Story: The Little Princess - Part 1

Once upon a time, in a faraway, faraway kingdom, there lived a gentle king and his queen. They fell in love the moment they met and it was that love that they had for each other that brought forth a little princess. The princess of this story has no name as nobody could remember....she was an ugly duckling. One would think that all princesses were born to be pretty and very clever, but this was an exception!


The little princess grew up in the loving environment of her royal palace for 5 years. The people in the kingdom liked her a lot, because she has such a sunny smile that chases the blues away and soft eyes that comfort and speak of love. Just a few months before her sixth birthday, the queen gave birth to a son, the heir to the king's throne. Suddenly things changed. The little princess was surprised that everyone was so excited about this newborn baby brother of hers. She couldn't understand what the fuss was about.


One day, the little princess thought, "I'm going to see the baby!" So she ran to the room where the queen was and saw the king and the queen taking turns in hugging and kissing her baby brother. She felt very alone and unloved. The king saw her standing in the corner and asked her to come in to see her brother. She brightened up and ran to her father. As they held up the baby for her to see, she saw a sleeping child wrapped in white linen, making rather curious sounds. This was the first time, she had ever seen a baby before. She was very enchanted by the baby.


As days grow into years, the little princess realized what an heir means. The baby grew into a lovely clever boy in the next 2 years. He became the favourite in the kingdom. Everyone wanted to play with him because he was the heir to the throne, the promise to a future kingdom. Nobody could find fault with him. The little princess felt very alone, nobody wanted to play with her since the arrival of the baby. The queen was too busy tending to the crying needs of her brother. The king was busy meeting his ministers in court discussing great matters. Nobody had time for her, so she played with her dolls and talked to them as if they could understand every word she said. She was good with stories...so she had the dolls acting in her countless short stories of knights and princesses, dragons and witches. She spent hours and hours playing this game.


The king was a kind and gentle man. He saw how lonely the little princess was, so he took some time away from his work to play with his little girl. She was the apple of his eye, he told her one day. The little princess was so happy that she cried in his arms, deep within she knew she was most loved by her father. As the days grew shorter, the queen became more and more bad-tempered. She didn't know what to do with the princess who always seem to get in her way, so she grabbed hold of anything that she could find and beat her each time she was naughty and defiant. The little princess could run and hide, but she was always found and given a good beating after that. She couldn't understand why the queen was so angry with her.


One day, as the queen started to chase the little princess down the corridors of the royal grounds, the king walked by and saw what had happened. The princess flew behind her father and begged for mercy, asking him to protect her from her angry mother. The king got beaten in the process of protecting his princess, and that got the queen even more mad than ever, but she loved the king dearly...and so she stopped her beating suddenly. The little princess ran into her room crying her heart out...she felt that she hated her brother, but she hated her mother even more..... She hugged her dolls so tightly and fell into a deep sleep.


To be continued !!!!!