TSQ-IV: DEBORAH EISENBERG

Deborah Eisenberg
Fragment from "In a Trance of Self"

...at a nearby palace...
Evidently the princess who lives in this particular palace is very clever, and, having become fed up with the longueurs of prestige and power, has decided to get married so she'll have someone interesting around to talk to. She's advertised for a husband, but it's turned out that only one boy---out of all those who applied for the job---a poor out-of-towner, is able to maintain his presence of mind once faced with the grandeur inside the palace and carry on a decent conversation rather than merely repeating what the princess has just said.
...up a back stairway, where dreams rush by ahead on horseback on their way to take the prince and princess out hunting. ...the bedroom... the sleeping prince's back... But when the boy turns towards, waking...
Deeply moved by the story, the prince and the princess equip with fur boots, a muff, a gold chariot stocked with treats, horses, and various supernumeraries with gold crowns...
As the retinue drives through the dark woods, a band of robbers, maddened by the glare of gold, seize the chariot and slaughter the horses and all the attendants.
In answer to inquiries, she (the robber girl) announces that the prince and the princess are off in foreign lands...

And we would then see the section of the story that concerns the realm of the princess ---her palace and her courtiers--- to be an elaboration of Andersen's feelings and ideas about worldly society.