Hi everyone! I’ve talked a lot this week about my main character,
Maggie, but Emerald Bound has two leading ladies. So today we’re sitting down
with Lindy, the girl who inspired Hans Christian Andersen to write the tale The
Princess and the Pea in the first place.
*
Me: Hi Lindy, thanks for being with us today.
Lindy: You’re welcome. Sorry we have to meet out here under
this water tower. In the dark.
Me: *yawning because it’s 2am and
glancing around at our unusual surroundings* It’s okay. Whatever I have to do
for the interview.
Lindy: I don’t have much time
before they notice I’m gone—what would you like to know?
Me: Well, I heard you opened up
to Maggie and told her about your past. What inspired you to tell the truth
after all these years?
Lindy: I’m not really sure. I
guess seeing Maggie escape the curse that destroyed my life gave me hope. Hope
that one day I might also be free. That by helping Maggie I’d also be helping
myself. *fidgets and looks down at her hands.*
Me: Well, that sounds like a good
reason. But … is there something more?
Lindy: *leans closer to me, even
though there’s no one around to overhear us* It was my fault.
Me: Excuse me? What was your
fault?
Lindy: Maggie’s friend getting
trapped. And the girl before her. And the girl before her and so on and so on
for the past four centuries. It all started with me and I was supposed to stop
it. I just … didn’t know how.
Me: Wait, what do you mean you
were supposed to stop it? Who told you that?
Lindy: Calista. Right after it
happened. She said I had the power to break the curse, but of course she never
said how. I tried to do it anyway, really I did. But I never figured out how.
And now so many people have died because of me. Not only the girls, but the
citizens of my country when Calista waged war on them.
Me: You can’t blame yourself for
what Calista did. That’s on her, not you.
Lindy: *sniffles* Maybe. But I
still do. That’s why I’m helping Maggie. In four centuries, she’s the only one
who escaped Calista’s curse and that gives me hope.
Me: Well, good luck to you both.
Lindy: Thanks, we’re going to
need it. *glancing around at the shrubbery, as if she’s afraid someone is going
to pop out at any moment and yell Boo!*
Was there anything else?
Me: Oh, yeah, I had one other
question. Where does Hans Christian Andersen fit into all this? What inspired
him to write your tale and how did he get it so wrong?
Lindy: Mr. Andersen’s
great-great-great grandfather was unfortunate enough to stay a few nights in
our inn, back in Scandinavia. He was one of many that passed through without
knowing what was really going on. The ones who came to give up their daughters,
well, they knew a portion, but had they known the whole truth I have to believe
they would have never agreed to Calista’s terms. Anyhow, Calista insisted we
refer to the gemstones we collected each night as “peas” so that anyone who
overheard us would believe we were speaking of supper arrangements and nothing
more. Mr. Anderson must have overheard one such conversation and told his
family. Over time, I presume the story grew and changed until little Hans heard
it from his grandfather and wrote it down. Calista’s son was certainly charming—back
then, anyway—perhaps that’s where the prince part came from. And patrons of the
inn would come and leave their daughters in Calista’s care in exchange for a
royal sum—perhaps that’s where the idea of princesses came from? Certainly Mr.
Andersen’s tale is much more charming than the truth.
Me: Well, that’s an
understatement. The truth is horrifying.
Lindy: *nodding and gazing into
the night sky* That it is.
(At this moment in our interview,
Lindy gasped, clutching her stomach as if she was in pain.)
Lindy: I must go. *rising and
taking a shaky step toward the mansion where she lived*
Me: Wait, are you okay? What’s
happening?
Lindy: *calling back to me over
her shoulder as she stumbled away* I’m fine, I just … have to go.
*
I attempted to contact Lindy again
the next day, but she hasn’t responded to my calls. I suspect we’ll have to
read the rest of her story in Emerald Bound.
Lindy, if you’re reading this, I sincerely hope
things work out for you. 
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