THE CLOWN PRINCE
By Macolm Carrick
Once there was a prince who was very unhappy, nothing ever made him laugh or smile. No matter how many clowns or minstrels the king brought to the palace, the prince just sat sadly sighing.
They tried everything to brighten him up: circuses from far-off places, acrobats, parties and dances, but the princes's face remained sad and glum. The king and the court all lvoed the prince and as he became more unhappy, so did they.
The people of the country all grew sadwhen they heard how unhappy their prince was, soon the whole country was very quiet and sad. No one sang or danced and the children forgot how to play.
when the prince saw he was making everyone unhappy, he decided to go away, so one day he rode off. Across the land, through cities and villages he travelled, looking for happiness but he found only sadness in the land.
finally he came to a dark forest. 'This place looks as unhappy as I am,' he thought as he rode through it. Soon he came by a very old man sitting by a statue of a girl. the old man told the prince that the statue was really his daughter, hwo had long ago been turned into stone by a wicked witch and could only come alive again when everyone in the land smiled and was happy.
When the prince saw how beautiful the stone girl was his heart sank.
"Everyone is unhappy in the land," he sighed "and it is all because of me. How can people find happiness?"
"That is no secret," said the old man "to be happy yourself you must make others happy."
The prince had never thought of this because he expected other people to make him happy, so he decided to try it there and then.
He took off his princely robes and tried to make the careworn old man smile. the prince looked so odd, tumbling around with his long, sad face that the old man soon smiled and laughed as he had not done for many years. Glancing at the statue, the prince saw tiny cracks around the girl's mouth where the stone was trying to smile.
The prince felt a thrill in his heart.
"I see how to make others happy," he said "I will go through the land until all the people smile, but I shall never be happy until your daughter is real again because I love her."
The prince went off, telling the old man he would return when he had broken the spell. On his journey he charmed the animals of the forest with his antics, and sang such tunes that long after he had gone the animals were still singing and playing in the sun.
The prince went into villages full of sad people; with his tricks and antics and his long, sad face he looked so strange that soon everyone was laughing at him , and when they had remembered how to laugh, the prince played such games and sung such wonderful songs that the people became happy again and laughed whenever they thought of him .
The prince loved to see the people happy, but he did not feel the same thrill as when the statue had tried to smile.
As he went through the country his fame spread. Whole towns came to see him and went away singing and dancing. He wore strange clothes and taught others how to clown and jest but no one could look as funny as the prince with his long sad face.
So the country became the happiest place in the world. When everyone was happy and smiling the clown prince thought 'now the statue will be real.'
He went back to the forest and found the old man still sitting by the statue.
"Why is she still stone?" asked the prince.
The old man shook his head and said
"There must be one person in the land who is still unhappy."
The prince went searching for the unhappy person. He travelled far and wide, but found only happiness; then he received a summons to the palace to make the king laugh.
When he arrived he realised it was the king who was keeping the spell from being broken, because he was sad. Yet no amount of the clowns antics could cheer him up.
"Why are you so sad, King?" he asked.
"Because my son the unhappy prince has never returned," the king told the clown. Then the clown prince took off his hood and the make-up from his face, and showed the king who he really was; that made the king very happy. So the prince went back again to the forest.
He found the old man, and the statue. But the beautiful girl was still locked in stone.
"Why is she still a statue?" the prince cried to the old man. "I've made everyone in the kingdom smile."
"There must still be one who isn't smiling," the old man said.
The prince wandered through the forest. 'who can he be?' he thought, and sat by a lake to think. The prince then saw his own reflection in the water : his solemn, sad face stared at him.
"It's me," he cried. " I am the only one who has never smiled. because I couldn't be happy until the spell was broken."
So the prince laughed at himself and broke the spell. Rushing back, he found the statue cracking and becoming a real girl.
The prince took her and the father home. The king married them and they lived in the happiest land in the world.
If ever anyone was sad, the prince would put on the clown's clothes and his long face and soon had them laughing again. So he became known as the clown prince.