The Sheep’s Bladder

Joshua Hwang

Chapter 1

Snow swirled around the desolate hills. Three knights trudged wearily up the slope. Armor clanking, swords rattling, they surmounted the hill and a look about. A mighty stronghold stood in the distance clearly. The eldest one of the three knights, Robin, smiled jadedly.

“Well, our journey is over, and we are going to be knights of the mighty castle, Hamelot.” He smiled at the other two brothers, Swallow and Chicken. They were gasping and kneeling on the ground from exhaustion. He pulled them to their feet, and they half staggered, half ran down the hill to the castle of Hamelot.

Inside the castle of Hamelot was magnificent. Flaming torches were hung on the wall, huge and wonderful banners dangled from the ceiling, and a friendly crackle of a huge fireplace came from behind the king. However, the grandest one of all was an enormous, square table with over three hundred knights seated at it. They all turned their heads as the three brothers stumbled in, brushing snow from their armor and blowing warm air on their hands. The king looked at them and nodded his approval.

“Hmm, three headstrong knights who could survive a week or so in the elements. What are you called, humble knights?”

“ Some call me Robin.”

“I go by the name of Swallow.”

“I’m Chicken.”

“Shut up. Let your older and much more experienced brothers speak before the king! Now zip it!”

“But this is such an honor! I want to talk to the king too!”

“Oh shut up, you whining little scalawag!”

“Waahhhhhh! I’m telling mommy that you aren’t letting me talk to the king! Waaaahhhhhhhhhhh! ”

The king watched with much amusement, then exploded in raucous laughter.

“Hahahahahaha! I like you guys! In fact, I like you guys so much that I’ll make you all a Knight of the Square Table!”

Chicken immediately stopped sobbing brokenly and smiled expectantly. Swallow left off whacking Chicken’s behind with the flat of his sword and gaped. Robin left off shouting SHUT UP and gasped in surprise. They all chorused one very hopeful word.

“Really?”

The king nodded, and was he immediately knocked flat on his back by the three knights hugging him madly. He heard his ribs groan in despair, and he did the same thing.

Chapter 2

During that night, there was much feasting and dancing. The king, who was called Fartpher, sighed with content as he patted his bulging stomach. He swore to himself not to touch another morsel of food that night. Then he relented and started shoveling bean chili down his face. A loud raspberry came out of nowhere, and the king sighed as he watched his servants blanch in disgust then faint.

“I knew there was a drawback to this delicious bowl of beans. Bloody gas.”

Then a knight who was squat and skinny at the same time stood up and cleared his throat. Then he announced.

“I am Sir Kevin, and I am going to give you a great song called ‘Hamelot’!”

Many groans and complaints came from the crowd. Kevin smiled maliciously, and then burst out into song.

“I’m a Knight of the Square Table,

I dance when I am able,

I do routines and chorus scenes

With footwork impeccable.

I dine well here in Hamelot,

Eating ham, jam, and spam a lot.

I’m a Knight of the Square Table,

My show are formidable,

But many times, I’ve given rhymes

That are quite unsingable.

I’m a Knight of the Square Table!

In war I’m tough and able,

Quite indefatigable,

Between my quests, I sequin vests

And impersonate Clark Gable,

It's a busy life in Hamelot!”

All the audience pulled out their earplugs or got up from the floor. Four were unconscious, and the king had leapt into the soup bowl to avoid the last line of flatulence. Kevin sat down, muttering to himself.

“Bloody audience, not knowing how to applaud, selfish cads, huh!”

The king got up and started to warm his bottom with the fireplace. But tragedy, a terrible catastrophe occurred that resulted in the death of the king, all his faithful servants, and an innocent bowl of chili. He farted into the fire.

Chapter 3

The sound of the explosion was thoroughly deafening. The table flipped over, and the knights flew over each other. A few scream of pains and one I’m on fire, baby, man on fire! Then silence. The knights hurriedly scurried up to check on their king. After a while of clearing away dead bodies of servants, they came up to the dear body of their king. He was stone dead.

After a hour of so of moping around and sulking, a venerable old man walked into the room, coughing dust out of his ancient diaphragm. He plodded slowly toward them.

“ I heard the explosion, and came down at full speed. It was a heroic effort, and I had to stop often to rest.”

“ Your room is only across the hall!” bellowed an angry, strong knight. His name was Sir Soy, and he was a brother with the courageous Sir Roy. Sir Soy was always angry.

“Yes, but I am old, forsooth! But here we go, don’t be screaming about it like a mad banshee! He can be revived, you know!”

“Who, the bowl of chili, or the servant with no head?” Sir Prancealot enquired. He was the stupid one of the batch, but very reckless and powerful. He was also King Fartpher’s nephew.

“The king, you dingus! Oh, this is what you do. First, go south, then go north, and you should see a castle. Go west, then go east, and you should see an identical castle. Then go northwest, and then southeast. You should see another identical castle. Then go southwest, and you should come to a large cavern with big words that say Holy Cavern. Go in, and talk to the man with Holy Man tattooed on his head. Talk to him, and he will tell you what to do.”

Then the old magician, who was called Berlin, hand picked ten of the best knights. Sir Robin the mature, Sir Swallow the enthusiastic, Sir Chicken the childish, Sir Prancelot the stupid, Sir Legolas the precise, Sir Rogue the roguish, Sir Garland the pure, Sir Soy the impatient, Sir Roy the courageous, and Sir Kevin the discord. They set out to find the holy man.

They went south, then north. They saw the castle. They went west, then east. They saw the castle again. Then went northwest, then southeast. They saw the castle yet again. Then they went southwest, and saw a cave. It said “Holy Cavern” in big, sticky, red words. Garland shuddered to guess what it was. Prancelot boldly licked it and smiled.

“Never fear, it’s ketchup.”

They went into the cavern though with some hesitation. Inside a holy man sat with feet in meditation stance. On his head the words, “Holy Man” was tattooed. Soy tapped his foot impatiently, then strutted up to the holy man and bellowed into the holy man’s ear.

“HELLO? ANYBODY HOM- Oof!”

The holy man back flipped onto his feet, swung an uppercut at Soy, and let out a salvo of punches faster than the eye can follow. He finished with a smash kick in the face. He watched as Soy crashed into the wall, and then turned away with a wicked smile playing around face.

“Foolish knight, thought that you could shout at old Goku and get away with it, eh? Well, you thought wrong. Heh heh heh.” Soy struggled upward, blood sloshing out of his nose. He drew his sword and pointed it at Goku, the holy man. It was his turn to smile.

“Apologize for that, or this blade will be buried in your throat.” He gasped as Goku, moving faster than lightning shot his fists into Soy’s stomach. First Soy saw it, then he heard it, then he felt it. He doubled over gurgling with agony, then fainted from the immense pain he was feeling. Goku laughed rashly.

“Hohohohoho! Stupid knight won’t learn, would he? Well, what have all you come for? To seek for a quest to prove your valor, or to pick on a helpless old man? Speak up!”

The knights shifted uncomfortably. The unconscious Soy began to stir. His eyelids began to flutter open and he gazed at the holy man with loathing and awe at the same time. He decided to tell them what they had come for.

“Well, to make a long story short, a magician named Berlin told us to come here to ask you what we can do to sa-“

“You don’t need to finish. I know what has happened to your king, and I know what you have come for. I was watching you through my mediation, when this rude fellow interrupted me.” He glared so viciously at Soy that he cringed behind his friends. Goku’s face softened.

“Alas, what you have come for is not possible. To revive the king, he must be fed a potion. I have all the ingredients except one, and unfortunately, that is impossible to get. It is the holy sheep’s bladder, and it is the prime ingredients of the potion. The holy sheep is the strongest of the three holy warriors, all trained in the arts of Shao-ling kung fu. They meditate in peace until they are disturbed, which is difficult, because they are guarded by the three team of animals that have devoted themselves to become defenders. They are the Monkey Team, the Rabbit Brigade, and the Squirrel Guardians. Alas, you will surely fail.”

“Oh, you crazy old fool, of course we won’t make it if you keep cursing us! Shut the mouth, for you are old, and wander in your wits! Or shall I shut it for you?”

Soy stopped, then drew his saber, and cleaved violently. In a second, it was all over. The holy man’s head fell to the ground, it’s eyes wide open with surprise. But the body did not fall. Instead, a new head popped out in the place of the old one. The holy man lifted his hands and chanted hastily. A jet of purple flames shot out of his hand, and Soy fell down. His eyes glazed over, and he was dead. The other knights stared for a moment, then Goku lifted his hands again. The knights turned and fled, a few telltale wisps of fire hurrying them on. A loud shout followed them to the exit.

“Bring back the holy sheep’s bladder, and I will not kill you!”

Chapter 4

The knights hurried in the direction Goku had told them to go. They came to a bleak and desolate forest. They saw a fading sign in front of the trees. It was obvious that it had been there for a very long time. It said, “Beware of the Monke~~~~~” Red splotches covered the sign, and the sign was covered with scratches. A human skull hung limply on the sign, and a piece of scrap that was once a ballpoint pen was buried in the sign.

Sir Garland glanced into the woods, shuddered, and then turned courteously to Sir Legolas. He beckoned him in.

“ Legolas, with your eyes so sharp to look for trouble, I volunteer you to go first into the woods.” Legolas bristled.

“My butt. You just want me to be your shield. Sir Robin, you look like a tough fellow. You can go in first.”

“Nah. Hey, I got a great idea! Sir Roy the brave can go in first!”

“Yes, I’ll go in first.”

Roy walked bravely into the forest, battle-axe out. Nothing jumped on him, so he beckoned the others in. They walked as silently as possible as so not to disturb the monkeys, but a terrible disaster occurred in which resulted in a dead knight and a few nasty bruises and cuts.

Sir Rogue stumbled and stubbed his toe on a tree root. He hopped around furiously and swore angrily.

“OW! Oh my god, that hurts! @#$%ing tree root! @#&*! @#&*! @#&*! @#&*! @#-ARGH!” Thirty monkeys pounced on him. He thrashed about wildly, flinging half of them off. Swallow swung his sword, cleaving the rest in half. Sir Rogue bounded up and broke into a sprint, looking over his shoulder with terror as a hundred or more monkeys leapt chattering after him. Legolas fired a few shafts into them, but there was too many. The rest of the knights ran into the fray, hacking and bawling war cries. Sir Kevin staggered and fell, and was instantly dragged screaming into the mass of monkeys. His screaming abruptly stopped.

It was at that moment another catastrophe occurred, but it was a catastrophe for the monkeys. Robin wildly swung his mace, which flew out, smashed a few monkey brains, and then wrapped itself around a tree. Robin tugged it angrily, and the tree tottered for a second, and then fell. By pure coincidence, this tree was a coconut tree, and it was filled with coconuts. Coconuts flew everywhere, slaying monkeys as they flew. In an instant, all the monkeys were dead.

“Wow.”

“Yeah, nice move of mine, thinking of pulling down that tree and killing all the monkeys.”

“That was pure coincidence.”

“Shut up.”

And so the merry argument went on until it resulted in a not so merry fight with not merry at all bruises and cuts. Then they regained their senses and went on.

Chapter 5

The eight knights marched on, trying to ignore the two missing space in the original party of ten. Then they came to a gargantuan gorge. They saw a sign, which seemed fairly recent. On it were the words “We are very bad boys.” On it also was a picture of a rabbit kicking of a man’s head.

Sir Chicken coughed and gestured for Roy to go in. He nodded, and then went on in slowly and cautiously, but accidentally stepped on a loose piece of soil, causing an avalanche of pebbles to fly down the hill. The knights froze. A million rabbit head popped out of the grass at the bottom of the gorge. Sir Prancealot stared for a second, and then burst out laughing.

“Hahahahahaha! Is this meant to be the second mighty barricade? It’s just a valley filled with prime vittles! I’ll go fetch us some.” He ran down the hill, whooping like a yak in distress. Instead of what he expected to happen at the bottom, the rabbits leapt at him, and sank little razor-sharp teeth into his throat. He gargled blood for a second, then fell down and died. The other knights stared for a moment, then Swallow spoke up.

“I volunteer we go down slowly in the formation of a circle and repulse all attacks that come at us. Then we will be through. Legolas, see if you can pick off a few and scare those rabbits with your arrows.” Legolas shoot off three arrows in a very quick secession, but they all hit the ground as all the rabbits ducked and weaved out of the way. He turned away in disgust.

“Bloody rabbits, moving so darn fast. How am I supposed to hit any?” The knights formed a circle and went in vigilantly. Without more ado, all the rabbits leapt at them. They swung their weapons, cleaving off rabbit heads. The rabbits attacked repeatedly, and were repulsed repeatedly. Finally, Sir Garland was struck on the neck, and he fell with a yelp of pain. The rabbits would have torn him to pieces if thee other knights didn’t close him in the circle. The situation was hopeless. They were surrounded with bloodthirsty rabbits that would not hesitate to tear them to pieces.

Sir Garland stumbled around losing blood at an alarming pace, his face rapidly losing its color. Soon he fell down and fainted. Robin grabbed him and pulled him along. Just as the knights decided to run away, all the rabbits hopped away. It was as if they weren’t interested in them anymore. Chicken blew out a sigh of relief.

“Whew! For a minute there I thought we were done for- HOLY COW! What the bajeezus is that?!?” All the knights drew back in alarm. A rabbit the size or a public bathroom lumbered towards them. It bared its teeth, which was covered in gore, blood, and pieces of flesh. It was a very barbaric sight. Legolas shot an arrow into its eyes, but all it did was close its eyes, and the arrow bounced of the eye without harming it. Legolas swore loudly. The rabbit abomination hobbled toward them, roaring like a crazed bear with his head on fire.

Roy pulled out his battle-axe and stood firmly.

“I’ll hold it while you others get away!”

“With pleasure.” The other knights turned tail and scampered.

“Isn’t anyone going to say no, its too dangerous, let me do it?” His shouts were interrupted with a disgusting gurgling sound, a short shriek, a scrambling sound, then the snapping of Roy’s spinal cord and the crunching of his bones. It finished with a large and satisfied burp, and then a roar of pain as Roy, inside the rabbit’s stomach, used his last ounce of strength to poke a hole in the rabbit’s esophagus.

Chapter 6

The six remaining knights sat at the top of the gorge. Garland conscious again and making a speedy recovery. Soon, he was ready to move on again. Swallow shook his head in mock amazement.

“I wonder how you survived, Garland. You were the weakest one of the knights, and extremely- OW!” Swallow screamed as Garland reached over and did something unpleasant. He grinned maliciously.

“Not so weak now, am I?”

The knights moved on and soon came to a large gate. Behind it was a large castle, and on a big sign it said, “The holy warriors live in here, but you’ll never get past these gates, because we will snuff you if you are naughty enough to try!” On it was also a picture of a squirrel sticking out his tongue. It was covered with knights nailed to the sign with stakes. Legolas looked at the sign, and then looked at the gate. He looked warily around, then shrugged.

“I don’t know why, but I’ve got an awful feeling about this place.” As he stepped toward the gate, his theory was proved right. More than three hundred squirrels swung down chattering on a rusty gate, and took Legolas’ head with it. The head fell on the ground, rolled over a couple times, whimpered, and then lay stay. Rogue pulled out his dual knives and spun them around.

“Time for some major killing.”

“For us or for the squirrels?”

“Shut up. It’s a good day to die.”

“So, we’re going to die, right?”

“Just shut up and fight.”

The remaining knights drew their weapons and dived into the mass of chattering squirrels. It was like five miniature whirlwinds slashing around in the mass of squirrels. But the Sir Rogue whirlwind stood out over the others, bloodlust showing in his eyes. He roared as he wrecked a path through the mass of insane squirrels. The squirrels grouped up in one squirming mass, and with one synchronized cheep, they leapt on Sir Rogue. He howled a war cry and disappeared forever under the mass of squirrels.

“Good old Rogue. He gave us time to run.” The knights looked at each other and bolted into the castle, with the squirrels bounding after them. As they crossed the drawbridge, Robin threw his mace and watched it wrap around the drawbridge chain. As the squirrels bounded onto the bridge, Robin gave an almighty tug, and the drawbridge fell into the moat. The squirrels fell into the water and died, partly of asphyxiation, partly of the crocodiles, and partly of surprise. Chicken grumbled.

“Great thinking, dork. Now how are we going to get out? Dingus.” Robin seethed with rage.

“Well, maybe we can chuck you in and use you as a bridge.”

“Keep your ideas to your self, dummy.” Robin decided it was useless to argue with such an idiot after all.

“Well, we got past the three barricade which were supposedly impossible to get past. In one piece, that is.”

“Hey, that’s great!”

“Now we go to kill the three holy warriors, which will be impossible.”

“Great.”

“We’re going to die, am I right?”

“Shut up.”

Chapter 7

The four remaining knights entered the castle and stared in total wonder. The ceiling, walls, and floor were made of gold, and engraved on the ground was the holy word of god. It was written in monkeynese, sadly.

“Ooh ooh aah ooh aah eee aaah ooh ooh goo ooh aah goo goo ga reeeeee.” Sounds of holy chanting came from a nearby room. The knights inched towards it. They entered the room and saw a meditating monkey sitting crossed-leg on the floor chanting. His head was shaved, his eyes were closed, and he had two deadly looking knives stuck in his belt. Swallow walked up to the holy monkey. Suddenly, it did a three-flip somersault onto his feet and smashed his paw into Swallow’s face. He flew across the room and collapsed in a heap leaning against the wall. Then the monkey leapt onto the nearest person, who happened to be Chicken. He wailed in dismay as the monkey continued to beat him up. Robin and Garland hovered around nearby, afraid to strike in fear of slaying Chicken. Desperately, Chicken lashed out both feet. To all of their surprise, it hit the monkey directly in the stomach. It fell over and doubled up, but only to draw its knives. It leapt at Chicken with a shriek of rage, but Chicken had his blade out and ready. Monkey fell on the blade and impaled itself.

Chicken wiped his blade and peeled the dead monkey off his blade. Robin smiled approvingly.

“Very impressive. Your getting stronger, and you don’t panic anymore.” Chicken turned away, but only to hide the smile of pleasure on his face. He plunked himself down besides Swallow and took a swig of water from his water canteen.

“Did you see me back there back there, Swallow? I kicked him up, and- oh dear.” The smile vanished from Chicken’s triumphant face. Swallow was dead.

Chapter 8

Robin closed Swallow’s eyes, and with a deep sigh, laid him down with his hand clasped together in a sign of peace. He turned to the other knights and sighed deeply again. He waved for them to follow him.

The next room wasn’t such a pleasant room. Torches flanked the sides, and a barbaric wildcat stood in the middle with a barbed whip. He cracked it on the ground the ground twice and purred dangerously. He leapt toward them, waving his whip dangerously. To everyone’s surprise, Chicken hurdled into the cat’s face, whipping out his sword and chopping off the barbed part of the whip. The other two knights stared in astonishment for a while, and then leapt into the fray as well. The cat glared at Chicken with malice. Chicken glared back with the exact amount of malice. The cat stopped and leapt instantly at Chicken, claws out. Chicken swung his sword and sheared off the cat’s claws. It screamed in pain, leapt at Chicken’s throat, and sunk his teeth in it.

“AAARRRGGGHHH!” Chicken screamed in pain and gasped for breath. Blood formed in his throat, choking him. He gasped for air, but could only succeed in making a noise that sounded like a man trying to gargle while fighting a berserk mountain lion. He held his sword, and then drove it into the cat’s stomach. It screamed and leapt off Chicken, and then readied himself for a last jump before he died. With blood flowing from his stomach madly, he pounced with such ferocity the air whistled madly. Robin dived in the way and took the slashing, ripping, tearing, and stabbing meant for Chicken. Having done his worst, it collapsed in a heap on the ground. Robin fell fatally injured on top of the dead cat.

Chicken got up gasping and spluttering. He saw Garland hurrying over to Robin, and then he saw a yellow dolphin with spots, and then he saw a million hairy bumblebees shouting at him, and then he passed out.

When Chicken regained consciousness, he saw Garland kneeling next to Robin, his eyes red. He had obviously been crying. Chicken got up, and a terrible thought entered his mind.

“Don’t tell me…”

“Okay, I won’t.”

“Just kidding, I really do want to know. Tell me, is he okay?”

“You won’t like this. It’s all bad news.”

“I don’t care. Tell me.”

“Robin’s dead.”

Chicken stared at Robin for a moment in surprise. Then disbelief. Then acceptance. He stood up with his eyes hard as stone. Garland got up as well. Chicken held up an angrily clenched hand.

“We came here for the holy sheep’s bladder, and we’re going to get it, whatever what some cocky old man says. When I say we’re going to get it, we’re going to #$%@ get it.” Garland stared in awe at the new Chicken. Chicken’s newly found confidence gave Garland reassurance and confidence too. He smiled recklessly, and clenched his fist as well.

“Right!”

Chapter 9

The two remaining knights strolled into the next room without care. A sheep was sitting on the floor in the next room. His eyes were closed, and he was chanting quiently. Behind was a large poster for the movie “The Beauty and the Sheep.” The room was littered with wool, shears, a VCR, and a television set. Chicken pulls out his sword and swings it as hard as he can at the sheep’s head. The sheep leapt up and almost casually disarmed Chicken. The blade flew across the room and stuck into the wall quivering.

The sheep dashed with such agility that a human eye couldn’t follow it. He was beside Chicken, and before he could do any thing, the sheep grabbed him and pushed him into the wall. Then he unleashed a frightening barrage of punches that would knock down a full-grown polar bear. Chicken gasped in pain, and lashed out with his foot. It caught the sheep by surprise, and it stumbled aside. Chicken ran to his sword, but it was stuck too deeply in to be pulled out.

Garland dashed to the sword stuck in the wall and started to yank it out. He yelled at Chicken.

“Keep him busy while I get this out!”

“Sure thi-BLARGH!” The sheep had driven his hoof into Chicken’s snotty nostril. Chicken hollered in pain and fell down writhing. The sheep drove his foot into the ground with such force that Chicken shot into the ceiling. The sword jarred a little loose. Garland smirked in triumph, then ripped the sword loose.

Chicken fell on the sheep and pulled of the haymaker. Then he kicked backwards to kick the sheep away. Instead, the sheep grabbed his foot, stuffed it into the VCR, and set it to play. Some metallic gear started to turn inside the VCR. It started to grind his shoe into pieces. Chicken’s eyes widened in horror as he realized what would happen next. The VCR would pull him in, and it would grind his up like a meat grinder. He was a goner.

Just as Chicken would have been turned into poultry, Garland leapt in and cut the VCR to pieces. He tossed Chicken the sword.

“I got it out!”

“Great.” He whipped up the sword and stabbed it into the sheep’s stomach. The sheep snarled and pulled away. It yanked the sword out of its stomach, oblivious that his liver was stuck to it. He threw it with such force it buried itself in the face of the beauty in the poster. Garland groaned and set about to pulling it out again.

Chicken dashed in and pulled of a double uppercut punch, which knocked out a tooth from the sheep. Then the sheep swung both hooves into Chicken’s face, and smashed his knee in. Chicken soared across the room and hit the wall with such tremendous force the sword popped out of the wall like a toy popgun pops a cork.

“Wow! Thanks!”

“Don’t mention it.” Chicken picked up his sword and drove it into the sheep’s chest. It growled with immense loathing in its eyes and it ripped out the sword tangled around one of its lungs and its windpipe. It drove it so deep into the wall that only the hilt stuck out, and a deep fissure was running through it. Garland looked perplexed, then suddenly looked up and smiled.

“Hey, why don’t you use my sword?”

“You have a sword?”

“Yeah.”

“Give it here, dimwit.”

Garland drew his own sword and gave it to Chicken, who instantly plunged it deeply into the sheep’s heart. It coughed, gargled, and then fell down and died. Chicken grabbed the sword and dug out the bladder, which was green and slimy. It was gross enough to see, but the smell was unbearable. Chicken’s face rose triumphantly.

“I got it, baby!”

Then he fainted, partly of the smell, partly of the gross bladder, and partly of happiness.

Chapter 10

“Can you do it?” Asked Chicken as Goku stirred a nasty smelling potion, made from the sheep’s bladder.

“Hmm… tricky.”

“Huh?”

“You see, while you were gone, I suddenly remember that a dragon’s tooth is also needed from the icy wasteland of Morrowind.”

“So, can you make the potion without the tooth?”

“…”

“Well?”

“Nope.” Chicken stared at him for a moment, and then burst out into tears. Goku laughed.

“Come on, I’m just joking. You two did a good job. I can make the potion easily.”

“Ahem, actually, I did the main part of the quest. Chicken only helped, you see, and I was the one sla- OW!” Chicken knuckled Garland hard in the head, and Garland was mashed on the ground. He sat there, dejectedly rubbing his head.

“Bloody Chicken, can’t take a freaking joke. Huh, can’t even take my very true words…” He went on muttering about stupid companions, jokes, and spotted dolphins which he suddenly saw.

The two knights walked back to the castle, a gigantic pot between them, filled with a revolting brew. There, two hundred knights were at the front gate waving and cheering at them. Garland smiled happily.

“There they are, waving and cheering just for us. What a joyful day for us to return on!”

And they all lived happily ever after.

Epilogue

The venerable knight sat down beside his two little grandchildren, who were happily bouncing up and down on their beds.

“I’ll be grandpa, and you can be the stupid sheep!”

“No, I’ll be grandpa! I can lift his sword!”

“You always get to be grandpa! I want to be grandpa too!”

“No no no no no no no!”

“Waaaaaaaaaaaa! I want to be Grandpa too! WAAAAAAAAAA!”

The old knight chuckled as his two little grandchildren leapt at each other and started to scuffle around. Another old knight came into the room. He chuckled as well.

“Pretty belligerent little kids you got there, Chicken.”

“Yeah…”

THE END