Fairytale...

Haven't written prose in a while so I decided to write this real quick for the Once upon a time Fairytale contest...

     Once upon a time there was a castle that floated high up on a cloud. The king who ruled it had a daughter, and though his subjects regarded her with much distaste, he saw no wrong in her. When she was a child he spoiled her, importing anything she could ask for, no matter how whimsical, without question (as you can imagine, this must have been quite expensive as they lived on a cloud). She had everything she could wish for, and still she asked for more.
     As the princess reached her teenage years instead of maturing, things grew worse. She grew moody and filled with angst, and soon realized what power she had. She soon had every servant in the castle under her thumb. They were powerless to disobey her, however ridiculous her request. As punishment for failing to submit, they would be shoved off the edge of the cloud.
     One day the princess was walking around the castle and came across a staircase leading to the dungeons. She was on her way down when her father came across her, and for the first time in her life, he refused her something.
     "You cannot go down there, my daughter. Dangers lurk around every corner."
     "But father, I want to!" she whined. "I will make a knight go with me, and if he is killed I will have time to run."
     "I am sorry. It is too dangerous for a princess."
     With that the princess stormed up to her room and refused to speak to anyone for the rest of the night.
     The sun set and the moon rose, and soon everyone in the castle was asleep- except the princess. In the dead of night she crept from her room and made her way to the staircase leading to the dungeons. She entered, hardly daring to breath, and walked slowly around the first corner. She saw nothing, and so advanced farther and farther into the dungeons. Eventually she decided that nothing was out there, and let out a laugh.
     "That silly old man! There's no danger here at all!"
     No sooner had she finished speaking than a deep, rumbling roar echoed from the deepest caverns of the dungeon. The princess started running back the way she had came, but she soon lost her way in the endless maze of tunnels. As she ran, the rumbling got louder, and she started seeing bright bursts of light from behind her. Moments later she looked behind her shoulder, only to be sent tumbling down the passage.
     When she could next see clearly she found herself in the jaws of a giant purple dragon! He was carrying her up the stairs and into the castle. The princess screamed as loudly as she could, but no one would wake and save her. She was carried out of the castle by the great beast and set down no more than five feet from the edge of the cloud. The princess stood, dusted herself off, and proceeded to howl and shriek at the beast for several long minutes. All the time the dragon was sitting on his haunches, staring at her. When she finally ran out of breath he took one long last look at her, took in a breath and blew the princess off the cloud.
     The great dragon then returned to the dungeon and went back to sleep. No one ever found the princess, and no one was ever bothered by the dragon again.

Reviews

[Pinki Girl]

This story is very simple yet I'm sure young kids and teens can relate in a realistic way. It teaches them to listen to your elders and learn to not ask for everything in the world. My only critic is the last paragraph (not last two sentences) the first 6 or so words were a bit confusing to read, but otherwise the story is understandable and a simple fairy tale with a moral.

[Ruminating Archaeologis..]

:) One of these day's we'll get together a book of crack children's tales and bury it in a closet or something and our teenage kids will find it and ask what the heck we were on ^^. I would laugh so hard :D heheh.