It was a dark and stormy knight who stood before the great fireplace at Castle Wolfenwald. He had brought his choice of a husband for his daughter and she had immediately barricaded herself in her chamber. The servants reported the sounds of large amounts of furniture being moved in front of the door.
Castle Wolfenwald
The knight had responded by placing a guard at the base of the tower where her chamber lay, and had forbidden the servants from bringing her any food while she refused to obey her father, but they reported she had heard the groom was on the way, and she had laid in provision. The steward admitted she had brought in a cask of wine, flour, honey, lard, sausage and salted beef. The blacksmith had been brough in to re inforce her window shutters and her door. Her bedchamber was the best prepared place in the castle for a protracted siege.
In addition, the guard at the base of the tower reported she was a very good aim with the contents of her chamber pot......
All this was done very quietly, as Count Adlerwiese, the prospective groom, was known as a man of hot temper and a high degree of amore propre. Count Adlerwiese was not a man to be crossed with impunity. He was given a dinner of pheasant with the best wine in the castle and assurances that he would meet his bride in due course.
Count Alderwiese sat with his back to the fire in his room. He had brought a packet of papers with him from his estate, and was writing orders for his steward. As he wrote, his secretary came quietly into the room from the servant door next to the fireplace and stood next to the desk. The count noted his appearance and motioned him to bring over the stool. Finished, he arranged the notes and sealed them.
"The orders will be conveyed to the Hoff tonight. Why have I not met my betrothed yet?"
"The household is in a great deal of confusion, Highborn. The wellborn lady has heard rumors of your temper and your appearance. Wilst waiting in the hall I heard her arguing with the Freeherr that she was not, in her words, willing to be the plaything of that angry ape."
"He allows his daughter to talk back to him! When she is married she will learn the virtues of obedience. I will go to her room and help mend her ways"
"My liege, I think we can delay reforming her education until we get her back home. Until then, she is the only child of a doting and strong father. While they are here, she can mold her father in the manner of a master potter forming tableware. We can teach the little bird to sing a new tune when she is firmly in her new gilded cage."