THE
GREY PRINCESSby Beth
THE
GREY PRINCESS
by Beth
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess with long flowing red hair. The beautiful princess lived in the grey kingdom. She was in love with a prince, but not just any prince, for if he was just any prince she could marry him there and then (or at least when she was a little older). He was the most beautiful prince in the world, far too beautiful for the kingdom in which the princess dwelled, he lived far away in a world of faeries and pixies and other special beings. The princess dreamed the prince would one day come and take her away from the grey kingdom in which she dwelled, but very rarely did the prince ever manage to free himself from his duties of the fearie world and she missed him badly and longed for the times he came and filled her grey life with colour as only he could. everyday the princess would walk down to the lake at the bottom of her kingdom and swim to see if the prince had left her a message in a bubble in the water, she would find many bubbles in the water and have to pop them all until she found the one from her beautiful prince, which would always make her smile. Some days, the prince would be so busy, he would not be able to send the fish with bubbles from his kingdom and the princess knew this, but tried very hard to be patient and chatted to a few of the fish to make her feel less lonely, but she always had to swim with the fish to chat to them, and this got her wet and every month she found herself with a nasty cold, which could only be cured by her mother's special tea. This was very rare in the grey kingdom and the princess knew that very soon she would have to go out and find her own tea to help her colds. The princess's friends worried about the princess who refused to play with them and spent her days staring out onto the lake, it wasn't that she didn't like her friends, but they were all very grey, many shades of grey, but non the less still grey compared to the prince. She tried very hard to tell them about the colour in the faerie world, but they were all very used to their greyness, colour-blind and didn't like change very much so she quietly hung onto the colours in her head and started wearing coloured bracelets which the kingdom made for children, who could still see colours... these reminded her of her prince. but they still weren't as colourful as they would be in the faerie kingdom. . . The princess loved her prince dearly and missed him so much when he was away, She longed for his kisses that made her cheeks turn pink and her eyes light up... but just thinking about him made her smile inside, so she kept her mind occupied with the most colourful gifts from the grey kingdom she could find or make, and kept her mind occupied by writing little poems and stories of him and her... the problem was, she could never find an end, maybe she thought, one day, when the prince came back to see her, he could help her find a happy ending... the princess felt sleepy, she curled up by the waters edge and closed her eyes, her hand skimming the water, making little ripples, while the fishies swum around with bubbles in their mouths for her. she dreamed in colour, she loved her dreams, but could never remember them when she woke... the prince liked watching her sleep, she lay at the side of the lake, her hand being stroked by the fishies, who nibbled at her grey skin until it revealed her true colours.. but whenever she woke again, her hands would return to grey, as she didn't see her own colours in a conscious state. She woke, and lifted her head from the banks of the river, and as she did, her tiara fell off and sunk to the bottom of the lake... the princess gasped! "oh my tiara, my tiara! what am I going to do?" she burst into tears, each drop falling into the lake, causing a huge storm to brew in the prince's kingdom. the princess knew that she could not rule her kingdom without her tiara. She also knew that she could not swim very well and the storm has caused the water to be quite rough. She dived in to the bottom of the lake and looked for her tiara glistening at the bottom, but as it was grey it did not glisten, and she found herself hopelessly lost, alone in the water. meanwhile, the prince was beckoning his kingdom to higher grounds as he knew that they would drown if they were not stood at the top of the highest peak in the kingdom. the water came in torrents ... and all the people panicked for their lives the princess felt very cold and wet. the lake always looked so beautiful and warm and inviting but once engulfed in the waters below, it was a scary cold world full of darkness and strangers. the storm raged ferociously, the wind and rain beating against the houses in the prince's kingdom. Soon the kingdom became flooded, the prince too busy making sure his people were ok, who were by now at the top of the mountain, got dragged away from his domain in the waters currents... the prince fought against the water, with little effect, until he grew tired of the rain beating against his face and the water dragging him.. he closed his eyes and fell into a sleep. when he woke, he found himself washed up in unfamiliar territory, the rain had stopped but the floods had formed rivers all through the valley. He stood up, and walked a little through the misty forest he found himself in. he came to a clearing in the forest, where he saw a lake, much like the lake the princess had described to him. He sat down beside the lake, and decided to wash himself, as the floods had made him rather muddy.. he washed and as he washed, the little fishies came to greet him. but there were no bubbles.. they swam in a circle around the lake's edge, and seemed to be circling something in particular.. the prince smiled and walked over to where the fish were circling around some rushes. There lying at the waters side was the princess's tiara. the prince gasped, for he knew that without her tiara, the princess could not control the kingdom, and she would not be so careless as to mislay it.. he dived into the water looking for his princess.. .. there lying face down and grey in the water, was his princess the prince rushed over to her and pulled her out of the water to the side of the lake. where she lay, still and lifeless her face more grey than ever, he could not tell if she was dead or alive ---------- .. he stroked her forehead, as cold as stone. he knelt down and kissed her lips.. still she lay there lifeless the prince grew desperate he held his princess tight fearing for the worst, he burst into tears his tears fell onto her face. and instantly it shone bright with colour and she awoke! she shone in beautiful colours which, the prince had never seen before. he cried with delight and kissed her dazed face. she kissed his wet face back and the sun shone over the kingdom. together they cried with delight at being together. Their tears created a rainbow in the sky which lit up the princesses kingdom in beautiful colour ---------- the prince and the princess stood up and fumbled around the fresh world in front of their eyes... they walked through the forest where the birds sang more beautiful songs and the woodland flowers glowed in the bright yellow sun through the forest they came to the newly formed river, and upstream in the distance, on the other side, they could see the prince's kingdom the prince's people coming down from the mountain to greet the beautiful couple. "three cheers for the prince who fought the storm and survived!" they shouted "hip hip hooray! hip hip hooray! hip hip hooray!" "but how am I to reach the other kingdom?" said the prince "the water is too high and strong for me to wade across, and I fear that my princess cannot swim very well" the people of the kingdom, said nothing, and set to work on building a bridge. when they had finished, it was the most glorious, magnificent bridge the princess had ever seen . The prince and princess were delighted, now they never need be apart, they kissed again to more cheers from the growing crowd, of people from both kingdoms! the prince took the princess's hand, and together they walked across the bridge over to the other side, the prince's kingdom and they lived in blissful togetherness, happily ever after THE END ...?