#AtoZChallenge: The Princess and the Blueberry Bane

Princess Barbara was a picky eater. The one thing she hated most in the world was blueberries. This proved to be a problem because there were blueberries in everything. There was blueberry jam for her toast, blueberry sauce with her meatballs and blueberry pie for dessert, and for teatime, besides blueberry tea (of course), there were blueberry donuts, blueberry snacks, blueberry biscuits, blueberry scones, blueberry danishes—anything that could use a little berry in it was stuffed full of blueberries and blueberry preserves.

And there was nothing she could do about it because blueberries were her country’s biggest export. If they stopped growing blueberries, they wouldn’t be able to keep the country afloat.

“You’ll just have to learn to love blueberries,” her mother, the Queen, had said after one particularly bad tantrum at tea.

“No, you just have to stop feeding me blueberries,” Princess Barbara replied with a stomp of her foot.

“But all our traditional recipes has blueberries! We don’t know how to make anything without them!”

“It’s called recipe substitution, Mother, and I’m sure our cooks can handle that.”

The Queen looked dubious, but asked for the head cook anyway.

The head cook came to the dining room, brandishing a wooden spoon in front of him like a weapon.

“Her Highness would like to know if you can make her some food without blueberries,” the Queen asked almost timidly.

The head cook looked shocked. “Sacrilege!” he cried, echoing the Queen’s own thoughts. “We are the country of blueberries! How can you not have blueberries in your food?”

“I can and I will, Cookie,” Princess Barbara said.

“But you have had them for twelve years without complaint!”

“I hate blueberries and have always hated them. And I have always complained, since I was able to talk. But I have now heard of this thing, Cookie. It’s called substitution. You take out the blueberries and you put in something else instead.”

“No, no, all our recipes use blueberries. If you take it out, it will not taste right. And I will not make terrible food!” Cookie replied, folding his arms. “I have my standards to maintain!”

“Just try it once, Cookie, just for me.” Princess Barbara went to him and looked up at him with puppy eyes. She’d been doing it since she was six and she knew that the Cookie would not resist her. “I think, if you tried making me a nice pie with raspberries instead of blueberries, it would taste perfectly fine.”

Cookie looked down at the Princess with exasperation. “Okay okay. I will try. But once only. And only for you. No one else must know of the disaster of a pie without blueberries.”

“Thank you, Cookie,” Princess Barbara said with a grin. She followed the grumbling cook down to the kitchens, where he rummaged around and dug up a jar of raspberry jam.

“This is from my brother’s farm up near the border,” Cookie said, inspecting the labels.

“Perfect.” She watched as Cookie laid out the ingredients for the pie. “No, no, Cookie. No blueberries. You’re using this jam, remember?”

“Ah yes, sorry,” he reached for the jar and put it in place of the blueberries.

When the pie was finally done, Princess Barbara stared at it for a long time, Cookie standing nervously by her side.

“Well?” Cookie said, raising his eyebrow.

“Let’s try it.”

The first bite was wonderful. The second bite was even more fantastic. “Taste it, Cookie! It’s the best pie you’ve ever made!”

And for Princess Barbara, it was. She had found a way to defeat her mortal enemy.

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Head over to Yuin-Y's for today's illustration.