When the Princess Rescued the Prince - fantasyREADERS

EXCERPT FROM
The Girl Who Could Not Shudder
Once a rich merchant had two daughters, whom he
loved dearly. The older sister always wore fancy clothes
and minded her dignity; but the younger sister, Portia,
wore old clothes, played in the mud, and carried bugs and
snakes out of the house in her bare hands. “They never
bite me,” she told her big sister, “because they know I
mean them no harm, poor things.”
“You will never get on in the world that way,”
sniffed the older, who was named Priscilla, and who was
getting ready for her first ball.
Their father agreed. “Men do not want a girl who is
braver than they are. You are supposed to shriek and toss
your hair around ineffectually.”
“And shudder in a ladylike way,” said Priscilla. “And
call for smelling salts, and be prissy and quaint.”
Portia sighed. “I ain't the kind.”
“Ooh, such language! But can't you at least shudder
occasionally?”
Portia wasn’t quite sure what that meant. “I can
wiggle my ears,” she said. “Would that do?”
Priscilla thought about it. “No, that wouldn't work as
well. I don't think.”
Their father thought it over, then agreed. “Suitable
husbands are not found by wiggling ears. I shall hire you
a Governess at once.”
So next week the Governess arrived: a very nice lady
who wore lots of beads and shawls pinned together by