Beyond Platform 13
Page 14
The rooms of the palace were simple and cool; the windows were kept open so that birds could fly in and out. Intelligent dogs lay sleeping by the hearth; bowls of fresh fruit and fragrant flowers stood on the tables – and anyone who had nowhere to go – orphaned little hags or seals with sore flippers or wizards who had become depressed and old – found sanctuary there.
And in the year 1983 – the year the Americans put a woman into space – the Queen, who was young and kind and beautiful – had a baby. Which is where this story really begins.
The baby was a boy and it was everything a baby should be, with bright eyes, a funny tuft of hair, a button nose and interesting ears. Not only that, but the little Prince could whistle before he was a month old – not proper tunes but a nice peeping noise like a young bird.
The Queen was absolutely besotted about her son and the King was so happy that he thought he would burst, and all over the Island the people rejoiced because you can tell very early how a baby is going to turn out and they could see that the Prince was going to be just the kind of ruler that they wanted.
Of course as soon as the child was born there were queues of people round the palace wanting to look after him and be his nurse: Wise Women who wanted to teach him things and sirens who wanted to sing to him and hags who wanted to show him weird tricks. There was even a mermaid who seemed to think she could look after a baby even if it meant she had to be trundled round the palace in a bath on wheels.
But although the Queen thanked everyone most politely, the nurse she chose for her baby was an ordinary human. Or rather it was three ordinary humans: triplets whose names were Violet and Lily and Rose. They had come to the Island as young girls and were proper trained nursery nurses who knew how to change nappies and bring up wind and sieve vegetables, and the fact that they couldn’t do any magic was a relief to the Queen who sometimes felt she had enough magic in her life. Having triplets seemed to her a good idea because looking after babies goes on night and day and this way there would always be someone with spiky red hair and a long nose and freckles to soothe the Prince and rock him and sing to him, and he wouldn’t be startled by the change because however remarkable the baby was, he wouldn’t be able to tell Violet from Lily or Lily from Rose.
So the three nurses came and they did indeed look after the Prince most devotedly and everything went beautifully – for a while. But when the baby was three months old, there came the time of the Opening of the Gump – and after that nothing was ever the same again.
First published 2019 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2019 by Macmillan Children’s Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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ISBN 978-1-5290-0288-1
Text copyright © The Estate of Eva Ibbotson 2019
Illustration copyright © Beatriz Castro 2019
Cover illustration © Beatriz Castro
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