The Princess and the Dragon

Dedicated to my little sister Shula.

    Once upon a time, there was a princess named Angella.  Angella lived in a castle all by herself.  The castle was really big and it had a swimming pool and lots of games to play.  She had lots of pretty dresses and jewels and lots of gold too.  There was only one problem; the princess was lonely.
    No one ever came to visit her in her castle.  The princess had never had any friends and her parents had died a long time ago.  Angella knew she should be thankful for all the things that she did have, but that was very hard to do.
    One day, a Dragon came to Angella's castle!  He wasn't very big but he was very scary.  He had an ugly face that was covered in red scales.  He breathed fire and his name was Maxwell.  He did not seem to be very nice.  She tried to get him out of her castle, but he only laughed in her face and threatened to burn her with fire.
    Angella was very angry with him, but she was too afraid to talk to him.  She didn't even know why he was there.  Sometimes Dragons kidnapped princesses, but they didn't do it unless there was a prince that wanted to marry her, and she didn't think any princes knew where she lived.
    Maxwell moved into a bedroom right next to the kitchen.  It was the most fireproof bedroom in the house so Angella didn't try to argue with him.
    One night, Angella went downstairs to get a glass of milk from the kitchen.  She couldn't sleep and that is what she always did when she couldn't sleep.  On the way back from the kitchen, she had to go by the Dragon's bedroom.  To her surprise, she could hear Maxwell crying.
    Angella went inside the room to see what was wrong.  The Dragon lay on his bed with a huge handkerchief over his face.  Maxwell was furious.  He yelled at her, saying she had better get out or else he would breathe fire at her and burn her really badly.  Angella sped out the door.
    Later, when Angella thought about what had happened, she realized she wasn't really afraid of the Dragon anymore.  She decided that tomorrow she would try to become his friend.  Maybe maxwell was lonely too.  She stayed up for a long time thinking about what she could do to become friends with Maxwell.  She fell asleep with a smile on her face.
    She woke up early the next morning.  She snuck past Maxwell's room into the kitchen and made him pancakes, a colossal amount of pancakes.  She couldn't forget how sorry she had felt for him when he was crying.  Angella didn't like to see anyone cry.
    When she gave Maxwell his pancakes, he grunted at her and didn't say thank you, but Angella thought he looked a little nicer and happier than he had the day before.
    Angella worked very hard to become Maxwell's friend.  Sometimes she baked him chocolate chip cookies.  Once, she even baked him a cake and gave him a birthday party!  Maxwell liked that.  He told her he had never had a birthday party before.  His parents didn't believe in birthday parties.
    They began to stay up late into the night talking to each other.  Sometimes they would talk about silly things, like clothespins and slugs and cabbage.  Other times they talked about themselves, their favorite colours and favorite foods.  They started talking about deeper things, like their hopes and dreams, the things they were afraid of and the things they loved.  They would also tell stories and sing songs.
    One day, Angella realized that she and Maxwell were not just friends, but best friends.  She also realized that she was old enough to get married.  She needed to get married so she could have children who would take care of the castle after she died, and besides, she really wanted to.  She didn't know how to find someone to marry.  She didn't know anyone but Maxwell.
    "Oh, if only Maxwell were human, I could marry him!"  Angella heard a noise behind her.  She turned around and there stood Maxwell.  She wondered if he had heard what she said.
    That night, Angella and Maxwell had dinner in the big ball room instead of the kitchen.  It was Maxwell's idea.  Angella didn't have any idea why he would want to.
    "I have something to show you," Maxwell said.  Then he took off a dragon mask to reveal that he was actually a human, just like her!
    Angella was very surprised.  "You are a human?" she asked.
    "Yes, I wanted to find a girl to marry who was different from all the other girls.  My real name is Prince Joshua.  All the girls I met wanted to marry me because I was a prince and had lots of gold and jewels.  I wanted a girl who would marry me because she loved me and liked to talk to me.  I was crying that night in the bedroom because I thought you were just like all the rest.  I didn't want you to know who I was.  That is why I chased you out.  I am sorry if I scared you."
    "That's ok," Angella said.  "I forgive you."
    "Thank you.  Anyway, then I found out you wanted to by my friend.  Now I want to marry you.  Will you marry me?
    Angella smiled and said yes.
    So they got married.  They lived in Angella's castle and had lots of kids.  They lived happily ever after.

Author's Note

Bear in mind, I wrote this for a six-year-old who was just catching on to the reading thing. I know the language is simplistic and the plot is weird. I wrote it that way on purpose.

Reviews

[Jim Clarke]

This is a masterful fairy tale for a six year old, and I especially love the moral message here about the values of companionship and the virtue of forgiveness. Superb!

[Martina]

Lolz very good *clapping* if you wrote this for a six year old then bravo! Though some words in it were a bit big for a six year old like "colossal" but that doesn't matter because I loved it!

[Kaitlin W. Blaylock]

Very creative. I like it. It was a wonderful thing to do for your sister, I'm sure she enjoyed it most of all. Cute ^_^

[Rebecca Chamaillard]

Very cute. I would totally buy a copy to read to my daughter! Children don't require variations of the same word to be pleased with a story, and I think this Leah has really presented a wonderful moral for young children, doing so in a manner that is not confusing or misleading. I love the story, I think it's great for kids. Better than Grimm's, I'd say Aesop's Fables. Job well done.

[Moonlight]

Really cute story! Although if you wrote it for a six year-old, I think you've used pretty big words, such as
colossal
Otherwise, I think this is good enough to have a part in the original stories by the Brothers Grimm!

[jmt8921]

I liked it :) It was funny, and I think that Maxwell is an excellent name for a dragon. I like that all he had to do was wear a mask to fool the princess... or maybe it was a magic mask that helped him change shape. I think I'll like it better if I remember it as just a really clever mask. There was one part at the beginning though, "The castle was really big," I dunno. It just doesn't sound very fairy taley... I think if it was read aloud, it might sound okay, but just reading through the story, it's kinda distracting, I'd consider using enormous, or something like that instead. Also, it seems like there are a lot of "very's", especially at the beginning, that ya don't really need... Anyway. Go You!