(Part One of the Cozy-Cozy Arc)

Author’s Note: This story, the first in the Cozy-Cozy Arc (a smaller story arc within the Future Arc that takes place when Josh, Max and Liz’s youngest child, is five years old), is an adaptation of a traditional Swedish fairy tale, specifically the version included in Anne Wahlenberg’s 1969 collection of Scandinavian fairy tales, "The Diamond Bird And Other Tales." This adaptation is meant as affectionate homage to a favorite story. No malicious infringement intended.

***

"Daddy, quit throwing the pizz-smashios! You’re making a mess."

"Yeah, Max," Liz nodded. "Either get the shells in the wastebasket or stop it."

Max grinned and stopped throwing the pistachio shells at Josh’s wastebasket. Jiggling the remaining nutshells in his hand, he asked, "Is it okay if I keep them beside me on the bed?"

Josh frowned at him. "No, Daddy. This is my bed. Don’t make a mess anymore. Or I’ll get Aunt Maria to kick your a--"

"Joshua Alexander Evans!"

Josh blinked innocently up at Liz. "What, Mommy?"

"Don’t you dare say that word!"

"But Uncle Michael says that’s what Aunt Maria does all the time."

"What Uncle Michael says and what you can say are two different things, mister."

"It’s not fair, Mommy," Josh grumbled.

Max laughed. "Life isn’t always fair, kiddo. It’s just complicated." He ruffled Josh’s hair. "So are we going to have cozy-cozy time or what?"

Immediately Josh settled himself between Max and Liz on the bed, curling up in his usual spot between them for cozy-cozy time, which was Josh’s name for their bedtime story ritual.

"Tonight you’re going to get a fairy tale, Josh," Liz said, smiling at Max over Josh’s head.

As if he sensed the communication happening above him, Josh looked up at Liz then at Max then back at Liz again. "I am?" he wanted to know.

"You are," Liz nodded, smiling down at him. "Max? You start, I think."

"I start? Okay. Let me see if I can remember how it starts...."

"Daddy," Josh said impatiently, "if it’s a fairy tale, then it starts ‘once upon a time.’ That’s the rule."

"You’re right. So let’s start this right." Max winked at Liz, then began: "Once upon a time, in a place not that different from this one, there lived a young woman who was not really much more than a girl. She was not of noble birth, but her fame had spread to many kingdoms.

"And her fame had spread because she was truly amazing. But it wasn’t so much her beauty of which people spoke, although she was more beautiful than a rose newly opened, with her silky dark hair and her tiny perfect figure. It wasn’t her wisdom either which amazed everyone, although all who knew her saw the pragmatic and scientific intelligence which sat on her brow. Nor was it her personality, although she was undeniably sweet and kind and gentle." Max smiled at Liz again. "No, what had made her famous were her beautiful doe-brown eyes. Her eyes could speak more clearly than she herself or others could with their lips. Her eyes also saw more clearly than others’ eyes. Her eyes saw what people were thinking, and they saw the things hidden in the secret depths of others’ souls. Her eyes had a language all their own, a language deeper than all roses, which each and every person understood, the young and the old, the wise and the foolish."

After another quick glance at Liz, Max continued: "Because of her eyes, people came from far and wide to seek this amazing young lady; all except for those people whose consciences were far from clear. Those people steered clear of the village where this amazing young lady lived with her parents."

Shaking her head wryly, Liz picked up the story where Max had left off. "One day, a messenger arrived at the young lady’s parents’ house, telling them that they could expect a visit from the prince of the neighboring kingdom, the prince who one day would succeed his father on the throne. The handsome young prince was on his way to see his betrothed--" Liz tried not to smile at Josh’s confused expression-- "that means wife-to-be, Josh." When he nodded in understanding, she continued, "And since the prince’s route led him past the young lady’s village, he thought he would stop there for a day to see the young lady of whom people had told him such amazing stories.

"The young lady was also eager to see the prince, because she had heard stories of how stately, brave, and chivalrous he was, and of how beloved he was by his people.

"But she was afraid to see him too. She was afraid that her eyes would see something about him that others hadn’t seen, something perhaps not too attractive, something of which they would speak openly, because she wouldn’t be able to stop them. The young lady was terrified that she would insult the prince when she saw him, and bring ruin on her house.

"So she conceived a plan to see the prince in secret before he reached her parents’ house. The young lady sneaked out of her house, made her way to the main road of the village, and hid herself behind a thorn bush to wait for the prince to pass by.

"Before too much time had passed, three riders appeared over the hill. One of the riders was a tall man with bottomless eyes and spiky hair, a man whose features betrayed none of his thoughts, but whose full bottom lip indicated a passionate and impulsive nature. Another of the riders was a majestic woman with hair like the sun and a determined tilt to her jaw, a woman whose extraordinary beauty was mere accent to her obvious strength of body and mind and character. But the last rider--" Liz paused to shoot a teasing glance at Max-- "the last rider captured the young lady’s attention absolutely, so that the other two riders and indeed the rest of the world faded into insignificance. From his posture and his elegant clothing, she surmised that he was the noble young prince. He sat on his horse with all the confidence and grace of a born leader. He was as handsome as a vision, but his good looks were not what had captured the young lady’s attention. Rather she was entranced by his beautiful amber-dark eyes, in which she recognized even from afar the purity and goodness of his soul.

"Never before had the young lady seen a more wondrous sight. She knew from the first moment that she looked into his eyes that the noble young prince was honorable, kingly, and without equal. And she also knew that from that moment on she would think of him every day for the rest of her life."

Max raised his eyebrows at Liz when she stopped to take a breath, so she mouthed "it’s only fair" at him over Josh’s head, which caused Max to let out a small laugh, which earned him another of Josh’s frowns.

"Daddy," Josh said severely, "pay attention to the story. No making noise."

Max’s shoulders shook as his five-year old son scolded him, but he nodded seriously and managed to avoid laughing out loud.

"Don’t worry, sweetie." Liz smiled at Josh reassuringly and made a show of frowning at Max too. "Your dad will behave from now on. Do you want me to continue with the story?"

Josh nodded.

So Liz continued telling the story: "After the three riders had passed by, the young lady left her hiding place behind the thorn bush and walked home, more in a dream than awake. She went straight up to her room in a reverie. She dressed herself in her best dress and braided pearls into her dark hair, and the whole time her thoughts remained on the noble young prince.

"It wasn’t until her mother knocked on her door to tell her to come downstairs to greet their most distinguished guests that the young lady realized her horrible predicament. Suddenly it was clear to her that she couldn’t stand before the prince and let him look into her eyes.

"Her eyes of course would tell him plainly and simply that to her he was the handsomest man on earth, the one most worthy of praise and love. They would tell him that she would think of him every hour and every day of her life.

"But it was unthinkable for a girl who wasn’t even of noble birth to say that to a prince who was so much higher in rank and station than she. It was still more unthinkable for her to say it to a prince who was on his way to call on his future bride.

"At that moment, the young lady decided that she would take advantage of the general confusion of the guests’ arrival. She decided that she would leave her parents’ house by a back way and run as far away from the village as she could. To ensure that no one would recognize her, she changed her clothing once more, this time dressing herself in her ugliest, most ragged dress. Thus attired, she crept down the stairs and had almost succeeded in slipping outside unseen when she bumped into someone."

"Who did she bump into, Mommy?" Josh asked when Liz didn’t continue the story.

She smiled down at him. "That’s your Daddy’s part, sweetie." Liz transferred her smile to Max. "So who did the young lady bump into, Max?"

And Max laughed. "The young lady bumped into the noble young prince, of course."

"Did he stop her from leaving, Daddy?" Josh asked curiously.

"Yes, but you’re getting too far ahead in the story. Let me tell you first what happened right after she bumped into the prince."

Josh nodded very seriously and settled back down between his parents to hear the rest of the story.

So Max gave Josh a quick hug and continued from the point in the story at which Liz had stopped. "The young prince reached out to steady the young lady, who had crept down the stairs with such determined stealth that she had not seen him standing on the last step.

"He immediately recognized the lovely but poorly-dressed girl in front of him as the young lady of whom he had heard so many amazing stories. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he suspected that it had something to do with the fact that from the first instant he saw her, he was drawn to her. When she apologized for being so clumsy, he was even more drawn to her. Her voice seemed so resonant, her figure so gentle and trim, her beauty despite her clothing so vibrant. More than anything, he longed to see her eyes, of which he had heard such amazing things. But the young lady kept her head lowered and her eyes trained on the ground.

"That was why when the young lady made a move to step past him, the prince blocked her passage and said, ‘Many stories have been told of your eyes, my lady. Why should you begrudge me the pleasure of seeing them, since you have granted that pleasure to almost everyone else?’"

"Why couldn’t she?" Josh asked.

"You’ll find out in a minute," Max told him. "Let your Mommy explain."

"I’ll explain, Josh," Liz nodded then continued with the story. "The young lady bowed her head even more deeply when she heard the young prince’s question, wishing that the ground would open up and swallow her. ‘I simply can’t,’ she whispered."

"The prince said, ‘Well, then you force me to believe that you have noticed something about me about which you don’t want your eyes to speak.’

"‘Oh no,’ she said in concern. ‘That isn’t the situation at all. It’s simply that I can’t interfere with what should be.’"

Max reached behind Josh to stroke Liz’s arm as he continued the story. "The prince didn’t understand the young lady’s objection. He couldn’t imagine how looking into the young lady’s eyes would interfere with anything, let alone with what should be. All he knew was that he was drawn to the young lady more powerfully than he had ever been drawn to anyone in his whole life, including the princess to whom he was betrothed. Being a stubborn young man, the prince asked the young lady again to look up into his eyes.

"‘I just can’t,’ she answered, so softly that the prince could scarcely hear her.

"But the prince was a *very* stubborn young man, and before the young lady could guess his intent, he reached out and very gently tilted her face up so he could look into her eyes. And what he saw there astonished him.

"Her eyes, which gazed at him with the brilliance of two lovely stars, told him clearly the very thing a young lady (especially a young lady not of noble birth) could never say to a man, much less to a prince, and especially to a prince who was betrothed to another woman.

"But in the instant that their eyes met, a connection higher than the sky and deeper than the sea was forged. Because even the young prince’s eyes could speak, and they told the young lady something very similar to what her eyes had newly said to him."

"But the young lady knew in her head that the young prince’s destiny lay elsewhere, with someone else, no matter what his eyes said," Liz said sadly. "So she picked up the skirts of her ugly dress and ran out of her parents’ house, leaving the prince who she loved with all her heart behind."

Max stroked Liz’s arm comfortingly and continued the story. "The young prince knew in his head and his heart that the young lady was wrong, and that his destiny lay where he chose. He was about to follow the young lady when an arm grabbed his and stopped him."

Josh frowned. "Who stopped him, Daddy?"

"If you keep interrupting, Josh, you won’t find out."

"Daddy, just tell me."

Max stifled a smile at Josh’s impatience. "One of the prince’s fellow travelers, his closest friend in the world, stopped him because he was worried about the prince. By this time, Josh, the other guests -- including the prince’s sister and his closest friend -- had wandered into the hallway, wondering what was keeping him.

"All the people in the hallway saw the young lady’s flight away from the prince. However, only the prince’s sister and his closest friend saw the hurt expression in his eyes.

"The prince didn’t end up following the young lady. Nor did he continue his journey to see his betrothed. Instead he returned home and shut himself in his rooms, refusing to see anyone but his sister and his closest friend. He broke his engagement to the princess of the neighboring kingdom, because in his heart he knew he could not spend his life with anyone but the young lady whose eyes had touched his soul."

"But what happened to the lady? Where did she go?" Josh asked, his little brow knit in confusion.

Smiling, Liz ruffled Josh’s hair and squeezed him close. "After the travelers and the guests had left, the young lady returned to her parents’ house where she stayed quiet and alone most days, regretting with every breath that she had run away from the prince and regretting in every same breath that she hadn’t been born a princess and worthy of his love in the first place."

"This isn’t a happy story, Mommy," Josh complained. "Fairy tales are s’pposed to be happy."

"This is just the low point," Liz said reassuringly as she hugged him again. "There’s more to the story. Do you want to hear it, or are you getting sleepy?"

Josh shook his head and snuggled closer to her. "I wanna hear the end, Mommy."

"Okay, munchkin," Liz nodded. She tilted her head at Max. "I think we’re at your Daddy’s part."

Max was thoughtful for a minute, then he began to tell the next part of the story. "Across the whole country, an untrue rumor spread that the young lady had not allowed the prince to look into her eyes. And people wondered, asking themselves what it could be that she had seen in him and was so unwilling to have her eyes reveal. So strong was the belief in her remarkable gift of being able to read the truth buried deep within someone’s soul, that the rumors of her having discovered something monstrously unattractive and wicked about the young prince spread more and more widely, although until that time, his people had regarded him as a noble sovereign."

"The whispers and the rumors did not bother the prince," Max told Josh. "What bothered him was knowing that he had found and lost within the same instant the one person who had instantly become the most important thing in his life.

"As the weeks passed and the prince remained cloistered in his rooms, the whispers and rumors about him worsened. His people began to question his fitness to rule, and their doubts finally roused the prince from his grieving and reminded him of his responsibilities as a leader."

"So the prince the led his people as he had before. But he knew inside himself that he only going through the motions of leadership. He knew that he was not and could not be the leader he was meant to be without his heart. And he knew that he had left his heart in a village far away from the castle in the eyes of a girl who wrongly believed herself unworthy of him."

Liz didn’t look at Max when she began to tell the next part of the story. "Because the prince’s heart was not in his leadership, the rumors refused to disappear, and they worried the young lady. She became obsessed with the thought of doing all in her power to clear the prince’s name. So she conceived a plan to do so. Her plan was this: in front of all the most powerful people in the kingdom, she would face the prince so that everyone could see that her eyes had nothing dreadful to say about him, with the result that everyone would beg the prince’s forgiveness for the injustice their doubts had brought upon him.

"On the appointed day, from every corner of the country appeared knights and vassals and their wives and daughters. Half of the throne room was jammed with people of noble birth, and the other half with ordinary citizens.

"When no more guests were expected, the door opened once more, and the young lady and her parents entered. As she approached the throne, she bowed deeply to the king and queen and princess, and even more deeply to the prince.

"First she turned to the king and then to the assembled crowd. ‘I have heard,’ she said, ‘that there are people who are very distrustful of the prince because of me, so I have come here to tell you what my eyes have seen in his. They have seen that on this whole wide earth there is not a man as knightly or as honorable or as good as he.’

"A murmur arose in the hall.

"‘Then, my dear, please allow us to see your eyes, so that we’ll be sure your lips are not saying one thing and your eyes another,’ said the king.

"She lowered her head. ‘I can’t,’ she answered, just as she once had answered the prince.

"‘Then no one will believe you,’ said the queen."

"‘No, there’s no one who believes you,’ echoed the crowd.

"The young lady remained standing with her head lowered nearly to her chest. She felt they were almost demanding that she put her soul on view, so that they could see it exposed and bare, could mock and deride it. But were she not to expose it, she would torture the person who occupied her thoughts night and day, and would for the rest of her life, the person so worthy of esteem and love. And it would be all her fault."

Liz stopped speaking then and smiled tremulously at Max. He reached behind Josh to touch her cheek gently and began telling his part of the story.

"So the young lady took a step toward the prince and slowly lifted her pale, beautiful face to his. Her lips were trembling, but her dark eyes were as bright as stars.

"When their eyes met, the connection between them which was higher than the sky and deeper than the sea was apparent to all. And the prince felt that his heart had been returned to his keeping. And the people realized why the young lady had not allowed the prince to look into her eyes before."

"But she did," Josh said.

"Yes, she did," Max agreed. "But the people didn’t know that. Just like they didn’t know what was really wrong with the prince. People don’t always know what’s going on in other people’s hearts, Josh. The essential heart is always invisible to the eye."

"So what happened then?"

Max laughed. "Quit interrupting, Josh, if you want to know what happened."

Josh zipped his lips, a gesture he’d learned from his older cousins, and both Max and Liz laughed. Then Liz picked up the thread of the story.

"There wasn’t a smile on anyone’s face, and the silence in the hall was so great that you could hear a pin drop. The young lady knew that her connection with the prince was still as hopeless as before because it was not meant to be. So beckoning to her parents, she turned to leave. And as she and her parents made their way through the crowd to the exit, no one stopped their progress."

"Daddy!" Josh exclaimed, upset. "You said the prince wasn’t gonna let her leave! She’s already left once. Is he gonna let her leave again?"

"Wait, Josh. The story’s not over," Max said reassuringly.

"You promised that he wouldn’t let her leave, Daddy."

"He won’t, Josh. Let me finish."

"Are you sure he’s not gonna let her leave?"

"Yes, I’m sure. Let me finish the story, okay?"

Josh nodded.

Squeezing Josh’s shoulders lightly, Max continued: "Before the young lady and her parents reached the exit, however, a voice rose above the heads of the crowd, shouting: ‘Lock all the doors down there!’

"The door guards immediately obeyed the prince’s order. When he saw that the young lady had been prevented from leaving, the prince stepped down from the throne dais and walked the length of the hall until he reached the door where the young lady stood with her parents.

"Taking her by the hand, he looked once more into her eyes, and the connection between them grew beyond the sky and the sea. And they both knew that the love between them was undeniable. ‘You didn’t think I would let you leave again, did you?’ he asked her gently. And when she smiled and shook her head, he knew that they would never be apart again.

"He slowly led her back through the crowd of people. When they reached the dais, the prince knelt before the throne of his father the king and explained his actions. ‘My king, my father,’ he said. ‘I could not have allowed the queen to depart.’

"‘The queen?’ the king asked.

"‘Yes, the queen. Is she not a queen among women? For me at least there will never be another.’

"And the old king was very wise and knew that his son had been changed after his first meeting with the young lady of whom so many amazing stories had been told. And the wise old king knew also that that change meant that his son needed the young lady, who was hardly more than a girl, at his side to rule. And because he was very wise indeed, the old king also knew that there were many political advantages to be realized from a match between noble royalty and ordinary citizenry.

"So the wise old king nodded his approval of the match. And an echoing roar of approval came from all corners of the room, from high and low, from young and old, because everyone in that kingdom loved a fairy-tale romance."

Smiling, Max hugged Josh and got up from the bed. "And everyone lived happily ever after. That’s the end of your fairy tale, Josh."

"I liked it," Josh said decisively.

"You did?" Liz asked as she stood up too and helped Josh under the bed covers.

Josh nodded, his amber-dark eyes very solemn. "It was a very good story." Snuggling under his blankets, he smiled up at them. "So you were the queen, Mommy?"

Liz and Max exchanged a startled look. Then Liz placed a soft kiss on Josh’s forehead. "What do you think?"

"I think it’s good that Daddy didn’t let you leave again."

"I think so too, sweetie. Go to sleep now." Liz snapped off the bedside lamp and turned to leave the room but Josh’s voice, which already sounded sleepy, stopped her before she had even taken three steps.

"Mommy? Can you make sure that Daddy didn’t leave any pizz-smashios on my bed? He makes such a mess sometimes."

Liz turned back and ran a hand over the coverlet quickly, picking up the few remaining pistachios. She dropped another kiss on Josh’s forehead. "I’ve got them. Now sleep."

When Liz joined Max in the hallway outside Josh’s bedroom, Max put his arms around her and murmured, "He’s a pretty insightful little guy, isn’t he?"

"We *were* pretty obvious, Max."

"True." He pulled her close and kissed her. "You taste like pistachios."

Liz laughed and held out her hand, palm-up, to show him the shells of the pistachios that he had left on Josh’s bed. "I ate a couple. Sorry. I know they’re your pizz-smashios."

Max chuckled. "I forgive you. Besides, I like it when you taste like pizz-smashios." He kissed her again. "You’ve always been my pizz-smashio queen."

Liz laughed and snuggled deeper into his arms. "You say the sappiest things, Max."

"I know. It’s your fault. If I didn’t love you, maybe I wouldn’t say such sappy things."

"I’m glad you say sappy things."

"Me too."

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