The King Only Took One Bath In His Whole Life

The children were now paying close attention because they had been taught and told over and over not to take rides from strangers. Grandma Lu explained to them that this story took place hundreds of years ago and in those days the coaches usually had a family crest on the side of the coach and was always recognized as royalty. In these little girls' case it really didn't matter. They had been abandoned on the streets. They were both hungry and dirty. They needed a dream of  food and shelter.
Catherine was so very dirty. She had fallen in the mud when she ran away from Regan and was carefully lifted into the coach by the footman.

He then went back for Regan. She stopped to pick up her basket of apples and the Queen said, "Leave them. We have plenty to eat at the castle. Hurry now, Cheri." Regan had never known anything but hunger and wasn't about to leave all of the apples. She quickly sneaked one in her pocket, but left the basket as the Queen told her.

The ride to the castle was a fast one. The girls were very quiet; both thinking that this was probably a big mistake, but little Catherine trusted her new friend even though they hadn't known each other very long. She just knew that Regan would know what to do if there was trouble.

As soon as they got to the castle the Queen started barking orders to her servants. Soon the girls were whisked away to a place called the nursery. It was huge with many tables and beds.

"Grandma Lu, didn't the Queen make them take a bath before they ate? They were all muddy and dirty."
Grandma Lu chuckled and said, "In those days they didn't take a bath. They thought that the air was full of germs so if you were dirty the germs couldn't get into your skin. One of the French kings, King Louis the XVI only took one bath in his whole life and that was on his wedding day. If people did take a bath it was frowned upon unless you left your clothes on."

Grandma Lu laughed and everyone joined her. This was a fun story.

Grandma Lu said, "There they met other children that the Queen had rescued. They were given clothes to wear and told to sit at one of the many tables. Soon maids appeared with trays of food. They were then told to eat their food because soon after they finished their lessons would begin.

Grandma Lu stopped for a second and began chuckling again. "Did you know that in those days that silverware for the most part had not been invented? They ate with their fingers. They had a knife and sometimes a two pronged fork for spearing meat. This French Queen Catherine was the first royal who used a fork because she didn't like getting her fingers dirty. She was talked about by others not in a good way because the fork looked like the Devil's tail. She picked up a picture so that everyone could see the ancient eating utensils. Can you all see how fancy it is? It has mother of pearl inlays in the handle."

Grandma Lu said that Regan was completely confused. First their food came in a hollowed out loaf of bread. It was called a trencher. She had never seen such a large amount of food in her life. There was even a tiny bit of meat along with vegetables and fruit. Regan was a peasant and had never had meat. Little Catherine, however, had lived a rich life and had lots of different kinds of food including meat. "And guess what, guys? They had ale or beer to drink." Everyone giggled. "Well, they had ale or wine because their water was so dirty they couldn't drink it."
 Catherine quietly began to explain to her friend when she was interrupted by a very stern woman who introduced herself as Mademoiselle le Grace.