I:
"But you know the story of my name, silly!" Irena said, quirking her head to the side.
"Yes, but you tell the story so well! I want to hear it again," Amy replied. She pushed aside the doubts and questions about why the girl thought she knew so much. Children easily pick up on such things and she didn't want to further raise her playfriend's suspicions.
Irena stood up out of the pillows and placed herself in front of Amy. "My name is Irena," she said with careful enunciation that sounded like I-rain-a, with a little roll of the r. "I was named after my great grandmother, the beautiful and kind Queen Irena." At this, she made a gesture as to put a crown on her little head. Amy smiled - there is nothing quite as descriptive as a young child telling a story.
"Princess Irena came from a faraway land to marry my great grandfather, King Alfons. King Alfons was a fearsome man," she said, squinching up her face in an angry manner and standing with arms akimbo, "He was strong in battle and sometimes mean to his squires. But Princess Irena was not afraid of him. They had a wedding and there was three days of feasting! They had dancers, and food, and jugglers, and clowns!" She danced in a little circle and curtsied, grinning. "It was SO much fun!
"And Queen Irena was happy and beautiful, and on the last day they danced in front of everyone who came to watch! I would have been scared to dance in front of so many people, but the King and Queen were very brave. And while they danced, Queen Irena said to her King, 'We shall rule together, and show great kindness to our people.' And great grandfather Alfons looked at his beautiful Irena and said, 'Yes, my Queen.'
"And from that day forward, he was much kinder, and he was a good King. Even when the great drought came, and all the crops dried up, he shared from the palace with everyone, and took care of them. Queen Irena was beautiful and kind until the day she died.
"That was a very sad day, because everyone loved the Queen. And that's why my daddy, Prince Leo, named me Irena. So that I can be as kind and beautiful as my great grandmother, Queen Irena." Her story finished, Irena took a deep curtsy and threw herself joyfully back onto the pillows next to Amy.
"What should we do now, Amy? It's not time for our rest, yet. What should we do?
"Should we...
Go to the Juniper garden?
Jump rope?
Find the Jester and make him tell us Jokes?"
