story time

Dear You,

       Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She lived in a small castle in the forest. Her dad, the king, was also a scientist, and her mother was a semi-evil queen. All in all, they weren't too evil, nor were they king and queen over very much, but they lived in the forest and the little girl enjoyed exploring their small kingdom.
        While her father was inventing amazing things, and while her mother was yelling at the servants to clean faster, the little girl would sneak outside to play. She liked to climb the trees, splash in the creeks, and lay in the wild flower clearings. Sometimes the young princesses neighboring her kingdom would wander through her forest. She said hello once or twice, but it never ended well.
        "What are you doing, you weird little girl!" they would shout when they saw her hang from a tree. "You look pretty stupid, and not like a princess at all!!"
        From upside down in the tree, the little girl thought maybe they were right.
        One day when the little girl was wading in the creek, trying to catch tadpoles, the other mean princesses snuck up on her. "Boo! ha ha. Look at you! All covered in mud and your gown all wet! If a knight were here, he might mistake you for a mud dragon and slay you!" one of them shouted. "No you aren't a princess at all! Just an ugly river troll!" All the other young princesses and their friends agreed. They pointed and laughed and teased until the little girl ran home crying. When she got home, she looked in the mirror. What she saw was an awkward looking girl with a muddy dress and tangled hair. She didn't look smoothe and neat and well kempt like the other girls.
        She went to the laboratory to speak to her scientist king father, but his laboratory door was locked. He was very busy with a unicorn neutralizing potion. Those pesky unicorns!!
        She went out to the garden to speak to her mother. She was scared to talk to her evil queen mother, but she had always been told that mothers are supposed to listen and help their daughters. Timidly, she tiptoed up next to her mother. The evil queen looked disapprovingly down at her little girl. "What do you want!?" the evil queen asked.
        "Mommy, the other girls said I was a river troll," the little girl said quietly.
        "Well, you're not, but you sure look like one! You don't look nice and neat like the other little girls. Maybe if you didn't carry yourself like a troll, the girls wouldn't call you one!" her mother replied. And without hesitation, her mother the evil queen walked away to yell at a servant who had pruned 5 instead of 4 branches as previously instructed.
        The little girl sat down and told herself that if the other girls said it was true, and her mother said it was true, well then she must be very very strange indeed, and she must resemble a river troll. The next day she decided that she would try to act more like a princess. She put on a clean gown with frilly edges, and sparkly cloth. She brushed out the tangles in her long dark hair. She looked in the mirror. Well, her mother never did explain to her how to bustle her dress properly or how to smooth her hair, so perhaps she wasn't quite as shiny as the other princesses, but she decided that she looked much better. Not like an odd river troll at all.
        Feeling much happier, she skipped out to the forest, and just as she was about to see how far she could kick a big glob of dirt like a soccer ball, she straightened up. Well, that wasn't the way she was supposed to act. She left the dirt alone, and carefully stepped around it. She practiced walking slowly and gracefully. She practiced holding up the bottom of her dress, so it didn't get dirty. She practiced looking snobby like the other princesses. She giggled to herself when she thought of how funny they looked, trying to be so prim.
        Just then she heard a noise in the grass near her feet! It was a yellow lizard. She tried to bend down gracefully to get a better look, but it ran away. She followed it slowly at first, then faster. Where would a lizard make its home, she wondered? She was very excited and intent on following this lizard back to wherever it lived. So intent, that when the lizard ran under a prickery shrub, the little girl had forgotten about acting proper, got on her knees, and crawled right under there with it. She suddenly realized her gown was a little bit caught on the thorns and dragging along the ground. She squirmed out, and composed herself, but it was too late. She looked a little bit messy, and the other princesses were standing behind her giggling.
        "No matter how many different dresses you put on, you'll always be a river troll!" they laughed.
        "I like being a river troll!!" the girl replied with a smile on her face. Then she turned around calmly with dignity and walked slowly home. She wouldn't cry in front of those mean girls again, but she didn't actually want to be a river troll. She knew she couldn't help acting a bit different. She loved chasing animals, climbing trees, and making a mess of herself in the river. A river troll is what she would be then. She vowed to never look in the mirror again. She threw away all the mirrors in the castle except the one in her mother's room.

        Years past, and the little girl grew up. She didn't look in the mirror, and she embraced her role as a river troll. She knew she didn't measure up to the other girls, and she wasn't the way her evil queen mother wanted her to be. Being a troll was much more fun, but secretly, she always wished she was a pretty princess.
        Well, just as when she was a child, she enjoyed spending time in the forest. The other girls had outgrown these things. They preferred to sit inside and knit, buy dresses and horses to show off their status, and especially gossip. How boring they were! The girl got a job as a mad scientist (which is very unlady-like) working in her father's laboratory and also out in the fields with the servants. A little river troll couldn't depend on others. A river troll takes care of herself. She was no long a little girl, but a woman, although she still felt very young inside. Her favorite places were still the flower meadow where she could lay in the sun and the creek where she could relax with her feet in the cool water.
       One day after working, she decided to head down to the creek to cool off. She was humming and skipping, and not paying any attention at all to anything except how pretty the forest was. She arrived at the creek, and just as she was about to jump in, she saw someone there! She ran away and hid behind a tree. Carefully looking out, she watched the person. It was a knight with his steed. The knight was sitting on the opposite side of the creek just a little bit down stream. His steed was drinking calmly. He didn't seem to have noticed her. He was wearing his armor, but his helmet was off, laying on the ground.
        She climbed up the tree so she could watch them more easily without being seen. "Well there!" she thought to herself "What kind of knight is this?! He is sitting there by the creek with his horse, and they aren't slaying dragons or trolls or witches, or even getting rid of the pesky unicorns! Certainly he should be running around with some snooty princess, showing off his spoils from a battle. No, he's just sitting there! No dragon on his mind at all!"
        She sat in the tree for a little bit, feeling pouty, hoping he would go away so she could have her quiet spot back. He didn't leave. He sat there quietly. She started to watch his face, wondering what he was thinking. He was very handsome. What was he doing? He continued to sit quietly for what seemed like a long time to an impatient girl. Just then she saw a frog hop right across his feet! The girl smiled and stifled a giggle... then frowned, expecting him to be annoyed with the frog and stab it through with his sword. He didn't. He laughed, a bit surprised, and tried to catch it - missed. Stood up, tracking the frog, and with the second swoop, he caught it. He looked at it and placed it back in the water. "A knight that catches frog like me? How very, very strange," she thought. The girl climbed silently down from the tree and made her way home. Certainly the knight was just passing through, and tomorrow she would have the creek to herself again.
        The next day came, and the girl finished another day of work. She skipped down towards the creek, but a bit more aware this time. As she approached the creek, she heard splashing. The knight looked like he had just arrived at the creek, and was leading his horse down to take a drink. She climbed back up the tree, trying to decide what to do. Even if she decided to go to the clearing, she still had to cross the creek. Maybe she would go further up stream where he wouldn't notice her. She didn't want a knight to see her. She didn't want him to laugh at her, looking and acting like a river troll.
        Each day she went to the creek, he was there. She hid in the tree watching him. Sometimes he looked relaxed and happy. Of course he would be happy, because what would such a handsome knight have to worry about?! But sometimes he looked worried, and she wondered if he worried about the same things that she did. A few times he looked up in the trees, and she wondered if he knew she was there.
        Day after day she sat in the tree, and she began to feel a bit angry. Why couldn't she just cross that creek and splash and make a mess if she wanted to? What should he care about a river troll crossing near him? She looked down at him again, and felt a flutter in her chest. He looked quite dashing.
        "Don't worry about it," she said to herself. "He's just some haughty knight. Prance your muddy self right across this creek, smile, and be friendly if he looks up, but he won't bother you. Knights don't give a thought to girls who resemble river trolls." So with that pep-talk, she plopped herself out of the tree, into the middle of the creek, which was a bit deeper than she had expected. A huge splash soaked everything - and everyone - when her feet hit the water.
        "Sorry!" she shouted with humiliation. She ran over and tried to dry him and the horse with what little cloth was still dry on her skirt. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize the water was deeper today from the rain."
        "Its okay," he replied very kindly. He didn't say much, just kinda of stared at her. The girl thought he must certainly be staring at her crazy appearance and bizarre behavior. A girl jumping out of a tree, splashing a knight, and looking disheveled. She thought this knight was probably quite horrified. He got on his horse and hurriedly galloped away, looking over his shoulder once or twice. When he was gone, the girl looked down at her distorted reflection in the creek. "The crazy river troll strikes again," she said to herself. "Well, at least he was scared away. No need to worry about him coming back."
        A week passed before she went back to the creek. She felt certain that he would never come back to that part of the forest again, but she was so embarrassed, that she didn't want to chance accidentally seeing him. A week was long enough that a passing knight would move on to his next adventure. Knights, after all, only care about dragon slaying and looking good in front of  their adoring fans. Knights don't sit and think in the woods, nor care for their own horses, and they wouldn't normally catch frogs, but that was a fluke.
        She snuck through the forest leading up to the creek. He wasn't there. oh good. Finally she could sit and relax and splash around. She did for a little while, then kept looking around. She found that she kind of wanted the knight to come back. He seemed nicer than she expected. Different from other knights, but...
        She walked home disappointed that he was not there. She daydreamed: if she was a pretty damsel in distress, in clutches of the great scaly dragon, he could save her, parade the dragon's head around the country, then they would have their own kingdom. Such silly thinking for a bramble covered girl made her feel sad.
        The following day, she passed through the creek, and went through to the clearing. The wild flowers were bright and colorful. She laid down and looked at the sky. When she looked towards the woods after a while, she was startled to see the knight standing in the clearing. She sat up quickly. "Hi." she said.
        "Hello," he replied.
        "What are you doing here?" she asked.
        "I'm visiting the kingdoms in this land. I'm on a quest." He sounded quiet and nervous. Maybe he was still a bit unsure about of her strange behavior from the other day.
        "What kind of quest?" The girl was excited to hear about this. A quest sounded interesting! Like a puzzle or her father's science experiments.
        "My family has been battling the Slithering Unicorns for generations. They are almost extinct." He smiled. He could tell this strange girl was enthralled by the story. "Have you ever heard of the slithering unicorns? No? They don't have any legs, just a scaly belly like a snake and long bodies. They like to eat babies! They are very evil."
       "How exciting! My father has been working on ridding the kingdom of the horrible unicorns for a long time too! Are slithering unicorns here in our land now?"
        "I don't know." He laughed at her enthusiasm. "I'm searching for them. They are hiding, and I've found some scales in the surrounding areas." He told her all about his adventures. She listened with intrigue. She told him all about the laboratory and about mad science. He listened  too.
        As the sun went down, she told him she had to go. He said he did too. "Can I talk to you tomorrow though?" he asked. "We can look for signs of them here in your kingdom."
       She happily agreed.

       Weeks and months passed. They spent a lot of time together. Sometimes he had to leave on perilous journeys, as knights some times do. Some times he would rescue princesses, and the girl worried that he wouldn't come back, but he always did. Sometimes she had a lot of work to do as well. There was a lot work to be done with harvesting in the fall. In the spring, the regular unicorns would get strength from the rainbows seen after spring showers, and she would have to work very hard to thwart their murderous unicorn plots!
        Some days were quiet, and the knight and the girl would sit and talk and laugh. On those days, she felt like the happiest person in the world. She forgot that her dress had mud along the bottom edge. She forgot that she usually had little twigs stuck in her long hair. And the knight even would laugh at her skinned knees she acquired while rolling around like a silly little girl in the grass, trying to catch some funny little forest creature. She tried her best to help him out and make him smile. He never let her doubt herself. He made sure she knew how special she was. She felt happy, and confident, and completely forgot that she ever was a river troll.
       A year passed, and she realized she had a best friend. A handsome, kind, interesting, handsome best friend. He did too. They were the best of friends.
       One day while they were talking about the knight's latest adventure, he said he loved her. She smiled, and felt shy and looked down at her dress to avoid eye contact. She suddenly realized that her dress was not smooth and definitely not clean. She felt her head, and remembered that her hair was in disarray. She thought about all the strange things she talked about that were not becoming of a princess or proper lady at all. After months of feeling only confidence and sunshine... insecurity rushed in.
        "But I'm not a princess!" she exclaimed! "A handsome knight has to fall in love with a princess! I'm a river troll!."
        "A river troll?" he questioned.
        "I'm not good enough for you," she said.
        "You are kind, " he said. "You are  hardworking. You like all the same things I like. We have fun together, and you make me feel happy. You look nothing like a river troll. Even with branches in your hair and dirt on your clothes, you can't cover up how beautiful you are. I love you because you are not like the other girls. You stand above them. You are a true princess. But..." he continued, "I have to rescue you for you to become mine, according to the law of our country. A knight has to rescue his princess, then she is his forever if they both agree."
        "You already have rescued me," she said happily. "There are no tall towers, no dragons, no witches with evil spells that have to be kissed away. Every day that went by, that I forgot about my self doubt and self hate, you were rescuing me. Until one day, I felt as worthy as you told me I was. You quietly rescued me a long time ago." she said. "I love you too."


THE END

- Me