The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry

pulled open, at the huge tables set with embroidered cloths and decorated with flowers, candles, and plates that hinted at the food yet to be served.
    Footmen pulled out individual chairs and helped each villager to be seated. In a corner of the banquet hall, a harp player began to pluck the strings of a magnificent instrument, and the deep, vibrating chords filled the room with background music.
    A footman consulted his list and looked down at a very small girl in a patched dress who seemed to be all alone and a little overwhelmed.
    He leaned down and said gently, "Might you be Liz?"
    She nodded.
    "An orphan?" he asked, still looking at his list.
    "Yes, that's me, a norphan," she whispered. "I never been to nuffink like this before."
    He took her hand. "You're to sit here," he said, indicating a gilt chair, "next to the princess." He lifted the little girl into it and sat her on its satin cushion. She found herself beside the chair of honor, which was still unoccupied.
    "Blimey," Liz said aloud. She grinned and scratched her mosquito bite.
    ***
    The harpist played a long chord and then fell silent, and buglers entered the hall. Standing at either side of the doorway, they waited while a butler called out "Their Majesties!" and then played a fanfare as the king and queen entered.
    The king hated parties. He loved his daughter, wished her well on her birthday—in fact, wished for the best for her always—but he hated parties and hoped that this one would not last long. He disliked ceremonies, was uncomfortable in his gold tights, and wanted to get back to his butterfly collection.
    The queen, in contrast, adored elaborate occasions. She had spent the entire morning trying on one gown after another, having her hair done and redone, fussing with jewels and makeup, and enjoying time-consuming preparations for her daughter's birthday. Even now, as she entered the banquet hall, nodding her head graciously to the left and right, she was thinking that she should have worn the patent leather shoes with the stiletto heels instead of the soft satin ones she had chosen.

    "Would you hold this scepter?" she muttered to the king. "I can't greet everyone graciously with a stupid scepter in my hand." He took it from her, and she began to blow kisses to the villagers, who had stood respectfully at their seats and were watching their entrance in awe.
    "Please, be seated, humble peasants," she called to the long tables lined with standing villagers.
    With her husband she walked to the two magnificent chairs waiting for them at one end of the head table. Arranging her skirts, she sat gracefully in one, and the king took his place beside her. The harpist resumed playing.
    "What would you like me to do with the scepter?" the king murmured.
    "Eh?"
    "The scepter, " he repeated.
    "What's kept her? She'll be here. She's going to make an entrance. After the suitors arrive. Look at that, dear! Look at that sweet little waif."
    The queen waved to Liz at the far end of the long table.
    The king sighed and placed the scepter on the floor under his chair.
    "We're ready!" the queen called to the butler at the door. "Bring in the suitors now!"

17. The Arrivals
    The schoolmaster was late. Wearing his best clothes and carrying a small birthday gift, a bouquet of flowers, for the princess, he had joined the throng of villagers at the gate to the castle grounds and waited there for the carillon to announce the beginning of the celebration.
    But when the bells began to ring and the crowd moved forward, he lingered. He was looking for his favorite pupil, the young girl, Pat, who had only recently joined his classroom. He had a gift for her, as well. It seemed an appropriate time, this celebratory evening, to present her with a gift that he hoped would trigger a desire in her to go on for further training to become a teacher.
    There was something about Pat. She was pretty, of course; he recognized that. But it wasn't her good looks. It was her liveliness, he