JULIE'S BOOK: THE LITTLE PRINCESS
Long ago, there was a castle with towers taller than church steeples,
with stairs that wound round and around a thousand steps high. And at the
top of one of those towers lived a little princess named Julie.
She had everything that a little princess could want: a crib, a warm
blanket, a thousand steps to run up ad down, a mommy, a daddy, and a thousand
playmates.
This is a step. Color it up and down.
Every night her mother would tell her stories about witches and wicked step-mothers and fair damsels; and Prince Charming how always came to rescue them.
But the Princess wasn't a very happy princess. She wanted to be
Rapunzel or Cinderella or Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. She wanted a wicked
step-mother and a Prince Charming to rescue her.
This is a step-mother. Color her wicked.
Her mother loved her dearly and did everything to make the princess
happy. But the harder her mother tried to please her, the sadder the little
princess became.
All the lucky little princesses, the ones that people told stories about,
had wicked step-mothers, and Prince Charming rescued them and fell in love
with them. And here she was a plain ordinary princess with a mother who
loved her, and she was never miserable, and nobody ever treated her badly
and Prince Charming would never come to rescue her.
This is a tear. Color it never.
Prince Leroy and Princess Mary Jane and Prince James and Prince Ricky
and Prince Raymond and Prince Michael and Prince David and Princess Penny
and Prince Frank and Princess Desire and Prince Chuck and all the princes
and princesses for miles and miles around wanted to play with Princess
Julie. But she didn't want to play with anybody.
She shut herself up in the top of the tower, and she wouldn't let her
mommy tell her stories, and she wouldn't even curl up in her crib with
her blanket. She just sat on the stone ledge by her window an watched and
waited. She'd make herself the most miserable little princess in the whole
world, and Prince Charming would come galloping up on his white charger
and carry her off to Neverneverland.
Neverneverland and Everydayland.
Since the little princess wouldn't come down to the courtyard to play, her mother sent playmates up to the top of the tower.
But son all the princes and princesses got tired of just sitting
in the top of the tower and watching Princess Julie wait for Prince Charming.
All except Prince Chuck. Chuck liked to talk to the little princess.
"You mean you know how to make Prince Charming come to rescue you? I
always wanted to meet Prince Charming. I mean I always wanted to find out
where he got that white charger and shiny armor and how he finds fair damsels
to rescue. and maybe if I wait here with you, and Prince Charming comes
to rescue you, he'll tell me where I can find a fair damsel to rescue who'll
fall in love with me and live happily ever after."
Then one morning, just after the milkman and the breadman, Prince Charming
arrived.
The little princess was so excited she didn't know what to say or do.
So Chuck did the talking, "Hello, Prince Charming. Where did you get that
white charger and that shiny armor?"
"Jordan Marsh. They were on sale. Just $10.98. Regularly $15.45."
So Chuck ran off to Jordan Marsh to buy a white charger and shiny armor,
and Prince Charming rode off to Neverneverland with Princess Julie.
The next day, Chuck rode all up and down Everydayland, showing off his
white charger and his shiny armor.
This is Prince Chuck. Color the helmet cheap and shiny.
But the armor was a bit tight and very heavy, and his bottom was sore
from riding all day. Besides, he had forgotten to ask how to find fair
damsels in distress.
This is a bottom. Color it sore.
And after all, there was no reason to go riding around with shiny armor
on a white charger unless you had a fair damsel to rescue.
Then an old hag with one magic eye drove up Main Street in a VW. She
stopped next to Chuck an told him, "Sonny, if you're looking for fair damsels,
(and I don't know what else you'd be doing in that get-up), there are hundreds
of them in Neverneverland at Prince Charming's castle."
Suddenly, it occurred to Chuck that Prince Charming had been rescuing
damsels for years and years and taking them to Neverneverland. If he were
a nice price, he would have rescued only one damsel, or two, or three.
But he had rescued hundreds and hundreds. What could he want with hundreds
and hundreds of damsels, unless he was an ogre or something. After all,
how many kids can a guy play with at a time?
So Chuck galloped off to Neverneverland and galloped right up to the
gate of Prince Charming's castle.
This is Prince Charming's castle. Color it nevernever.
Prince Charming walked out in his pajamas, and he looked very very tired.
But Chuck showed no mercy. He said, "Prince Charming, I demand that you
free Princess Julie this very instant."
Suddenly, Prince Charming looked very very happy. "Why don't you take
the rest of them, too? This is a terrible job rescuing damsels all the
time. But the worst of it is that they just sit there in my castle and
jabber away with each other and play dolls and things. I'm not as young
as I used to be. I just can't take it anymore. In all these years, you're
the first guy who ever asked for one of them back. Please take her. You're
welcome to her and to as many others as you want."
These are Prince Charming's pajamas. Color them tired and wrinkled.
But Chuck only wanted Princess Julie. He picked her up, put her on his
white charger and rode off with her back to Everydayland.
Chuck was very happy because he had rescued a fair damsel. He told everybody
all about it, time and again.
But the little princess was very very sad because she missed all the friends and dolls and things at Prince Charming's castle. And she was very, very mad at Chuck for taking her away from all that.
Ever after that, she did everything she could to make herself
the most miserable little princess in the whole world so Prince Charming
would rescue her again and carry her off again to Neverneverland.
But in spite of everything she did to make herself miserable, she lived
happily ever after.
This is the Little Princess. Color her happily ever after.
