Once upon a time, long, long ago there was a kingdom by the name of Ducktopia. Ducktopia was ruled over by King Bill and his beautiful wife, Queen Mallard. They had one son, Prince Waddle.
The kingdom was very happy with their King and Queen. King Bill decided that his son should marry but Queen Mallard was hesitant about picking a wife from the royal court. The young women in the royal court were extremely well mannered and had all their ducks in a row, but Prince Waddle disliked them all. He didn’t want to ruffle the feathers of his parents, but he had to tell them that he did not like any of the young royal women.
So it was decided that he should select a wife from among the common people. These young women had learned to work hard to pay their “bills” and had developed good character traits. Ducktopia was divided into different regions called “Webs”. Pleasant young women from across all Webs were called to the royal court to appear before the King and Queen and tell a little about themselves. This would allow the King and Queen to dispense with any quackery and inspect these young women themselves.
Unfortunately, none of them pleased the King and Queen though all the Webs of the kingdom had been examined.
There was one beautiful maiden named Feather, that served the King and Queen their meals in the royal court. Feather was no lame duck – she could cook! She asked the King and Queen if she could make the King’s favorite meal – an appetizer of duck tail soup, followed by roast duck and all the trimmings. She hoped the royal couple would notice her as a potential wife for their son. Not only was she pretty as a bird, but she could cook too!
The catch to this story is that the King was a very demanding connoisseur of food. He did not take kindly if a cook forgot some important ingredients in his meal. There were many cooks before Feather who were sent to the dungeon for this grave error. The stakes (not “steaks”, as the king did not like beef) were very high for Feather. The great potential existed for her either to migrate as the Princes’ wife and become a Princess herself, or she would be banished to the dungeon with all the others.
Feather, not wanting to be sent to the dungeon, composed a poem to help her recall one important food that was to be served with the duck-tail soup. She could remember all the other foods and ingredients but this one gave her trouble. So she composed this poem to help her prepare the most important meal of her life.
The poem went something like this:
I am a good king, it has been said
But the time has come for my son to wed.
The search is among maidens throughout the land
Goes on until one will take my son’s hand.
The test is a soup of tail of duck
Exquisite taste and with some extra luck
Will avoid the pit for the rest of her life
And all the pain that will come with her strife
If she remembers the one ingredient that matters…
And not forget those important Q_ _ _ _ _ _ s.
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