Kate And Bonny Kate

This bedtime story is called “Kate Crackernuts”. It is a story about a girl named Kate. Kate’s father was the king of their land and he had gotten remarried after her mother died. The woman the king married already had a daughter of her own as well. The new queen's daughters’ name was also Kate. To tell them apart they called the king's daughter Bonny Kate.

Bonny Kate and Kate got along great and they loved each other but the Queen despised Bonny Kate because the people considered her prettier than her daughter. The queen was so jealous that she had a witch put a curse on Bonny Kate that turned her face into the face of a goat.

When this happened and Bonny Kate’s sister Kate found out what happened, she grabbed her sister and ran far away to another land. In that land they became servants to the royal family. The royal family there was a king; a queen and they had two sons.

One of their sons had been sick for a while. He always slept and didn’t leave his bed. Any person, who would watch him to see what was wrong, would end up disappearing. Kate offered to watch over their son for a bag of silver and the king agreed to her terms.

The night that Kate watched over the kings’ son, he got up from the bed, mounted his horse and left the castle. She mounted the horse with him to see where he went. He went through a forest that led to an entrance to a ball. In the ball Kate figured out that it was an enchanted ball and that’s where all the people were going missing.

Kate hid herself as the prince danced the whole night. While Kate was there she ended up stealing a wand that would turn her sister back to normal from a fairy child. When the prince was done dancing all night he went back home where he would continue to sleep. Kate took the wand and turned her sister back to normal.

The next day the king asked Kate how the night went with the prince and she just informed him that it went well. The king asked for Kate to stay with him another night and Kate agreed for a bag of gold this time. The king agreed to her terms and she stayed with the prince another night.

That night, the prince did the same and Kate rode along with him. She hid at the ball while he danced but this time she got to steal the cure for the curse that had the prince going there every night and sleeping all day. It was a dove that a fairy child was playing with. She distracted the child with something else and stole the dove.

When they returned back home, she cooked the dove and fed it to the prince. After he had eaten, the curse was lifted. He got out of bed and spoke with Kate all morning. When the king saw what had happened he wanted to reward Kate with more than gold. He asked Kate what she wanted and he would give it to her. Kate asked to marry the prince. The prince was fine with her request because he had fallen in love talking to Kate all morning.

Kate’s wish was granted to marry the prince and it also turned out that the prince’s brother fell for Bonny Kate. They had a double wedding and lived together happily. Kate’s husband the prince gave her the nickname Kate Crackernuts because of the story she had told him on how she tricked the fairy child using tree nuts. She didn’t mind the name; she actually thought it was really funny.

I love this story because it has a classic princess and prince ending but in the most unorthodox way. The princesses flee their land because of a wicked mother and end up finding a family that looks out for each other like the sisters always did. I love the way Kate had her sisters back to the end; she didn’t even let her own mother mess with her stepsister. This story shows family is more than just blood relation, it’s the people who love and look out for you.