Dragon and
Long , long ago , in the largely forgotten kingdom of Narygem , a princess named Ingrid lived . Unlike the princesses in many stories , Ingrid wasn ’ t incredibly beautiful , nor exceedingly kind . She was , however , uncommonly brave .
Ingrid wasn ’ t very happy with her life as a princess , for princesses had little to no freedoms , but she wasn ’ t looking to change anything . With or without freedom , she lived comfortably .
That all changed when she was engaged to the Crown Prince Nimrod of Doddington when she was fifteen .
“ But Dar ,” Ingrid had protested to her nurse ( for princes and princesses were never raised by their parents ), “ I ’ m only fifteen ! I don ’ t want to be married .”
“ Nonsense ,” Dar snapped . “ You have a duty to the kingdom to marry and help with relations with neighboring kingdoms . Prince Nimrod will be perfectly fine for you .” Ingrid had never liked her nurse . I suppose you would think this story would end with Ingrid meeting her prince unknowingly , falling in love with him at first sight , and immediately getting married . You would be wrong . Ingrid never actually meets her prince ; she never let it get that far . Instead , she escaped the palace with nothing but clothes stolen from the palace servants on her back .
Many fairy tales include a deep , dark forest in them and this story is no different . Like these stories , the forest was filled with many dangerous things . However , despite the dangers that lurked in this forest , Ingrid was happy . She was able to get water from a stream , there were plenty of berries to eat and , through trial and error , she was able to create traps to catch small animals in . The only thing was the lack of conversation . Humans are inherently social creatures and the lack of contact with any speaking being was starting to drive Ingrid a little batty . She knew she couldn ' t approach the people she could occasionally hear riding in the