Nanny Piggins and the Rival Ringmaster by R. A. Spratt Read Free Book Online

Nanny Piggins arrived at the Princess’ bedroom it was to find Her Royal Highness face down on her bed, weeping loudly.
    ‘What’s the matter?’ asked Nanny Piggins. ‘She hasn’t lost a pet, has she? I don’t understand whyeveryone is in such a bad mood. In most countries weddings are celebrated as happy occasions.’
    ‘Tell Nanny Piggins what you told us,’ Samantha urged.
    Princess Annabelle raised her face from her pillow long enough to wail, ‘I don’t want to marry the Duke!’ before breaking into wracking sobs.
    ‘Then why on earth did you say you would?’ asked Nanny Piggins.
    ‘I just wanted a wedding so I could have one of your wedding cakes,’ sobbed the Princess.
    ‘Oooooh,’ said Nanny Piggins. As a cake lover herself, this made complete sense to her.
    ‘But you didn’t need to get engaged to that awful man just to have one of my cakes,’ said Nanny Piggins, sitting down next to the Princess and giving her a hug.
    ‘But Daddy wouldn’t have paid for it unless it was for a wedding,’ said the Princess.
    ‘Nanny Piggins would have made you a cake anyway,’ said Derrick. ‘She makes cakes for everyone.’
    ‘When you have a talent such as mine it is important to share it,’ agreed Nanny Piggins.
    ‘But you needed Daddy’s deposit to rent the hydraulic system from NASA,’ wept the Princess. ‘I thought a lifetime of being married to a miserablebore would be worth it for the chance of being lowered into a fifteen-metre-high octo-choc-chocolate cake with extra chocolate, and eating my way out. But now I realise it’s not.’
    ‘Tell Nanny Piggins the rest,’ urged Samantha.
    ‘There’s more?!’ asked Nanny Piggins, thinking this day was getting to be even more exciting and dramatic than an episode of The Young and the Irritable .
    ‘I’ve fallen in love with another,’ sobbed Princess Annabelle.
    ‘With another wedding cake?’ asked Nanny Piggins. She was struggling to keep up.
    ‘Oh no,’ Princess Annabelle assured her, clutching Nanny Piggins’ hand. ‘My heart is forever true to your cake. No, I’ve fallen in love with another man.’
    ‘Really?’ said Nanny Piggins, thinking of all the very unimpressive courtiers she had met during her stay and trying to work out which one was the least revolting. ‘Who?’
    Princess Annabelle began to look a little sheepish at this point. ‘Hans,’ she whispered.
    ‘The baker?!’ yelped Nanny Piggins. She did not begrudge Hans the happiness of having a Royal Princess fall in love with him – no-one deservedjoy more than him after all the cake-related bliss he brought to others. But the thought of anyone loving Hans entirely took her by surprise. You see, Nanny Piggins was so in love with Hans’ baked goods, it never occurred to her to think of him in any other way.
    ‘These past few days, watching him beat eggs, melt butter and wedge silver balls into four-inch thick chocolate icing – he stole my heart. I’ve never seen a more attractive man,’ gushed Princess Annabelle.
    ‘Of course,’ said Nanny Piggins. Now that she thought about it she realised that falling in love with a master baker was the most sensible thing she had ever heard of. It was a wonder that there weren’t hordes of women in love with Hans and trying to beat down his shop door. But most people are terribly superficial and would be put off by the fact that he was very short and hairy. (If he was not a man, Hans would have made an excellent bearded lady.)
    ‘But now Daddy is going to make me marry that odious Duke,’ wept Princess Annabelle.
    ‘He smells as well?’ asked Nanny Piggins. ‘Who knew one man could have so very many faults.’
    ‘We can’t let Princess Annabelle marry into a lifetime of misery,’ said Samantha.
    ‘Of course not,’ agreed Nanny Piggins. ‘If I did,I’d have to hand in my The Young and the Irritable fan club card from shame.’
    ‘But what can we do?’ asked Derrick. ‘This is a castle surrounded by guards,