Character Analysis
This younger sister is "red-headed, freckled" (9.6), and she's not always polite or proper. When the girls' dancing slippers are beginning to get worn out, Hollyhock suggests, "What if we danced barefoot?" (9.5). This suggestion is met with astonished scorn from her sisters, who are old enough to know better (princesses aren't supposed to dance shoeless). Hollyhock's also a tad clumsy, as she knocks into the case holding the magic sword (23.83), almost breaking it.
When the King offers the girls a ride on his horse but they all decline, he snatches up Hollyhock first, which surprises but ultimately delights her—when it's over she slides "from the horse, dizzy, but with a huge, delighted grin on her freckled face" (18.23). After all the girls have a turn to ride, they help rub down and feed the horses, and that's when Hollyhock discovers their mother's jet brooch in one of the saddlebags. She begs the King to be able to keep it, but unfortunately she loses it in the pavilion—that, or Keeper steals it. We're not saying Hollyhock is careless, but, well, maybe she is just a little.