Aquarian Age Stories for Children
The Princess Who Learned to Smile
by
Evelyn Van Gilder Creekmore
Once upon a time there was a little
princess who lived with her father the king in a beautiful kingdom by the sea.
Now the little princess would have been very beautiful if it had not been that
she usually looked so cross and ill-tempered. There was almost always a frown on
her face, and she seemed to find fault with everything.
In the morning when her good nurse brought her breakfast on a
golden tray she would fly into a rage, no matter how many good things were on
the tray.
"Take it away!" she would cry, stamping her foot, and
pushing the tray away, "I do not want oatmeal. Why did you not bring me
boiled wheat? And look at that toast. It is not brown enough. I do not like that
dish that my egg is in. Take it all away and bring what I want."
All day long she said mean things to everyone around her and
complained of everything. Even when the king would give her a present, instead
of thanking him, she would grumble and ask why he had not brought something
more.
In the same kingdom there lived some little brown dwarfs who
loved the king very much. They saw how sad it made him for the princess to
behave so badly, for he loved his little girl and wanted her to be happy. So the
dwarfs decided that every time the princess was cross or unkind, or thought a
mean ugly thought they would plant a, seed on the hillside not far from their
camp.
The seeds grew up quickly into tall trees and before long the
hillside was covered with a dense forest.
One day the princess became very angry about something and
decided to go out for a walk all by herself. She walked and walked, and before
she knew it was lost in the deep thick forest on the hillside. Night came on and
the little princess began to cry for she could not find the way out of the
forest. How she wished now for home, and for all of the things she so often
complained of before. She was hungry but she could find nothing to eat in the
woods except some bitter berries on one of the bushes. Finally, being so very
tired, she curled up on the hard ground and went to sleep.
Early the next morning she was awakened by someone calling her
name. Sitting up quickly, she looked around and beheld the dwarfs.
"Princess," said the leader of the dwarfs, "we have come to tell
you how you may get out of the forest."
The princess clapped her hands, "Oh, do," she cried.
"Please tell me how I can find the way home, for I do not like it here in
the forest, and want to go home as soon as possible."
"How quickly you can leave will depend on how well you
follow our instructions, " said the dwarf, for there is only one way to get
out.
"Oh, I will do anything," replied the princess.
"Well, then," said the dwarf, "first let us tell
you where you are. Each tree in this forest is a cross word or unkind act of
yours. These thick, tangled vines are the complaints that you have made. Now the
first thing that you must do is to stop complaining and to praise everything.
You must learn to smile, to look for the good in everything, and to feel happy.
Try to make other people happy and do kind things for them. As soon as you do
these things, the trees will disappear one by one, and then you can get back to
the kingdom where your home is."
It was very hard for the little princess to do as the dwarfs had
advised, but she disliked the forest so much that she decided to try. She
stopped complaining about the forest and started praising it. Beginning by
praising the bush where the bitter berries grew, she was amazed to find that at
her words of praise the berries which had been so bitter changed to big and
luscious ones before her very eyes.
Astounded and happy at the result of the first experiment she
began to smile. She remembered the instructions to do something kind for other
people, and decided that since the dwarfs had been kind in telling her how to
find her way home, she would do something for them.
After much thought she decided to build them some beautiful
little houses where they could live. Gathering rocks and sticks, and using clay
for mortar she built some of the most attractive rock houses imaginable, and
carefully lined the inside of them with soft leaves. Outside she made rock
gardens and planted in them all sorts of wild flowers.
The princess was so happy in her work of building that she did
not notice that many days had passed since she had first come into the forest.
At last the houses were finished, and they were so lovely that
she could scarcely wait for the dwarfs to come and see their new homes.
The next morning she woke up with the sun shining very brightly
in her eyes, and sitting up quickly she looked around. To her surprise the dense
forest had disappeared, and the brown dwarfs were standing before her smiling,
and looking very happy.
"Hail, Princess," they cried, all saluting her.
"You have dissolved the forest. Look, you can see the palace on the next
hill. Go, for the king awaits you."
The princess jumped up joyfully, and after thanking the dwarfs
for teaching her how much more fun it is to smile than it is to frown, she ran
happily home, determined that she would never be cross or unkind again.