The King's Last Resort

The Gontic kingdom, long feared for its overwhelming might, faced its final days. How such a state befell it still puzzled all the peoples of the world, but nevertheless the armies of three kings surrounded their shared enemy. King Gons VII and his enflamed spirit looked over the enemies which surrounded his last redoubt not with resignation but with ferocity.
"In all this Gontic kingdom established by my ancestors at the behest of the gods and blessed them so that each of us is more than human, stronger on the field of battle than three normal soldiers at the weakest, is there no one who will bring me King Blanned's crown, his head still wearing it? The man who does shall have for his wife my own daughter!"
To the side, a warrior even then submitting his person to his squire and his attendants that they might arm him with the silver armor that once the war god wore before bequeathing it to Gons III for a service done him and the sword whose smith tested it on the earth and created Mykress Canyon, turned and scowled. "I intended to do just that," said Prince Haufen. "Now I cannot."
"My brave son! Know that I have never taken back a word I said. I will add this though, that he for whatever reason is not to wed my daughter will instead be given this peerless cup studded with one gem from every land in which I killed a dragon, for their hearts are clumps of such jewels!"
"So then, my sister is worth a single cup, you say? I've changed my ideas about which king to kill!"
The nobles rushed to restrain the two royals, a difficult task because of their heroic strength and mythical passion. In the end the father and son made a wager that whichever of them killed but one king owed an apology to the killer of two. The prince won, and as for the princess, she was left to wonder why her father wanted to get rid of her so badly.
Finis

The Fairy Cottage

Once there was a lovely little cottage in which nobody lived. A prince took up there for a short time, but he left after finding the secret of the wardrobe. A second prince came later, but he left after he discovered the secret of the attic. A third prince moved after unearthing the secret of the cellar.
"I think we have to give up on this idea of dumping the place on a prince, sir. They have money and not much sense, true, but they aren't stable renters."
"Nonsense," declared Realty Sorcerer Garvaskem. "The secrets you planted there simply were insufficiently fell, my apprentice. Try again."
The cottage is still available.
Finis

Addendum

Once there was a lizardman prince who lay on rocks for only nineteen hours a day. He became the greatest lizardman hero of all time.

The Varied Effect of Magic Items

Tension stuffed the court and made it hard to breath, it seemed to the officials there in the western capital. Prince Sutas Fren-Gwimmere Suteras Pnesyufyar was soon to arrive, and someone would take action, if not that time, then the next.
The trumpeter, and the herald to announce him, and then the man himself. Prince Sutas entered, and as always he bore a few of the remarkable artifacts the royal family rarely let leave the southern capital. The Ribbon That Ties, the All-Warding Buckle, and, worst of all, the Unbearable Coat. The captains and courtiers all twitched when they saw it at the periphery of their vision and looked away, or tried to look away.
"Good day, gentleman. We have a great deal yet to do in planning our response to this unfortunate rebellion. I suggest we not stand on ceremony. Though I am a prince, you must all come closer and speak to me directly. Look at me, too. Directly at me." The wide smile he had went unnoticed. The men there saw nothing but the Coat.
"I can't take it! Not another hour!" Colonel Pfalchyre leapt at the prince, hands clawed, and grabbed at the buttons on the Unbearable Coat as the others did all they could to restrain him except the prince himself, who laughed. Yes, he laughed, and if he had been a person of lower rank, he would have been said to guffaw.
"Let me go! I've had enough!"
"Phwa ha ha ha ha! Ha HA ha ha!"
A terrible scene. At the end of it, Pfalchyre stood with the Coat held in his shaking hands, his eyes wide and staring at the future he finally saw for himself. Exile? Execution? Seizure of his estate? How would his children live on, their father disgraced?
"It's decided," Prince Sutas said. "We needed something to draw the rebels out, and you're the man for it, Colonel Pfalchyre. General Pfalchyre, if you survive wearing the Unbearable Coat with a hostile army around. No, no. Even if you don't survive. You're a man who deserves our respect, after all. Aha ha ha ha ha!"
Finis

Fountain of Colors

"Pink for births, black for deaths, red for storms and lightning. Today it's green, and we aren't sure what that means. We got our theories, though."
"What are your theories?"
The locals never tired of telling travelers about their theories. The fountain was their favorite landmark, though most non-locals thought the bell tower more impressive. One had to stay in Choices long enough to see the fountain change color to be won over, after all.
"There's those that say it means rain without lightning, though they call it green sometimes when it looks blue to me. I heard another that it meant somebody came up with a good new joke, but the last time they went together, I happened to know that Lal took that joke from Bur. Then there's those what say it happens on days when a big decision gets made, like when we decided to put up the bell tower. It was green then."
The young man to whom the other travelers seemed to defer smiled. "Is that why this city's named Choices, then?"
"Nah, that's because Opi Last Choice founded the city. He was called that because his father liked him the least is how it was, but he lived longer than his brothers. He put in that fountain though when he built his house, you can see it there to the side, and green was the color he liked, so that's part of the theory, that the fountain's honoring the founder." The local pointed at the Choice house while he talked and jabbed his finger toward the green banners that decorated it.
"That's enough for me to believe it," the head traveler said. He took a coin from inside his shirt and hurled it at the fountain, saying, "I'll make up my mind today if you tell me to, fountain."
The coin hit the water and the fountain water flared up high, startling everyone in the plaza. The water turned purple too, which nobody in Choices remembered seeing. The young traveler kneeled, and so did his fellows, and then everyone there because it seemed like the right thing to do, or at least not the wrong thing.
Decades later, long after the pretender's death, the king visited the city with his little son and dunked that prince right in the fountain. The locals had no idea if that was a good idea or not, but the water turned purple again, which was probably auspicious. Later kings maintained that custom and still do right up to this very day, though it caused problems on a couple occasions.
Finis

False Advertsing

I read Prince of Tennis, and even though it had Prince in the title, it wasn't fantasy at all! Well, it kinda was.