cass ford & briar rose, part ii

"Today... I saw a strange thing. I saw a plucked goose flying. It flopped into my room where I was sleeping or else lying awake and said to me: You will never awaken because the story you were in no longer exists. Oh yes? He is thinking about the quest that brought him here. Has he made his name then?... Or has he perhaps come to the wrong castle? When she says, perhaps not for the first time, that, even when sitting in the same room with him, she feels like she's all alone, he realizes his mind has been elsewhere. I'm sorry, my love, he says. What is your heart's desire? To live happily ever after, she replies without emotion. Of course, he replies, it's yours for the asking. And also I wonder if you'd mind watching the babies for a while? Babies--?!" -page 66

Yes, this quote is insanely long, but there is so much to unpack from it. The content of the conversation, manner in which it is directed, and how it is received on either end are all important aspects to consider. The two are absorbed in their own thoughts. It is easy to feel sorry for the princess feeling alone (because the prince isn't listening), but the topic of her own conversation is just as selfish as the prince's private thoughts. He is preoccupied with the past: he wonders if he has made a name for himself, and he wonders if he is in the wrong castle. The "wrong castle" to me is like a metaphor for relationships. Today, we would ask if we are with whom we are meant to be. The princess's reply lacking emotion to "live happily ever after" is contradictory. What is living "happily" ever after? Wouldn't emotion be just as flat without suffering to put it into perspective? I interpreted the "Babies--?!" as being said by the prince, as a sort of "What babies?" comment. Perhaps he thinks it is a ridiculous request, or perhaps the babies being referred to are the ones she had before this prince came. If it's the latter, the prince's reaction speaks to how the princess is viewed for her sexuality, as if there is an expectation for her to remain pure and faithful to him, even in the past. Even more to consider: why is the goose plucked? What does it mean that her story is over? Is it because she is now with her prince, and the importance is lost? This novella raises more questions than it answers, but I think that is exactly how it was intended to be.