Home on the Range The Disney Chronicles: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

An Unexpected Rescue

Meanwhile, at the Queen's castle, it was very quiet. No birds were chirping and not a sign of life to see. But then came the beloved Prince Florian, who returned from his kingdom and tried to visit the girl of his dreams again. He hoped to see her again in the castle courtyard at the well. But this time, something was wrong. He couldn't hear her lovely voice, so he jumped over the wall again. As he suspected, she wasn't here.

"Hmm. I wonder where she could be. Could she be inside?" the Prince asked himself.

He could ask the Queen, but he heard a few tales about her and wasn't sure if he should do that. Before he was going to try that option, he tried to look around in the rest of the courtyard. It was actually a bit bigger and quite lovely, too. It perhaps was the only part of the castle that doesn't reflect the Queen's personality.

"I didn't... Dream any of this, didn't I?" he asked himself.

Then suddenly, the Prince stopped, for he heard a painful sound. Someone was sobbing or crying.

"Hello? Is there anyone out there?" the Prince called, but the sobbing continued.

He listened closely and found out it came from a strange opening. He looked inside and called once again. "Hello?!"

The sobbing stopped, it didn't answer anything. The Prince tried to go inside and found himself in some kind of dungeon-like area. There were small waterfalls and some fountains on the wall. He didn't like the place at all, but his instinct told him to go on.

"What is this?" he asked himself.

As he walked further and further, something made him jump in fear. There were lots of skeletons of people that have been locked up in the castle. There was a skeleton that dangled from its hands in a cramped cell. Further on, a skeleton of some poor unfortunate soul was hanging chained to the wall, arms spread wide apart, while another one laid on the floor, reaching out for a luminous fountain through the bars of his cell. That was all too horrifying for words and no sooner he heard the same sobbing echoing through the halls again. After walking through several cells, he finally found the source of the sobbing. Florian immediately recognized it as a cow just like Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, and Grace, which he met yesterday.

The cow was all alone in a cell. She wore a collar around her neck that was attached to a chain. She was sobbing in her arms.

"Pst. Hey," the Prince said silently.

The cow heard it and looked up a little. When she saw the human, she yelled a little and stepped against the wall, looking at him with fear.

"Please... Don't hurt me," the cow said.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," Florian said.

The cow still shivered in fear.

"I promise. You're safe now. My name is Florian. Prince Florian. What's your name?" the Prince asked.

The cow didn't expect that at all. She didn't know him. He could be in league with the Queen, but he sounded too nice for that. Without hesitation, she gave him her name. "Becky."

"Aren't you a friend of Maggie?" the Prince asked.

When Becky heard that name, her eyes went wide. "You know Maggie?"

"Yes, she's a friend of mine."

"Do you know where she is?" Becky asked while she came closer to the bars.

"No. In fact, I haven't seen her and her friends for days after we first met. And I also can't find the Princess or hear her beautiful voice. Could it really have been a dream?" the Prince answered.