Essence Of The Heart (The Royal Tutor) by Daris Howard

took it carefully. She held it like she had seen
him do, and she, Lady Margaret, and Duke Reginald all bit some off at the
same time.
     
          As she chewed, Louise tasted the warmest, most wonderful thing she
could ever remember. She could only describe it as if she were chewing on
sunshine. She looked over at Lady Margaret and Duke Reginald, and saw
rapturous expressions spread across their faces as well. Everyone else,
seeing the looks on their faces, clamored even louder for the last ones. The
next corn stick was for the cook to try, so she would know what it was like
and how to prepare it. He did promise that everyone in the castle, down to
the last servant, would get to try it once more had ripened. The cook took a
bite from her corn stick and grinned. "My boy, you've done it again."
     
          Alexander was true to his word and made sure everyone had a
chance to try some. He had planted most of a field with corn, thinking that
would be more than enough for everyone to have all they wanted. But he
could have used many times that to satisfy their appetites. He was cautious
to save half for seed, and he wanted to make sure there was plenty for
Louise's parents to try when they came back.
     
          Before the summer was out, Louise had tried potatoes and beans as
well. It took Alexander quite a while to get the hang of cooking potatoes,
but he found they tasted good boiled like Gareg said, with butter and salt,
just like the corn. At first he tried to boil them and put the butter on the
outside. The butter just rolled off, so he took to cutting them and laying the
butter inside them.
     
          Louise found she liked potatoes, but she wasn't sure the beans were
all that good. They soon were eating corn every evening as the cool nights
of fall were starting to hang in the air. Alexander was afraid it would all
ripen before Louise's parents came.
     
          Over in one small corner of the gardens, Alexander had had the
servants mix a lot of manure. There he planted a few of his precious
pumpkin seeds. He didn't let anyone touch his seeds, and at two gold coins
for a small bag, Louise couldn't blame him.
     
          The pumpkins did very well and put out long vines like a grape
plant. Alexander wondered if he should tie them up like they did grapes,
but thinking about the big orange pumpkin Gareg had shown them, he
thought it might break the vines. Soon they spread all over, even into his
potato plants. He said he had to remember to give the pumpkins more room
the next year.
     
          Louise could still remember the day Alexander grabbed her hand
and pulled her out to see the little green balls on the plant. It was almost
impossible for her to imagine they could ever get as big as the orange one
Gareg had shown them. But big they did get. Alexander was so proud of
them. He always checked them first thing when they would get home from
one of their trips.
     
          Alexander's got even bigger than the one Gareg showed them.
Alexander said he could hardly wait to see how big it would get with a full
season. As the cool fall was arriving and the pumpkins turned orange,
Alexander announced he could stand it no longer and had to try to eat one.
It was almost all he could do to haul it to the kitchen. He cut it open and
scooped out the seeds as Gareg had said. He carefully set them to dry for
the next year. He then cut a piece of the pumpkin and boiled it. When he
thought it had boiled long enough, he scraped off some and tried it.
     
          By this time the usual crowd had gathered. Louise watched his face.
He chewed slowly. His face had a bland expression. "Let's try a little
butter and salt." He liked it better, but he said it sure wasn't as good as he
expected. He tried all sorts of different things, but didn't find any that he
thought improved it much. His last taste test was with a little honey