14. Momo Discovers the Prince

     We now return to the day that Momo came of age.  

    Momo excitedly broke the surface of the sea just as the sun was going down. There before her, on gently swaying waters, she saw a three-masted schooner with elaborately carved wood and inlaid with gold. Presently, she heard the sounds of a party taking place aboard the ship. Momo decided to swim aft of the ship for a closer look.

        A set of windows wrapped around that part of the ship just below the afterdeck. As the windows were just above eye level, Momo had to take advantage of the rise and fall of the waves for her to take brief peeks into the windows.   Yes, there was a grand ball taking place on the ship. The people were celebrating the birthday of a young prince named Arturo.  

     I wish I could tell you that Arturo was a handsome prince. After all, princes in fairy tales are supposed to be handsome. Arturo was tall and he was slender. Well, he was gangly, anyway. He had curly red hair, freckles, a long nose, an overbite, and a receding chin.

     In those days, Prince Arturo’s appearance was what most people called regal. That’s because, from one end of the continent to the other, men and women of the royal houses tended to have long noses, big ears, receding chins, and overbites. That was a result of the inbreeding among royal families. Because royalty married only other royalty, everyone in every royal house from one end of the continent to the other was closely related to everyone in every other royal house. 

      Early in the history of the royal family, a group seeking to overthrow a certain king tied a rope around his neck and tried to hang him. Because of the king’s receding chin, the rope kept slipping off, leaving the king with a rope around the middle of his face—just below the ears and nose. From then on, the facial characteristics of the royal family was seen (by the royal family) as a sign of heaven’s favor.

      Another result of this inbreeding was that, from birth, almost all royals were twits.

     From one end of the continent to the other, that was the word that came to people’s minds whenever any discussion of a royal family came up. The royals, not knowing that it was an uncomplimentary remark, thought the word twit was recognition of good breeding—which further demonstrated what twits they were. Consequently, a royal statement was sent out decreeing that no one other than titled nobility shall be called a twit. Their subjects cheerfully complied with the decree.
      Somehow, though, Momo found Prince Arturo oddly appealing. She continued to watch the young prince, unaware that some of the light from the ship’s grand ballroom illuminated her and the water around her. 

     At one point, she found it difficult to get a good look at the prince because two men were standing in front of the set of windows near Momo. As a wave lifted her up, one of the men turned and noticed her at the window. He quickly leaned for a closer look. The other man noticed that his friend was looking out the window and tried to see what had gotten his friend’s attention. In the next moment, Momo rose toward the window again. Noticing the men, Momo smiled and waved.

      The first man asked, “Did you see that?”
      “I didn’t see anything,” the second man replied.
      The first one said, “I didn’t see it either.”
      As it grew very dark, the partygoers moved to the main deck of the schooner. All of a sudden, flames darted across the sky and exploded, casting sparks and fireballs across the sky. Momo had never seen fireworks before. One sky rocket following the one before it in rapid succession, so many exploded at nearly the same moment that they made rumbling sounds. Eventually, the people began to run out of fireworks, and the noise and flashes ceased.

     As darkness settled over the prince’s schooner, strong seamen hoisted lines, and the wind filled the ship’s sails. Momo noticed then that the sea was starting to get rough as the schooner pulled away from her. Swimming as fast as she could, she managed to keep up with the schooner, hoping to get another glimpse of the prince. 

     Now the wind and waves were tossing the ship about as a kitten would play with a toy mouse. The ship’s timbers creaked and threatened to crack. Each flash of lightning allowed Momo to catch a glimpse of the prince standing on the poop deck of the ship.   He seemed to thrill at the feeling of the salty wind in his face.

     Suddenly, a high wave crashed over the schooner and washed the prince overboard. Momo was beside herself with happiness. The prince would come to her, and she would always have him! Then she remembered that humans weren’t able to live beneath the sea. The prince would sink to the bottom and drown if she didn’t rescue him.