickly does the magic spell which makes him have the face and body of the king;
“Hing Ping, magic bring, let me have the face of the king.”
“I’m so happy my plan is working,” cackled the wizard with an evil laugh.
As he was fixing the crown upon his head the spell started to work. His nose, ears and mouth began to expand along with the rest of his face to look like the king. Afterwards he looked into the mirror and said “It’s amazing! I don’t look evil anymore, I look like the king.”
The next day the banquet took place as the king had previously commanded. During the banquet the wizard mischievously disguised his walk. All the people were fooled and convinced that the evil wizard was the king. All except for the servant girl.
The servant girl couldn’t understand how clumsily he was walking even though she had taught him how to walk gracefully. She thought to herself “It can’t be the king, but it looks like the king”. Then she noticed that the emerald had been replaced with a big fat ruby.
The king had sworn that he would never replace the gem to show how grateful he was. Now she knew it couldn’t be king. So she secretly left the hall and went looking for him. She looked up and down and all around but he was nowhere to be found.
She thought of everywhere in the castle he could be. She thought long and hard until suddenly it popped in her head. The dungeon! She ran as fast as she could to the dungeon and to her surprise she found the king pacing back and forth in one of the dungeon cells.
“King!” she cried with relief. She ran towards the cell door.
“Oh thank goodness you have found me” muttered the king through the peephole. She shook the door with all her might but it wouldn’t open. Then suddenly two long bony hands grabbed her shoulders, opened the dungeon door and shoved her in. She turned around to see the evil wizard with a large grin on his face.
“Now you are trapped forever. Muwaharha!”
With that the Wizard locked the cell door.
The king and the girl were on the floor, their knees to their chests, in sadness. The cell was damp, cold and dark and the girl dipped her hands in her pockets for warmth. In astonishment she felt something cold and smooth and pulled out the magic emerald! In shock she jumped up and showed the jewel to the king. The emerald was their ticket out of the dungeon. She shone the magic emerald at the lock on the gate of the dungeon and the door swung open.
Then the king had a plan. They were creeping up the spiral staircase when they heard footsteps coming from the opposite direction. They rushed back, quickly, with hearts thumping, to the dungeon pretending to be locked in. But then they realised it was a servant boy, one of the servant girl’s friends, who had noticed that she was missing.
They sighed with relief. Immediately the king asked the servant boy to swap clothes with him. He ran quickly up to the buttery. Sneakily, he spiked the wine that was to be sent into the banquet with the poisonous blue toad to put the wizard to sleep. All those who drunk the wine fell instantly under its spell. The king and the servant girl dragged the sleeping wizard to the dungeon and threw him in! The king took back his clothes and soon looked like himself once again.
The people woke and knew nothing about what had happened but when the wizard awoke he began to whimper.
And even today if you visit Chepstow Castle and listen really carefully you can still hear the whimpering cries of the evil wizard.
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