The Winter’s Tale

In Competition No. 2925 you were invited to submit a short story entitled ‘The Winter’s Tale’. There were lots of references to Shakespeare’s play in the entry and to judge by its somewhat sombre mood most of you agree with Mamillius’ assertion that ‘A sad tale’s best for winter…’. Those printed below earn their authors £25. Frank McDonald takes the bonus fiver.

Herding sheep is boring, so when a party of rich folk pass it is big news. Jude, the world’s best joker, cheekily enquired where they were headed and was given a courteous and surprising reply. They had presents for the new prince and wanted directions to the palace. Jude told them that in this part of the world royal babies were given a taste of poverty at birth, to make them better rulers. So the baby would be elsewhere.
‘And where,’ asked the oldest traveller, ‘may we find the prince?’
‘Over the hill there you’ll see an old barn.’