A Day in the Night of Winter

Once upon a time, in the heart of a peaceful kingdom, there lived a courageous princess named Aurora. She was known far and wide for her fearless spirit and unwavering determination. Aurora's dearest companions were her loyal friends, Percival, a forgetful pig with a heart as big as the kingdom itself, and Randolph, a very old and  cranky  rooster  with  such a deafening  cock-a doodle-dang-it that it could  wake up the entire Kingdom.

Their kingdom was nestled on a farm where Percival and Randolph spent  time doing what pigs and roosters do, alongside the cows, yaks and donkeys. The farm was full of love and kindness and provided the people of the kingdom with all they needed to eat. That is, until a King who wanted everything to be always the same came and  cast a spell on the farm and the kingdom.  King Stuckalot, as he was called, cried out, “This kingdom is now mine and will be a place of forever darkness and cold.  No more changing of the seasons.”  The people tried to talk to the king but he refused to budge.  The first snowfall wrapped the kingdom in the usual blanket of beauty and peace a first snowfall brings, but soon the freezing temperatures  and relentless ice and snow caused the  people to huddle all alone in their  houses. They could not even step outside. The more they feared, the more lonely they became, and King Stuckalot’s spell  grew stronger.... Thick ice and snow covered the kingdom. The usual winter joys of skating on frozen ponds and sledding down hills could not be enjoyed as the cold and the dark were so cold and so dark. 

Being the wise and brave  princess that she was,  Princess Aurora  knew what had to be done. She would not stay huddled in fear forever. She turned to her two faithful friends, Percival and Randolph, and said  “We must go together and save the kingdom. Percival, you must bring words of warmth,  and Randolph, you must sing to the sun until it can shine again and I shall  use my sword of gold. Together we will break the spell.”  Cranky Randolph complained that this was altogether not possible and they were doomed to be ice pops forever.  Nonetheless, he joined his friends. As they made their way through the dark, cold, and ice-filled forest, Percival looked to the princess and said “ wait, what are we doing again?”   Randolph rolled his eyes but before he could answer,  the three friends came upon a massive  wall of ice . 

Percival, despite his forgetful nature, had a remarkable knack for understanding the earth and the changing seasons. He could feel the land's despair and the people's fear, and he could hear the sizzling from the fire deep within the earth; and oh did that fire sound wonderful!  Percival  suddenly remembered a rhyme  from when he was a piglet and shouted it out:

Hungry pigs gathered, a rowdy crew,

Their appetites big, their manners few,

But in the fire of friendship they’d find delight, 

Sharing their slop, such a comical sight, 

With  oinks and giggles they roll in the hay 

Their curly tails spin - oh what a warm wonderful day! 

Oink -idi-oink!!

As Percival  oinked these words with pride and joy,  he giggled and wiggled shouting “Sing Randolph Sing!” Randolph, despite  being cranky and feeling very nervous, unleashed his the loudest  cock-a-doodle- dang -it  ever. The piggies' words  danced on the do’s and dangs  of the old rooster's song. 

Suddenly, a ray of light began to shine out from deep inside the earth’s core, making its way up to the icy wall. The wall began to crack and there it was - King Stuckalot’s immovable castle of ice. 

Princess Aurora, filled with the fire of courage charged through the wall and plunged her  golden sword into the heart of the ice castle . The small ray exploded into a radiant light  that burst forth, reaching straight up to the sun. The ice began to shatter and King Stuckalot began to melt.

Percival, who could not swim, slipped off the melting ice block into the freezing water.  The Princess ran to save him but was only able to grab his curly tail.  “ Help Randolph”  Princess Aurora  cried out.   The rooster shivered with fear. “Oh what to do-do-do dang it do…” he crowed. The freezing water was about to swallow Princess Aurora and Percival when Randolph, for the first time ever in his long life,  used his mighty wings to fly . He flew up into the sky then swooped down to grab  the princess and the pig and flew them to  safety, landing on a soft mound of  snow and hay. The sun began to shine and King Stuckalot  continued to melt, turning into a small shining pond. The spell of King Stuckalot had been broken!!  The trees began to bend with joy and the animals frolicked and the people of the kingdom cheered the praises of the princess, the pig and the rooster. 

Unfortunately, the old rooster had given all the energy he had left in his old life when he spread  his wings and saved his friends. He lay on the ground while  the princess stroked his feathers.  For the first time, since before he hatched so many moons ago, he smiled, and with his smile he closed his eyes and  slipped away into the warm canopy of forever sleep. A gentle tear fell from the eye  of the princess and sparkled as it landed on Randolph's mighty crown - which never looked so grand. All of a sudden,  a glorious wind swirled around the three friends, swooped up old Randolph  and carried him high in the sky into the arms of the sun.  To everyone's surprise, Randolph  opened his wings and flew - up and away into the heavens.  The sun was out and the imprisoning  spell of endless darkness was over.  Now the seasons could return, the crops could grow, the eggs could hatch,  and the people could return to caring for the land and the kingdom they loved. 

That night, as Princess Aurora lay in her cozy bed with her fabulously forgetful pig by her side, she gazed out at the night sky and there he was - Randolph - a sparkling constellation of stars right up in the North. 

Princess Aurora shrieked with delight. “ Look Percival ! she exclaimed “There in the sky - it's Randolph!”  Randolph the brave and selfless rooster  was given the glory of twinkling light for the rest of eternity.

Princess Aurora grew up to be the Queen of  the peaceful kingdom and Percival, the forgetful pig,  became mayor of the farm. With his big heart and wise ways, he always reminded the animals to prepare for whatever changes were coming - even if he could not quite remember at the moment what the change would be - it was ok.  While Percival’s mind could forget things, Percivals heart never waivered. Together he and Queen Aurora lived a long and happy life, visiting with Randolf every night. The shining pool that once was King Stuckalot, reflected all the beautiful seasons on its surface, and the people celebrated its ever changing state. Children watched tadpoles turn to frogs in springtime, swam in its cool water in the summer, sailed bark boats decked with red and gold leaves in the autumn, and skated on its frozen surface all throughout the winter, which would not last forever.

And Randolph, as he watches from on high  still twinkles in the sky and  protects all farms and animals, even to this day.

If you look to the night sky, you  will always see Randolph's  star sparkling brightly in the north; always there to light your way through even the darkest of days.