"The King in the Kitchen"by Margaret E. Slattery
This Selection Snapshot is based on a play. As you read it, try to imagine actors
performing it on a stage.
In the palace kitchen, a Cook is working with pots and pans. A Guard enters.
He is taking a peasant to the dungeon because he wants to marry the Princess.
The Cook says that peasants cannot marry Princesses. The Princess must marry
only someone who is noble and rich like the Duke. Since the King is almost out
of money, it has to be someone rich.
The peasant says that he sees the Princess every day when he delivers
vegetables. He is very fond of her. She is also fond of him, he says. But this is a
bad day for the peasant to ask the King about marrying the Princess. The King is
very upset. The soup was so bad he threw it on the floor!
The Cook's feelings are hurt. But she has no time to think about it because
the King arrives in the kitchen. "Who made that terrible soup?" he shouts.
"I did, your Majesty," the Cook says.
"I could make it better myself," the King says. "And I will."
The King puts water into a bowl with some flour. Then he adds some other
things. "Salt!" he says. He shakes the salt shaker furiously over the bowl.
The Princess arrives. The King tells her why the Peasant is being punished. She
cries. But he pays no attention to her.
The King asks the Cook what he made. She tells him it is too thin for porridge
but too thick for soup. No one knows what it is. The King has an idea. He will
hold a contest. Whoever guesses what it is will marry the Princess. The Duke
arrives. The King explains the contest to him. The Duke tastes it. He puts his
hand to his mouth. No one can understand what he is trying to say. The Princess
says that since the Duke can't say what it is, she will not have to marry him.
The King still wants to know what he has made. Finally the Guard gets the
peasant from the dungeon so he can guess. He sniffs the bowl. He takes off his
shoe and puts some of the stuff on the sole, which had been hanging down.
Then he puts the shoe back on and walks around.
"Congratulations, your majesty!" the peasant says. "You have just made the
best glue I've ever seen! My shoe is as good as new. You are a genius!"
No wonder the Duke can't talk! The Guard takes him to the dentist. The King
and the peasant decide to go into business to sell the King's glue. They will be
rich! And of course the peasant will now marry the Princess, after all. And they
will live happily ever after.