Prologue:
Panicked by the spotlight, darkness spilled up and off the ringmaster.
"Her beauty and grace will make you wonder how you ever knew what joy was without her," he said. "Ladies and gentlemen, please give a large round of applause for... Princess Ariadne." The applause was deafening.
"Her beauty causes men to throw flowers at her feet," he said. "And women to buy plates with her picture on them." Princess Ariadne rose to her feet and stood on the back of her horse. "Her horse, August, has killed a barber, a tax collector, and a Gypsy palm reader — an untamable man-killer, until the Princess soothed him with her touch."
Ariadne proceeded to entertain the audience with tricks on horseback. Shooting candle-flames while jumping hurdles. Snatching handkerchiefs off the ground blindfolded with her teeth. Letting August find the Queen of Hearts in the hair-ribbon of the child who placed it in a deck. However, as Princess Ariadne weaved her spell, as she commanded every eye, as her charm saturated the big top, she was interrupted by, of all things, a goose honk.
"Oh, no, ladies and gentlemen," said the ringmaster. "Here comes trouble." From a small car, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine full-grown clowns surrounded Princess Ariadne.
"I am King Clownie," said the villain. "I will marry the beautiful princess." King Clownie silenced the booing crowd with a wave of his corked gun. "Anyone tries to stop me, and me and my clowns will grab his wrists, beat him with his own fists, and ask him why he's hitting himself. I know that makes you cry."
"Mmm Mmm," said a priest carried into the ring. "Mmm Mmm Mmm."
"Skip that part," said King Clownie. "Get to the part where you marry us."
"Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm," said the priest.
"Marry us, or else," said King Clownie. He ungagged the priest.
"—if anyone knows any reason why this couple should not marry," said the priest, "please speak now or forever hold your peace." The crowd roared in objection.
"Ladies and gentleman," said the ringmaster. "What power can save the Princess now?"
As the audience grumbled over whether a rescuer for the Princess would appear, out trotted a small, spotted dog with a tin crown on its head.
"...stop zee wedding," said the dog. The crowd shrieked with laughter.
"Who are you to stop me?" said King Clownie.
"It is Spot," said the dog. "I am... zee King of zee World." The crowd cheered Spot's defiance.
Clowns pounced, only to land face-first where the dog previously stood. Clowns chased the dog with wooden boards, only to hit each other in the head. Clowns stooped to grab the dog, only to stand up wondering where it even was. Finally, the little dog pulled the largest clown to the ground and the crowd celebrated Spot's triumph.
Then the crowd erupted in uproar. The little dog lunged for the last flying cork and collapsed at Princess Ariadne's feet.
Then, shaking off defeat, the dog spat the cork and rolled to its feet. The Princess hugged the dog and the audience said, "Awww..."
The Princess kissed the little dog. A cloud of smoke burst and settled. To the ooohhhs and ahhhs of the audience, stood, in each other's arms, Princess Ariadne and a princely young man. While the crowd cheered, however, an invisible drama spilled into the darkness around them.
"...zee spotlight belongs to me," said Spot. "Zee man holding Mademoiselle Princess is a fake..."
"This isn't real, stupid dog," said Clownie. "Now don't make trouble, or it's another dunking in the water barrel for you. That's more than enough from you, by golly."
Fatigue and exhaustion found the little dog outside in its cage, as usual after a show. Fatigue calmed it. Exhaustion sent it to sleep. Fatigue rendered it indifferent to the movement of the moon in the sky. Exhaustion's surface rippled as the stranger approached and unlatched Spot's cage, then burst as the ungreased hinge whined open.
"You can stay here for the rest of your life," said the stranger, "to live outside of the big top, to wait for your brief moments of glory in the light. Or you can leave with me and we can begin your adventure." The little dog shook off fatigue and exhaustion, and the two figures escaped into the darkness of the night.