Bedtime - A Short Story Anthology

The Princess and the Lie Monster

The Princess and the Lie Monster

By AmyLance

Once upon a time, a young princess told a lie.

Princess Isobel was in the third grade and she attended school like any normal child in the kingdom. The King and Queen didn't want Isobel to be treated differently from anyone else.

One day her teacher, Miss Young, brought cupcakes for everyone.

"Princesses get two cupcakes," Isobel said.

"Even princesses get one." Miss Young said.

Miss Young called each student to the table to get a cupcake. Isobel was impatient for her turn. When it was finally her turn she couldn't decide between the pink and purple cupcake. She wanted both! So, Isobel took one of each!

She quickly ate the pink one when nobody was looking but took the purple one back to her seat.

After all the students had their cupcakes, Miss Young, went to the table to get a cupcake for herself but they were all gone. Someone ate Miss Young's cupcake.

"Isobel, did you take two cupcakes?" Miss Young asked.

"No," Isobel lied, "You said even princesses only get one cupcake."

"I did say that." Miss Young agreed before asking the class if anyone took an extra cupcake. But nobody took responsibility.

"Class it is always better, to tell the truth. A lie can sometimes have a life of its own, growing out of control. Whoever took the extra cupcake please take responsibility." Miss Young looked long and hard at Isobel. But the princess sat upright in her chair with her hands folded on her desk never admitting to what she did.

Later that night as Princess Isobel started to drift to sleep she thought about her twin cupcakes. She thought about how Miss Young was wrong for saying princesses shouldn't have more cupcakes than anyone else! Princess Isobel was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she almost didn't hear the sound coming from beneath her bed.

"Princesssssss," a soft voice whispered under her bed. Princess Isobel crawled out of her king-sized bed and peeked underneath her pink bed skirt. It was so tiny that she didn't see it at first. A monster hid under her bed! He had green eyes and sharp teeth, white fur that reminded her of a snowball but purple lips.

"You're a cute monster. I think I'll keep you." Isobel said. The monster smiled licking his purple lips with his pink tongue.

***

Unlike normal kids, Princess Isobel had to go to princess training after school three days a week. The next day her nanny picked her up from school. "Are you ready to go to princess training." Sylvia, the nanny, asked.

"Princess training was canceled." Princess Isobel lied.

"Really?" Sylvia asked. "Nobody told me."

"Ms. Brimsey said that I was doing very well in princess training and that I deserved a day off." Isobel lied some more.

"Are you sure?" Sylvia asked. "Ms. Brimsey didn't mention this to me."

"Princesses don't lie." Princess Isobel lied.

Sylvia smiled at her charge. "Of course, they don't. Princesses know the dangers of lying."

"Dangers?" Isobel asked.

"You know how one lie becomes three and they start snowballing out of control until the lies almost have a life of their own," Sylvia explained.

"Oh right," Isobel said. She had just told Sylvia three lies but it was worth it not to go to princess training. They never had cupcakes at princess training.

Isobel spent the rest of the day playing in her room and when the King and Queen came in to wish her a good night they were shocked at the at the mess Isobel made.

"Isobel. You're in the third grade now. So that means you need to keep a tidy room." Her mother said.

"Tomorrow, you will clean this on your own." Her father proclaimed.

Isobel reluctantly agreed. But she didn't want to clean her room by herself. She was a princess after all!

After her parents left Isobel heard something giggling from under the bed. She excitedly crawled under the bed to look at her cute monster.

She didn't quite expect the creature that stared back at her. He grew three times his size from yesterday. Isobel clambered out from underneath her bed, wondering how her monster could have gotten so big in such a short amount of time.

***

The next day, Princess Isobel decided that she did not want to clean her room, so she found the butler, Jarvis.

"The King and Queen said that you must clean my room," Isobel said.

"You wouldn't be lying to me, now would you, Princess?" The butler asked. "You know what happens when you lie?"

"Lies snowball as if they take on a life of their own, yada, yada, yada." Princess Isobel said.

"Well then I guess I'll start cleaning your room," Jarvis said giving the princess a salute.

Later that night the King and Queen inspected Isobel's room, both pleased by how well she cleaned it.

"Did you do this all by yourself?" The King asked.

"Of course." As Isobel lied she heard a sharp laugh behind her. She spun around and faced her monster. The snowball monster grew, but her parents ignored it for only Isobel could see the monster.

"You must have worked really hard on this." The Queen said.

"I did." Isobel watched the monster grow with her lie. His teeth became longer, and his purple lips turned darker.

"Tell another lie, princess. It's fun." The monster hissed.

"Mom, Dad, Jarvis cleaned my room for me," Isobel told the truth.

Her parents gasped in disbelief and the monster began to shrink! "No!" He yelled.

Isobel continued to tell the truth. "I didn't go to princess training and I ate two cupcakes but told everyone I ate one."

"We will discuss it in the morning." The King said. Her parents left Princess Isobel alone in her room. Since she told the truth the lie monster was gone forever, and from that day forward, Princess Isobel vowed to never lie again.+

The end.