Tale #43 -- A Story for Carol

"Have you looked at my blog lately?" Ben asked his sister Carol. "I wrote a story for you."

"Really?" Carol asked, trying not to look too interested. "What kind of story?"

"It's about time travel back to the time of King Arthur. You are the heroine of the story."

"Please get off the computer right now," Carol said. "I have some reading to do."


Carol's Excellent Adventure

Once upon a time, a girl named Carol lived in a town in Northern Ontario. She was just a normal kid, except for one thing. She had a special friend called Professor Zur.

Professor Zur was a scientist who liked inventing things. He didn't have a lot of visitors because he wouldn't let them in the house when he was busy working. But he had one weakness -- chocolate chip cookies. Carol's mother made excellent chocolate chip cookies, and she taught Carol how to make them. Whenever Carol went to Professor Zur's place, she brought some cookies along. He didn't mind stopping his work for some of those delicious cookies.

One day, while Professor Zur was munching Carol's cookies, he asked, "Would you like to see my latest invention?"

"What does it do?" Carol asked.

"It lets you travel through the space-time continuum."

"Please explain that in simpler terms," Carol said.

"It means you can go anywhen and anywhere -- if you're lucky. I haven't tested it yet."

"I'll help you test it," Carol said. "How long will it take? I have to be home for supper."

"That's the beauty of it," Professor Zur said. "No matter how much time you spend in your travels, you will not lose any time here."

"Wonderful!" Carol said. "Let's do it. I want to visit King Arthur and the knights of the round table."

Professor Zur put her in his time-travel chamber and programmed the control panel. The chamber started to hum and Carol felt dizzy. She saw a lot of different colours. Then she found herself in ancient Britain, right outside King Arthur's castle Camelot.

Carol managed to get a job in the castle kitchen. It was hard work, but she got to see the knights. Everyone enjoyed her excellent chocolate chip cookies.

One day, the head cook said, "King Arthur wants something special for his birthday. Bake some of those chocolate chip cookies."

The king enjoyed the cookies so much that he told his servants that he wanted to meet Carol. Two of the queen's maids came to the kitchen to fetch her. They gave her a bath, washed her hair, and dressed her in a beautiful gown. While they were getting her ready, they told her about the proper way to behave in the royal court.

When the maids led Carol into the throne room, she curtsied to the king as she had been taught.

"Thank you for making the cookies," King Arthur said.

"I'm honoured that you enjoyed them, Your Majesty," Carol said.

"I want to give you a reward," King Arthur said. "What would you like?"

"Oh, Your Majesty," Carol said, "I would like to go to your next tournament."

"No problem," the king said. "I'll do better than that. You shall be the queen of the tournament."


"Well," Ben said to his sister. "How did you like it?"
"It's okay," Carol said. "But you forgot something."
"What?" Ben asked.
"How does she get home?"
Ben smiled. "That's another story."