A Fairy Tale Continued

(to read part one)

Once upon a time…long ago…in times past…

         
  Thanks, Ben.

There was a prince...

  Wait a second, there's always one prince. What could we do to change it up (without it being overly weird)?
  I don't know, Josh. How 'bout make the prince have brothers? That way, the princess has a couple options to choose from.
  Great idea, Ben! Thanks!

There were four princely brothers. They were, as stated, brothers, who shared the occupation of princes (their resumes were quite impressive). However, the four brothers were rather eccentric, each in his own way. Of course, if they weren't eccentric, this tale would be nigh-on boring. Therefore, they are eccentric.

The first and eldest of the brothers was Charles Charming (of course the last name is Charming...what else could it be?). Of the four brothers, Charles was the first to accept the full-time position of prince, and was therefore the most experienced

The second and second eldest of the brothers was Maximilian Augustus Charming.

  Josh, you better not make Maximilian's bio as boring as Charles's...
  ...okay Ben.

 Max was in a strange quandary at the time of our story, but his quandary requires a short story. Several years previous, he had had the misfortune to be turned into a frog. Of course, the only way to turn him back was for a princess to kiss him. He was most fortunate in an unfortunate way. He was fortunate to find a princess in distress, who had dropped her magic mirror down a well (it had been dried out many a year - do not ask what the princess was doing that caused her mirror to drop down such a hole, as that's another story). Being nimble in frog limb, he immediately made it known that he would fetch her magic mirror. In one bound, he was down. He began to tug on the mirror. However, it took him some time to figure out a way to carry it. That's the unfortunate part of the story. The princess was so taken by the little frog's endeavor, that she blew him a kiss; since everything's wireless nowadays, it had very much the same effect as a physical kiss: it changed the frog prince into a prince prince (a human one, that is). Dear Reader, a frog may easily escape the warming pot, but a prince has no chance. He was therefore, and still is, stuck at the bottom of the well, his only consolation being the magic mirror, by which he began to know everything, and write books and periodicals on the same. His weekly, the Prince's Deeply, is a well read newspaper, and very informative.

The next brother was Philosophically Charming, or Phil for short. In the nature of his name, he sought humanitarian relief for all underprivileged classes. He even went as far as to subsidize poor, forgotten animals. His housing plans for such creatures were his greatest failure, as his pilot program involved determining the structural analysis of various building materials for the razorback breed, being of straw, sticks and bricks. His initial plan called for three of the breed to be housed in each of the buildings. This failed because of the carnivorous and enchanted nature of his younger brother Fred.

The last and final brother, as well as the youngest, was Frederick Charming. Like Max, Fred had the inconvenience of being shape-shifted, but he into a carnivorous canine. You see, Fred, a vegetarian, liked dogs so much that he had 127 different breeds, hosted 3 dog shows a week, and provided the famous Canine 9k Scholarships for veterinarian students. However, when a representative from the Safeguarding Animals Against the Tyranny of Living in Cramped Quarters with Others of Different Breeds Legal Association (SAATLCQODBLA) arrived and determined that 127 dog breeds living on 381 acres was too cramped, he complained to the Princes Behavior Correction Agency (PBCA), which determined Fred's sentence: he was to be turned into a generic dog and be carnivorous, unto the point that he had been kissed by a princess (which they were sure was never going to happen).

And so...

...At a date undetermined, in a land not found on modern maps, there once was four princely brothers...

  That's great Josh! Much better than "There once was a prince..."
  I'd quite agree. It'll keep our readers guessing...

  Stay tuned on Ben's blog.