The Once Upon A Time Princess

The Princess and the Ogre

Once upon a time, there was a princess named Leona. She was a very pretty little girl but her father, the King spoiled her and she became a mean little girl.

When she would misbehave, her father would laugh and say, “Oh, she's just a little girl having a little fun. What's the harm in that?”

Well, the harm is that spoiled little girls grow up to be be spoiled big girls. They refuse to do their work and they don't study their letters and numbers. Then they tend to do nothing but make noise.

One day, Princess Leona was making lots of noise and just being a general nuisance to everyone.

“I'm going for a walk in the woods,” stated one of her maids who had had too much of a misbehaving little girl.

“No!” yelled Leona, “I'm going for a walk in the woods! You stay here and clean up this mess!”

“Yes, your highness,” replied the maid, curtseying.

Princess Leona stormed out of the room while the maids began to clean up her mess. She fumed as she went down the stairs and out of the castle. At the castle gate, the guards stopped her.

“Excuse us, Princess,” said one, “could you tell us where you are going?”

“I'm going for a walk in the woods. Now get out of my way!” she hollered.

“Princess, would you like one of us to go with you as a guide?” asked the guard.

“No! I'm a big girl and I can do whatever I want,” she growled, then ran out the gate.

She ran and she ran. Into the woods, she ran.

Some time later, she slowed to a walk but she was still fuming and growling, not paying attention to where she was going. A little later, she stopped and looked around. Immediately, she realized that she had never been here before and that she was lost. Momentarily, she panicked, then she said to herself, “I'll just go back the way I came.”

She turned around and started walking back. After a while, she came to an intersection. She didn't remember the intersection. There was a sign post with words on arrows but because she hadn't studied her letters, she didn't know what they meant. She looked at the signpost. She looked down all four roads but to her they all looked the same. She didn't know what to do, so, after a while she picked one.

“This looks like the right one,” she stated confidently. But it wasn't the right one.

She walked for a while. She ran for a while. She walked again, all the while, getting more and more frightened. Eventually, the sun set and it was a dark, moonless night. After she walked into a tree, she decided to stop. She curled up in a ball at the base of the tree. She was tired, sore, hungry and thirsty. The night sounds of the forest kept her awake but eventually she fell asleep.

She woke to a sound. The sun had risen but not much. She looked around and saw a small deer.

“Don't eat me!” she screamed and down the road she ran.

After a while, she found a small brook. She scooped up some water and had a drink. This quenched her thirst but made her more hungry. She spied a berry bush, then went and tasted one. Immediately, she spat it out because it was very bitter. She drank more water until she was full. She walked some more.

She walked most of the day. Still nothing looked familiar. Towards dusk, she came upon another intersection. Again, there was a sign post with words on arrows pointing in all directions.

She sat down in the middle of the intersection and she cried. She had been crying for a while when she heard a noise. She went and hid in the bushes. Darkness set in. She fell asleep waiting for whatever had made the noise.