The Broke Princess

Once upon a time there was a very broke princess. She lived in an old kingdom. She'd spent her money on adventures and horses. The peasants who loved her dearly had been worked to the bone in short sporadic periods of time only to be left to themselves longer parts of the year. When one day she came home from an adventure in a cold place she thought she could manage with just a handful of peasants working the fields and left the rest to relax. Spring came and in the village was rumours that the gold-hungry dragon had been seen circling a nearby town. The princess refused to listen to the villagers and didn't employ the peasants who were relaxing their days away. The princess closed down most of the castle but became bored with it. She wanted to live in the big hall upstairs. So she went to the basement and got some of the gold from under the dungeon. She could swear she heard what sounded like a roar in the distance as her hands touched the gold but then convinced herself she was being paranoid. She used the gold to employ a butler and a maid to clean the hall up. She moved in and decorated it with the finest furniture she had. One day as she was strolling along she saw a beautiful pony with long golden hair. She had to have it. She asked the breeder what she wanted for it and ran home and took the last of the gold under the dungeon, just so she could possess the golden haired pony. She could always make the peasants work more later. She took her beautiful out for a ride in the sun when suddenly a villager came running waving a letter in his hand. It was a letter from the prince of the kingdom west of the princess' kingdom. He told of death and destruction. He told of misery and babies crying. He told of the dragon. The dragon had come to his kingdom and saw there was no gold to be offered and in his rage he destroyed the entire kingdom. The prince advised the princess to take out the gold from her dungeon immediately in order to save her kingdom and keep the peace. A roar teared through the air and sent a shiver down the princess' spine. Her beautiful horse reared and started running back to the castle. As she held on to her golden beauty she thought hard about what to do. The gold was gone. She had nothing to offer the dragon and now her kingdom would pay for her stupidity. Suddenly she felt air being pushed hard against her and her horse froze in fear. She felt all the muscles in her body get tense, but gently nodged her horse to turn around face what was standing behind them. The horse obeyed and she closed her eyes in fear. When she opened them she saw the belly of the big beast. She looked up and met the gaze of the big, dark dragon towering above her and her horse. "Where is your gold?" the dragon asked with its terrifying voice. She realized she hadn't taken a breath since she'd felt a presence behind her. She gasped for air, her entire body shivering with fear. "So what do you say?" the dragon said and lowered its head towards her. Her horse was still as a rock. "I... I don't have it." she said and looked down. She closed her eyes and anticipated a jarring roar from the dragon. One second passed. Two seconds passed and she opened one eye. To her surprise the dragon was writing on a huge piece of paper. She opened the other eye and stood up in the stirrups to get a better view of what the dragon was doing. "What is that?" she asked carefully. "Oh this?" the dragon said in a surprisingly cheerful tone, "this is the agreement of how you're going to repay me. I'm thinking two gold bars per month and 2 percent interest per month?"