Demetrius Prince of Fair Kingdom

Demetrius stomped away from the party, grumbling to himself. He was so tired of everyone paying attention to his little sister and ignoring him. All she had to do was get dressed in a frilly, little dress and a useless hat and she limped her way into the hearts of everyone. Demetrius was dressed in his princely uniform with his grandfather's pocket watch in his waistcoat and his pair of gilded daggers in his belt but as soon as the entrance procession was over, he was ignored. As he leaned against the tree pouting, he heard a chattering noise he looked up to see a large golden squirrel on the limb above his head. “What is bothering the most noble Prince?” the squirrel asked.

“I am the Crown Prince of Fair Kingdom, and my little sister gets all the attention. Everyone ignores me and just oohs and aahs over her beautiful dress and her cute little limp and her beautiful hair and that useless hat and her sweet smile. Mother and father are the worst; they coddle her and smile at everything she says. I was born first. I am the Crown Prince.”

“Well,” said the squirrel “I might be able to help”

“You’re a squirrel, what can you do to help?”

“I am not just any ole squirrel, I am a Royal Golden Squirrel here to help the Royal Family in their time of need.”

“Can you make people notice me?”

The squirrel sat back on his haunches, flicked his tail back and forth slowly scratching his head with one paw. “I could really use a collar and buttons, if you could give me yours, I would be willing to give you some advice.” Demetrius put his pure white collar around the squirrel’s neck and fastened the row of buttons to it. The collar hung loosely around the squirrel's neck and the row of buttons that only reached to the center of Demetrius’s chest almost touched the branch that the animal stood on. The squirrel disappeared into a hole in the tree trunk.

“Hey,” Demetrius yelled as he worked a thin twig into the buttonholes on both sides of his shirt and tucked it back under his waistcoat.

“Just checking my appearance” The squirrel reappeared on the branch. He had put his right arm through the collar and wrapped the row of buttons under his left arm and over his right shoulder forming a contrasting X across his chest. “I am Cyrus, by the way, and if you splashed mud on your sister’s pretty dress, she wouldn’t be so pretty anymore.” Cyrus winked and disappeared into the trees.

Demetrius didn’t spend much time thinking about it and soon the little princess was covered in mud, and Demetrius was back at the tree calling for the squirrel. “

Cyrus, you gave me bad advice, It didn’t work, Mother just picked her up and everyone waited while she got dressed in another frilly thing with another useless hat. I juggled my daggers and apples to distract them but as soon as she was back, no one even noticed me.”

“Your daggers seem as useless as your sister, but if you let me have them, I may have another suggestion.”

Demetrius hesitated; he liked the little daggers and how they looked in his belt, one on each side glinting in the sunlight, but no one noticed. He handed them to Cyrus.

“This time whatever you do, make it look like she did it to herself, and you could rescue her.”

About an hour later he was back, “Cyrus, that didn’t work either, she tripped over a rock, and a footman pushed me out of the way and caught her. A FOOTMAN.”

Cyrus scratched his chin and pretended to be deep in thought. “This is serious, I do know a way guaranteed to get you attention, but it will cost you.”

“Cost me what? I am the crown prince I can give you anything you want.”

“I want the pocket watch your grandfather gave you.”

Demetrius took a step back and stared at the beautiful golden squirrel and shook his head.

“No. He gave that to me just before he died and said that I should always remember to take time to rule my people well.”

“How can you rule your people if they don’t pay attention to you?”

The boy slowly unclipped the watch chain and handed it to the squirrel. Cyrus took it gleefully and fastened it around his neck. “When it is time for her to cut the cake, she will stand on the table because she is small. All you have to do is be under the table and tip it so that she slides into the cake and cake and sister will fall to the ground in a heaping mess. That will teach her to not take attention away from you, the most notable crown prince.”

Demetrius grinned slightly, “thank you so much for all your help, but, if this doesn't work though, I want my grandfather’s watch back.”

Cyrus shrugged, admiring the watch intently. “It will work, I promise you will get a lot of attention.” He winked again and disappeared into the trees.

Hours later Demetrius sat sullenly on his bed watching the sun set outside his window, he thought that he could see a large golden squirrel running through the tree branches wearing his collar and buttons, gilded daggers and his grandfather’s watch. His Father came into the room and sat beside him; He didn’t speak for what seemed like hours to Demetrius. Then he said quietly “your sister had to have 12 Stitches put in her forehead, but she will be ok. Why did you think it was a good idea to dump her and her birthday cake on the ground?”

“I just was jealous, and Cyrus said that would get me some attention.”

“Cyrus was right you did get attention but was it the kind of attention you wanted?”

“No, and now he has grandfather’s watch, do you think I can get it back?”

The king put his arm around his son, pulled him close and waited until Demetrius looked up at him. “Not all results that we get, are the ones we are looking for, remember that.”