Wisdom's Kiss (99 page)

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Princess Ben
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Doppelschläferin
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I invented this word (see the
Wisdom's Kiss
glossary
) while reworking Sleeping Beauty for my fairy tale
Princess Ben;
in creating a magical spell that allows someone to split in two, I retitled and feminized it as "double sleeper," thus finally putting to use two miserable years of college German. But since pretty much no one can pronounce German, let alone understand it, this name ended up as yet another Catherine Murdock linguistic dud. Plus it's impossible to type. German is notorious for huge, unwieldy words: in only our second week of college, we were memorizing "speed limit":
Geschwindigkeitbegrenzung.
"Doppelschläferin" is nothing compared with that.

In this excerpt, Ben discovers the Doppelschläferin in a book of magical spells. Note that this description does not feature the use of a cat as a body double; I hadn't figured out that part yet.

The illustrations made no sense. A girl under pursuit drops to the ground and perishes, for a ghost steps from her body. Her pursuers gather about the corpse as the ghost slips away unnoticed. Later the ghost reappears and steps, as one would descend a staircase, into the corpse, which then
returns to life. Inserted between these larger images were diagrams of hand gestures and phonetic phrasing of spells.

A body returned to life was black magic; that much I knew. Perhaps the presence in this wizard room was not so benevolent after all. Even the heavy Gothic script of the title unnerved me. Wondering what path of villainy I might even now be treading, I sounded the name out, struggling with the foreign pronunciation: "Die Doppelschläferin."Beneath this, I could espy, smaller but in the same heavy text, "The Sleeping Double."...

...[Ah!] The girl in the wizard room's spell had avoided her pursuers by splitting herself in twain, the sleeping portion serving as distraction while the more active half went about her business. I had not pursuers per se, but I suffered myriad prying and suspicious opponents. I had escaped the queen's wrath once; I might not be so fortunate again. I, too, required a sleeping double to remain in the cell while I occupied myself without distraction above. I determined to spend all night, if need be, mastering the Doppelschläferin.

Excerpted from pages 55–57 of
Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company © 2008. Reprinted with permission.

More on
pets as witches' doubles
in
Wisdom's
Kiss
and in
other fairy tales

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Princess Ben
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Princess Ben
Excerpt: Ancienne
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The magical mountain of
Ancienne
has its own innate cognizance, and can manipulate fate and circumstance for the protection of Montagne. While the mountain is rather peripheral in
Wisdom's Kiss,
(although not completely
>
) it plays a central role in the earlier fairy tale
Princess Ben,
and the residents of Montagne recognized it as integral to their history.

The country of Montagne consists of a single rich valley contained on three sides by snow-topped mountains. The fourth side, conversely, drops precipitously into a cliff accessible only by switchbacks long ago carved into its flank. Swift streams lace the valley floor, weaving into the Great River, which plunges over this cliff in a most wondrous, ever-changing waterfall. Strategically placed aside this cascade at the valley's sole point of entry is the ancient stronghold of Chateau de Montagne. Its massive stone walls rise sheer from the cliff itself, while its valley side protects the bustling community of Market Town quite as a mother hen nurtures her chicks.

Looming over valley, castle, and town is Montagne, the kingdom's namesake, its symbol, and in many respects its soul, so well demonstrated by the word montagne itself. Not "the mountain"or "the grand mountain"or "our mountain,"but simply "mountain,"as though no other hill or alp or Everest had any conceivable significance. Indeed, since time past knowing valley people have spoken of this cloud-banked pinnacle as a living creature with
powers beyond human intelligence. "Ancienne,"they call her. Old One. "She's brooding today, Ancienne is," men will say, watching storm clouds gather around the peak. Soon enough, a brutal wind will sweep down Montagne's slopes, sending shepherds hurrying to their flocks, and housewives to their laying hens.

According to Montagne legend, the mountain has forever been the abode of giants. Long ago a traveling pair of sorcerers, husband and wife, scaled the cliff into the valley, and the woman cured the giants' chilblains with ointments and the gift of fire. In gratitude, the giants built Chateau de Montagne out of the living rock of Ancienne, and from that castle the couple founded the kingdom of Montagne, using their magic to shield the country and its people from harm.

Excerpted from pages 55–57 of
Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company © 2008. Reprinted with permission.

The Solstice Terrace
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Princess Ben
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Princess Ben
Excerpt: The Wizard Tower
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