Queen Daria, their mother, died when Adelina (whom we call Addie) was four and the twins, Cara and Meryl, were two. Before she died, the queen gave me three gifts to hold for them until they were old enough to receive them. I may have held them too long. They were wonderful gifts, but they were dangerous, and I feared their power.
4. And here I’m coming at it from the viewpoint of the soldier in the fairy tale:
When Bram died his foolish death, I was fighting in King Eldred’s army, fighting for Eldred and Bamarre, killing lads and men who had never done me harm.
The king killed my big brother—my unlucky brother, the only one to be executed.
The cause for which Bram gave his life? He died because he failed to discover why three good-for-nothing princesses danced their slippers through every night. He died of a cruel king, heartless maidens, and six pieces of shoe leather. And he died of his own harebrained belief that he could do anything.
5. I wrote this much later, when the story had evolved to the final plot. I didn’t go with it because I wanted to introduce the epic poem about Drualt right away:
I wasn’t meant to be a champion, princess though I may be. I was meant to darn the rips in the cloaks of the adventuresome, to keep the stew warm so the heroes and heroines could snatch a hot meal before returning to the fray.
I would never have ventured forth, except that I had to.
About the Author
Gail Carson Levine grew up in New York City and has been writing all her life. Her first novel, ELLA ENCHANTED, was a Newbery Honor Book. Levine’s other books include FAIREST, a New York Times bestseller, Publishers Weekly Best Book, and School Library Journal Best Book; DAVE AT NIGHT, an ALA Notable Book and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; THE WISH; THE TWO PRINCESSES OF BAMARRE; A TALE OF TWO CASTLES; and the six Princess Tales books. She is also the author of the nonfiction book WRITING MAGIC: Creating Stories That Fly and the picture books BETSY WHO CRIED WOLF and BETSY RED HOODIE, illustrated by Scott Nash. Gail and her husband, David, live in a two-centuries-old farmhouse in New York’s Hudson Valley. You can visit her online at www.gailcarsonlevinebooks.com and at www.gailcarsonlevine.blogspot.com.
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Other Works
Also by Gail Carson Levine
Dave at Night
Fairest
Ever
A Tale of Two Castles
The Two Princesses of Bamarre
The Wish
THE PRINCESS TALES
The Fairy’s Mistake
The Princess Test
Cinderellis and the Glass Hill
For Biddle’s Sake
The Fairy’s Return
Betsy Red Hoodie
Betsy Who Cried Wolf
Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg
Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand
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Credits
Cover art © 2011 by Greg Call
Copyright
Harper Trophy® is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Two Princesses of Bamarre
Copyright © 2001 by Gail Carson Levine
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levine, Gail Carson.
The two princesses of Bamarre / by Gail Carson Levine.
Summary: With her adventurous sister, Meryl, suffering from the Gray Death, meek and timid Princess Addie sets out to find a cure.
ISBN-10: 0-06-440966-X (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-440966-7 (pbk.)
EPub Edition © MARCH 2013 ISBN: 9780062253545
[1. Princesses—Fiction. 2. Wizards—Fiction. 3. Magic—Fiction. 4. Sisters—Fiction. 5. Self-confidence—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.L578345 Tw 2001
00-047953
[Fic]—dc21
CIP
AC
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First Harper Trophy edition, 2003
Revised Harper Trophy edition, 2006
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