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Well ... maybe, von one of Dracula's undead brides was miffed that he got a different once. So, she stole his ring and his cloak to spite him! And then she fled the castle and found Granny, who (somehow) cured her, so the former-undead-bride, in her gratitude, gave Granny the ring and the cloak. And told her about them. So Granny knew never to use them.

Or, much simpler: narrative convenience? Or Narrative Causality. Things happen because the plot says they should.

It's the same reason why the third son always inherits the kingdom, or why the swineherd always beats the Unbeatable Bad Guy(TM): Because I Said So(C).

The Italians have a wonderful proverb for stories like this: se non è vero, è molto ben trovato. Even if it's not true, it's a very good fabrication (or story).

So having finished the replay of King's Quest III (and still struggled immensely) - naturally, my creative mind drifted around.

And I got to thinking about the pesky black cat...

Imagine, if before Gwydion (Alexander), the evil wizard Manannan ... what if he originally abducted some other prince... perhaps the Prince of Llewdor where Manannan served as the King's wizard... before turning dark and evil. Taking the King's son originally as ransom before turning him into a servant - when the young prince denies Manannan's commands, Manannan turns him into a cat and realizes he needs someone much younger to act as a servant. He comes to learn that a king, in a not so far kingdom, has recently had twins... certainly, said King would not miss if one child suddenly went missing...

So imagine another game, where someone finds the original cat from Manannan - and as the cat you need to do a few things to undo the spell, and then go home and find out something's happened to your parents and now you have to find out what/undo what's been done - and by the evil Manannan no less, before he too was turned in a cat...