#something for class

        The cook's son watched the princes assemble in the king’s court, and deemed all of them unworthy of the lovely princess’s hand in marriage. So on the day of the test, the cook's son boiled all the eggs before delivering them in a basket to the princes who were expecting to receive raw eggs to perform their task.

        What a mess it was! Standing at the stove, the princes would so desperately want to win the princess’s hand in marriage that they would tremble in fear of failing to perform the simple task. Warm sweat flowed freely from their palms due to their anxiety, and so none of them questioned the scalding-hot egg shells. An amazing sight it was when they dropped the already boiled eggs into the pot and the delicate shells burst, the twice-cooked egg whites foaming out. The princess decided she could not stand to watch the atrocity any longer and went off to her room in a huff.

        Finally, a stoic looking prince stepped forth and pulled an egg out of the basket. He examined it for a few seconds, perplexed, then approached the king and said, "Your Majesty, I am Erevu, from the Great Kingdom of Ice. So rarely does warmth dance across my hands that even the slightest wisp of it can easily be detected by my fingertips, as they are shocked to feel such vibrant energy. This egg is radiating an unusual amount of warmth, as if heated above a fire already. This simply cannot do. I request a proper raw egg to complete the task at hand."         The cook's son had no other choice but to run and fetch Erevu a raw egg. When the raw egg was placed in Erevu's palm, he dropped it into a pot with water simmering in a tranquil manner, and it was clear that he would easily complete the task. The King gave a jolly laugh, so pleased that he headed back into the castle to fetch the princess himself.

        Thinking fast, the cook’s son lowered his voice and said:    "It is I, the King, who speaks. You have passed the test of common sense. But before you marry my daughter, I must have you prove your intellect as well by answering the following riddles. For my daughter is no common girl with a common mind, but a princess clever as can be." Erevu was too busy staring at the water to notice who had spoken.

        "So be it," the prince said.

        "Given a day, what can hollow out a pink room?"         "Hunger.”

        "And what is the pink room?"         "The stomach, or the heart."

        "Ha!" the cook's son cried, "the heart is not pink!"

        "It is," said the prince, "For love makes the heart light, like a floating cloud, but once the love is taken away, the red heart pales in its anguish, turning pink."

       The cook's son could find no clever response to that. Soon enough, the princess arrived, hardly daring to believe that there actually existed an intellectual prince in the world. Sadly, the cook's son watched Erevu take her hand. The only satisfaction he felt was knowing that he had played an important role in finding a suitable man for the generous girl.