Rise To The Crown- The Story of the Third-In-Line

*Fourteen (2008.3)

As the spring is right before our doorsteps, the small leaves begin to grow. Delly and Louise were motivated by their parents to do some leaf painting. Leaf painting is the product of the combination of creativity and imagination given to us by nature. It shows lifelike characters andanimals and beautiful scenery through leaves, which in my eyes is comparable to works of art.       

The first thing to do is to come up with a good pattern. How about a small fish? No, too ordinary, how about butterflies? No, too simple, how about birds? No, it is not special enough, let's make a dancing girl! Louise suggested.

Louise used rhododendron leaves for the hair, safflower wood for the headgear, coat, and shoes, and willow leaves for the hands and legs, using an octagonal gold plate as a skirt. Louise turned the petiole up, it really looks like a little girl's skirt. Its slender and long petiole is dragged behind like a small braid. Looking down from the top, you can see a clear vein that is thinner than a needle, spreading out in all directions along the main stalk. 

The leaves use brilliant colors to decorate the big trees. The leaves use large leaves and another leaf to applaud, "Huahuahua, Huahuahua" With a gush of strong wind, some of the newly grown weak leaves turned into butterflies and fell from the sky, drawing beautiful arcs. In that instant, it saw the beauty of the world, heard the call of the birds, and at the same time completed its mission. 

There was a slight sound, like a soft sigh, mixed with a lot of reluctance and helplessness. Indeed, Ye's life is so short, it has not yet enjoyed the most glorious moment of life, but it is about to decline.

Some of the stronger leaves fluttered lightly from the shackles of wind. The trail of its movement is not fast, it is extremely soothing, and it is also extremely firm. 

A small leaf appears humble and insignificant in your eyes, even insignificant, but in Delly's eyes, leaves are the joy of spring, the lushness of summer, the scenery of autumn, and the aftertaste of winter. The flying leaves visited the red sorghum, greeted the yellow corn, congratulated the green cabbage... It left its footprints everywhere in the fields.
Delly held a pine needle in her hands, it looked like a silver needle it is ground with green jade. 
The color of the leaves is difficult to express in words, deep red, dark red, like red but not red, like green but not green, red mixed with green, green with red, all in all, it contains various There are various levels of red and green, although there are many colors, though they are blended harmoniously. If it is too much, it will be too bright, and if it is too small, it will be too light. This is difficult for any painter to achieve. 

Delly thought the green maple leaf is like a small hand, and each finger is full of serrations. The ends of the leaves are very red and pointed as if the red in the leaves would flow out if they were pierced there. Its veins are very clear, extending from the petiole to the leaves, like an interesting painting.

 Delly wanted to make a lively and cute bunny. She first found a big and round leaf, which she called "apple leaf" to be the body of the bunny, and then found a maple leaf with only the longest leaf and petiole, and the rest were used as feet, and then found A small "apple leaf" came for its head.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Suddenly, Delly noticed a plant whose fruit is round, which is very suitable for the rabbit's tail. In the end, only the eyes are left undecided, what should I do? Delly looked up, ah! She can use the round and red effect in a peach-shaped plant, right? 

She immediately called mommy to help her pluck that fruit and arranged it into the shape of a little rabbit.

Then Delly looked at the little rabbit and thought: Will it be lonely? I must find it a friend.

Thinking so, she looked to Louise's art of a ballerina, pretending that her bunny is asking Louise's ballerina to be its friend. 

"Louisy, do you want to become a ballerina?" 

"Yes! I do because when they spin it's beautiful! Mommy, can Delly take ballet classes with me?"

Sophie said some things but dodges the question, looking to Delly's parents for an answer.

Delly continues, "papa, Louisy wants to be a ballerina, if she is a ballerina, I want to be one Papa!"

William overflooded her with promises, but it was never fulfilled. Delly began to think this time of why she wasn't allowed to do the same thing that Louise was doing.

                                                                                                                                                                      Delly and Louise spent days together, they ate the same foods, drank the same drinks, played the same games, and even sometimes slept on the same bumpy bed together for afternoon naps. Delly simply could not understand the difference between her and her best friend and therefore was unable to come up with a legitimate reason for her papa to not allow her to do what Louise is doing and apparently loving. 

Maybe, it was because Louise is a bit older than me, Delly thought, maybe when I am as old as Louise, papa would let me do ballet. Delly knew it was an excuse. Her papa has always been very open and direct with her in terms of communication if there was something she wasn't supposed to eat or somewhere she wasn't allowed to go to, her parents, especially her papa made sure that she understands why it was for her own good and not just a rule she has to follow. Her papa always gave her reasons. 

But this time, there were no reasons, no explanations, not one single thing, not one single word was said about the matter.

Dancing and ballet were too scandalous for the firm, especially given that Princess Diana loved to dance. It would leave certain members of the firm with a very very bad taste in their mouth if another royal did the same.                              

                                                                                                                                                                   It did hurt every inch of her papa William's body to have to close a door of a possibility of his daughter's future. But he had to, he had no choice.

Delly didn't know about her father's feelings, as he didn't want to express it to her. He and Catherine, up to this point have raised their daughter to think that she was the same as any other girl, for example, Louise.

But, here comes a moment somewhere in the March of Delly's second year on earth when she realized that she and her best friend were different. Very different.

Delly would later recall that moment as a time of great helplessness.

Later in life when Adelaide meets dejection or sadness, there is always a way for her to change it. Have a hard time getting along with someone? Well, maybe be kinder to them, or in the worst case, don't talk to them. There is always something she can do to make the situation better.

What made this situation helpless and made her hopeless was the fact that her clever 2-year-old self vaguely realized the difference between her and Louise was something innate, given, and unchangeable.

She was to become a queen, not a ballerina. And it wasn't her choice at all.