Rosella's First Quest is a short story introduced as part of an official Mixed-Up Fairy Tales contest in Interaction Magazine, Fall 1991[1]. The story was fractured into pieces, and contestants had to put it back together. The reconstructed story was featured in the next issue of Interaction Magazine, Spring 1992[2]. The story takes place when Rosella was a little girl, but also crosses into the Sierra multiverse, as she encounters other Sierra characters.
The Complete Fairy Tale
Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Daventry, there lived a little princess named Rosella. She had a kind and loving father, King Graham, and a beautiful and good mother, Queen Valanice. Rosella had everything a little girl could want.
One day, Rosella was in the courtyard playing with a golden football. (she was a tough little girl even then.) She gave the ball a mighty kick and it flew over the wall.
Rosella walked all around the castle, but the golden football was nowhere in sight. Just then, Rosella saw a strange pair of pigs come wandering out of the woods.
"Have you seen my golden football, piggies?" Asked Rosella.
"We're not pigs, we're Two Guys from Andromeda. And we saw your football. It got stuck in a timepod that was flying past." They pointed toward the woods, then vanished.
Rosella shrugged, and went into the forest the way they had pointed. She came upon a man in white, lying on the ground clutching his head.
"Have you seen my football, good sir?" She asked.
"I'm no sir, I'm Leisure Suit Larry. Your football fell off the timepod and hit me in the head. If I hadn't been wearing so much Dep, I would have died. Go away, kid."
Rosella looked around the man in white but her football was nowhere to be seen. She went further into the woods. Soon she saw a dragon, sitting on a hollow log and reading.
"Hello, dragon," said Rosella. "Have you seen my football?"
"I am the Bookwyrm," said the dragon. "And I did indeed see your football. The Bookend ran past carrying it. But then a tall blond man in green took it from him and ran away."
"Thank you," said Rosella. Soon, she found the man in green.
"Excuse me, forester, have you seen my football?" she asked.
"I am no forester, little maid, I am Robin Hood. I was going to give your football to the poor, but a little boy and a frog took it from me."
"Oh," said Rosella. She went to look for the little boy.
When she found him, he was standing on a board, kicking the ground and saying words Rosella had never heard before. A green frog was sitting on his shoulder.
"Hi, my name's Willy," the boy said. "How do you skateboard around here?"
"Have you seen my ball?" asked Rosella, petting the frog.
"Yeah, I had it. But this lady with curly hair said it was evidence and ran off with it."
"Thank you," said Rosella. She kissed the frog. Nothing happened, but the frog grinned. Rosella journeyed on.
Soon she found a young woman with curly hair lurking behind a tree. "Have you seen my football?" Rosella asked.
"My name is Laura," said the young woman. "And I took your football as evidence in the bonking of one Larry Laffer. But a policeman took it away from me."
"Thank you," said Rosella. She wasn't sure what a policeman was, but she decided to set out to find one.
She came across a man in blue. "Have you seen my football, blue knight?" Rosella asked.
"I'm not a knight, I'm Sonny, a policeman. I took your football for an official investigation. But when we found out Larry Laffer was involved, we decided not to prosecute the bonker. Some guy in a white coat took your football."
"Thank you," said Rosella. She was getting tired. She trudged along, and finally found a man in a white coat writing furiously in a notebook."
"Are you related to that other man in white?" asked Rosella. "And have you seen my football?"
"I am Dr. Brain," he said, "and my genetics are entirely separate from Mr. Laffer's. I took your football, to conduct metallurgical tests on it. But when I tossed it into the air to test its aerodynamics, it got caught in some kind of timepod. It went that way." He pointed.
"Thank you," said Rosella wearily. She plodded off through the woods. Hours went by. The little princess was ready to give up. Then she came to a clearing and there was...the royal castle. With a sigh, Rosella headed home.
There was a loud humming noise, Rosella looked up, and a strange machine went zooming overhead. A smiling blond man leaned out the window and waved, and tossed the princess her golden football! Then he was gone.
Rosella and her football lived happily ever after. That is, until her father got terribly sick one day, then that's a whole other story.
Characters
- Two Guys from Andromeda
- Larry Laffer
- Bookwyrm and Bookend
- Robin Hood
- Willy Beamish
- Horny (appears but name is not given)
- Laura Bow
- Sonny Bonds
- Dr. Brain
- Roger Wilco (appears but name is not given)
Behind the scenes
This is the entire story minus the paragraph numbers listed in the original solution article.
If one was trying to figure out its location chronologically it's likely before or not long after Kingdom of Sorrow (as Rosella is seven in that story). She certainly seems younger than 14/15 as she is in See No Weevil. The only real description in Rosella's First Quest related to her age is that she is a 'little girl', 'little princess', or 'little maid', which indicates she is very young. Whereas she was almost eighteen in King's Quest IV, and therefore a young adult.