To be published 15/08/2023…
This is not your typical sleeping beauty story. It has all the right components: a fairy blessing, a sleeping princess, a wall of thorns, a chivalrous knight determined to hack his way through to the tower. Except that this is one princess that no one wants to wake up. Toadling has resigned herself to an eternity of guarding the tower. But then a knight arrives and it is not the princess he has come to save.
The motivations behind this plot are a little bit fuzzy, but that is probably to be expected when trying to understand the minds of mischievous fairies. What is easy to understand is that Toadling is the true hero of the story. An unassuming creature, the power she holds is found in her courage, determination and kind-hearted protectiveness. She is constantly striving to do her very best and never realises that she is actually performing above anyone’s expectations. It is her sweet nature that keeps her trapped in the tower as she is unable to make the final blow which would free her. This could be viewed as a weakness, allowing for the risk that evil could still rise again. However, I prefer to focus on the strength of character that prevented her from taking an easy way out and kept her standing guard for so long.
Escape to the Bookshelf 