Theme: Happiness

The sad princess

	Once upon a time, a princess lived in a large castle, in a very rich and festive kingdom. However, she was not happy. She was a good girl, but she had a problem: she used to see precious things as
they were worthless.

The princess had magnificent dresses, made of fine fabrics and embroidered by hand with precious stones. But for her, her clothes were nothing special. She was not enchanted with anything and thought she was poorly dressed and ugly. From time to time, she cried because of it, which made everyone worried about her.

The king, trying to cheer up his daughter, called her to see the richness of the palace and show how privileged she was.

He took the princess to the treasure room, which was a secret place, protected by many guards. There were several chests full of jewelry, gold, priceless works of art and lots of money.

The king, smiling when he saw his enormous wealth, turned to his daughter, hoping to find admiration and joy in her. However, the girl showed no positive reaction. It was as if she saw the room empty.

The king, outraged, then said:

- How can you not see that we are very rich, that you have the best things in the world? You just live sad, thinking you don't have enough.

- I'm sorry, Dad, I don't want to upset you. But these things are what I really hoped we would have. So, I was not surprised.

The father took his daughter back and, disappointed, told the queen what had happened. She then wanted to give a try as well.

- Perhaps our daughter does not give importance to material goods. I'll take her to know better our gardens - she said.

And so, she did. She took the princess along wonderful paths formed by vegetation. Together, they walked through gardens with leafy trees where several birds lived. There were also flower beds and an arbor with a waterfall ahead.

- Listen, dear, how pleasant the noise of the water is. I often come here to observe nature and refill my energy. If you want, you can always come with me, so that together we can enjoy this wonder.

- Oh, no, thanks, Mom. I prefer to stay in my room.

The mother realized that her daughter had also failed to appreciate the palace's charming gardens.

Time passed, and the princess was always sad, unmotivated, thinking she had nothing special.

One day, a neighbor kingdom attacked his father's kingdom. There was a lot of confusion on the streets and in the palace. The royal family had to flee, in haste, to save themselves.

The king, queen and princess went to a simple little house, on a mountain, to be hidden from enemies.

The princess, who previously had everything, suddenly went on to have a very simple life: without dresses, without wealth, without servants to do the services. She needed to help clean the house and prepare the food.

And she also had to go out and collect fruits and seeds to help the family survive, even though she was afraid of being discovered. These were difficult times, not only materially, but emotionally as well, as the uncertainty of what the future would be like, it was causing them great suffering.

But the family stayed together, giving each other strength.

One fine day, they saw knights approaching the mountain, heading towards their little house. They were terrified, thinking that they had been discovered, but realized that they were soldiers from their own kingdom who arrived with the great news that the invaders had been defeated.

Now, the royal family could safely return to the palace. The king and queen embraced, touched. The princess jumped and screamed with joy.

On the same day, they returned to the palace. Many things were different. The gardens were neglected, and the valuables had been looted. The princess, however, found the palace huge and beautiful. She was extremely happy to walk down the garden path to the palace. She almost wept with emotion when she saw her room again, thinking everything was wonderful.

She didn't even notice it at the time, but she was healed. From that day on, she started to appreciate everything she had, thanking her parents and God, and she became very happy.

Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com

marcelapradacontato@gmail.com