Page 18 - RotalTutor

philosophers, that you are a great thinker and a talented young man. Train her in the arts. Teach her to dance. They did teach you to dance at the academy?” Jacob nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty. We were trained in all of the social graces. But, surely, she has already been taught to dance.” The queen sighed heavily as she answered. “There have been many attempts, but she has scorned them all, as I’m sure you can well imagine.” Jacob could just see himself working with the surly princess. He could imagine her getting angry with him, striking at him, telling the queen how horrible he was. Even worse, he could envision the reaction of his men in the Royal Guard when they learned of his assignment. As he thought about the others in the Royal Guard hearing of this, Jacob gained some determination to avoid this assignment if at all possible. He swallowed hard, took a deep breath, then spoke again. “But don’t you feel it would be better to have a woman tutor the princess?” The queen’s expression remained unchanged, unless possibly more stern. “All of the tutors so far have been women, and they have failed miserably. I want her to have influence from the opposite gender. You see, her father died when she was yet a young girl. My daughter will soon be queen, and I feel there are things she needs to learn - things that I can’t teach her.” “But I don’t know how to tutor,” Jacob blurted out. The queen wrinkled her brow. “Don’t you teach 16