NO DWARVES, NO PRINCES

Once upon a time there was a Sleeping Princess
In a coffin in the woods.

She didn't have a PR agent,
So there were no dwarves to guard her,
And no princes knew she was there.

One day, quite by accident,
A Princess Who Had a Predisposition for Waking Sleeping Princesses
Rode through the wood and saw the Sleeping Princess.
She climbed off her horse, opened the coffin,
And gave the Sleeping Princess a kiss.

The Sleeping Princess opened her eyes, sat up, and said,
"Oh, thank you for waking me!
What do we do now?"

"What do you mean we?" exclaimed the Princess Who Had a Predisposition for Waking Sleeping Princesses.

"Um, I mean, uh, aren't we supposed to go off together?"
Asked the Wide Awake Princess, somewhat tentatively.

"I just wake up sleeping princesses," said the Princess Who Had a Predisposition for Waking Sleeping Princesses.
"It's my job. I have no further responsibility in the matter.
And besides, I already have a princess at home."
And she got on her horse and rode away.

So the Wide Awake Princess climbed out of the coffin
And wandered off alone to find out exactly why
She had had to be awakened from a perfectly good sleep.

It remains to be seen whether she will live happily ever after.

SYZYGY:
Songs for Fools and Magicians

by Honora Finkelstein