Anne Boleyn Is Cloned

After the wedding, Cynthia and Tobias stayed for a while in 1533. In fact, they were there for months. They learnt to horse-ride, and Tobias managed to take hundreds of photographs of the architecture and the streets and people. Cynthia painted hundreds of pictures. They met lots of people and they visited the Half Moon Tavern. They even had picnics in the woods near Hampton Court. However, they knew that even though Anne Boleyn was very happy during this time, someone would have to tell her that one day her husband would want to have her head chopped off, so she would have to be cloned so that she could be saved.

Mabble Merlin decided she would have to visit the Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop and he would have to tell her.

Henry’s birthday was on 24 June, and when Anne Boleyn was thinking about buying a birthday present she noticed the Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop. She was very happy to see such a nice little shop, and she went inside to get something special.

Mabble Merlin decided to show her a crystal ball so she could see herself getting her head chopped off. He knew she wouldn’t like it, and possibly she would sob her eyes out, but he hoped she would realise he was trying to help her.

Anne Boleyn hadn’t made up her mind what she would buy for a king that had everything. She thought she might buy him a hat or possibly some jewellery, or both.

Mabble Merlin suddenly piped up: “How can I help you, Queen Anne Boleyn?”

“Well, I have come in to buy King Henry a birthday present. It will be his birthday soon.”

Mabble Merlin said, “Can I show you something that is very special? It can foretell the future, and it never lies.”

Anne Boleyn said, “Why, yes, I would love to see something that foretells the future.”

Mabble Merlin took out the crystal ball, and straight away it started to cloud over. There was a huge clap of thunder (or it sounded like thunder) and Anne Boleyn jumped. She just didn’t know what to think, or what she was going to see. Suddenly the crystal ball cleared and she saw, as clear as day, a horrible scene. It looked as though she was getting her head chopped off. She screamed so loudly Mabble Merlin thought everything in the shop would jump. Then she started to sob and sob and sob and sob.

Mabble Merlin called Pulsar and Stellar, and he called for Cynthia and Tobias, and they all came to the shop immediately.

Mabble Merlin gave Anne Boleyn a cup of tea, and some tissues to dry her eyes. Cynthia put her arm around her.

“Don’t worry, Anne Boleyn,” she said. “We have a plan - a very good plan.”

Then Mabble Merlin told Anne Boleyn what he planned to do: he would replace her with a clone, and she, the real Anne Boleyn, could stay out of harm’s way in the accommodation above the shop while the Anne Boleyn clone would go and have her head chopped off in her place. He pointed out to her that King Henry wouldn’t know the difference, and she could have a great laugh about that.

Eventually Anne Boleyn calmed down. When Mabble Merlin explained what a clone was, she thought the plan was excellent, and she thanked him for helping her. She couldn’t believe Mabble Merlin was so nice to her. She bought King Henry a huge hat for his birthday and a gold necklace engraved with her name: Anne Boleyn. It turned out to be the last gift he ever received from her.

Pulsar and Stellar said the twelve musicians of King Henry’s court were so fantastic that they wanted to take them with them when they all left 1533 with the real Anne Boleyn. Mabble Merlin agreed because he knew at least four of the musicians were also due to get their heads chopped off. King Henry could search high and low for them, but he’d never find them!

Mabble Merlin had to get down to work on Anne Boleyn’s clone, so he wasted no time. She was taken to the Antimatter Fusion Teleportation Chamber, and she was beamed up to the Magical Mystery Tour headquarters, where the technicians made a clone of her. This didn’t take them long, and, when the clone had been completed, into Mabble Merlin’s shop walked two identical Anne Boleyns. Cynthia and Tobias couldn’t tell the difference, but Pulsar went straight up to the clone and took it out of the shop. He said, “This one can now go back to the court.”

Anne Boleyn had already given her clone the birthday present for King Henry, and the clone was at Hampton Court before anyone realised Anne Boleyn was missing. The real Anne Boleyn of course stayed in accommodation above the shop, but Mabble Merlin told her that the mirror in her room at Hampton Court was magical and she could go and come back through the mirror.

She said she might possibly go if King Henry went away to his castle in Kent, and if she felt a bit homesick, but she told Mabble Merlin she expected to enjoy her new life above the shop.