My Fairy Tale
There was a little girl who lived in a crystal palace, where
everything was bright and clear. The wind made pretty sounds as it
played in the halls. The wind called the little girl "Marcy" and
the little girl called the wind "Dan".
One day, Marcy went into a cave to get some cookies she helped the
troll put in a cookie jar there. The lid of the jar was very heavy
and it slipped out of her hand and broke in two. The sound woke the
troll. Enraged, the troll knocked Marcy to the ground and jumped on
her.
Marcy was very scared and did her best not to make the troll angry,
but the troll was always angry. So, Marcy stopped living in the
crystal palace and stayed in the cave all the time, working hard to
make the troll happy.
The days went by and Marcy became weak and pale. She did everything
she could think of to make the troll happy, but nothing worked. Marcy
began to realize that she was dying inside.
Then one day, a sunbeam came inside the cave to find Marcy. Marcy
looked at the sunbeam with tears in her eyes, for she no longer had
the strength to play with him. But the sunbeam wouldn't go away. It
begged her to follow him. Marcy didn't want to go - she was afraid to
leave the troll. The sunbeam tickled her nose and made her smile.
Marcy began to feel stronger, but she still was very weak.
The sunbeam played little games with Marcy to make her smile. The more
Marcy smiled, the stronger she became. Soon, Marcy began to stand up
straight and walk around. This scared the troll and it tried to make
her weak again, but the sunbeam warmed her heart and kept her strong.
Stronger now, Marcy saw that living in the cave with the troll was
killing her. She needed more than just the sunbeam to stay alive. So,
she snuck out of the cave with the sunbeam while the troll was asleep.
Outside of the cave, the sunbeam was join by several other sunbeams
who had missed Marcy a great deal. The sunbeams hugged Marcy and
dragged her away from the cave, before the troll could stop her from
leaving.
The sunbeams took Marcy to a golden stairway and told her to climb it.
As she climbed, she felt hungry. Dan, the wind, blew a basket of food
to her and told to eat. Marcy ate the food and her body began to heal
itself.
Marcy climbed higher up the golden stairway, before she hurt her foot.
The sunbeams made her sit down and bandaged her foot. Marcy didn't want
to sit still, but the sunbeams insisted.
Once her foot was better, Marcy started climbing again. She climbed
quickly because she wanted to make up the time she lost while waiting
for her foot to heal. She pushed herself to exhaustion and slipped off
the golden stairway.
The clouds caught Marcy and gently scolded her for her foolishness.
They told her to go to sleep and let her body rejuvenate itself. Marcy
curled up on top of the clouds and went to sleep.
When Marcy woke up, the clouds took her back to the stairway and she
started climbing again. Dan told her that it didn't matter when she made
it to the top, as long as she kept climbing.
Marcy listened to Dan. She made sure she ate when she was hungry and
slept when she was tired. She grew stronger and felt happier.
One day, Marcy found a lost kitten. She carried the kitten as she
climbed. She gave the kitten most of her food, but there was not
enough for both of them and soon Marcy was weak. A seagull landed on
the stairway in front of her, blocking her path.
"Why do you feed the kitten so much, when you are the one climbing?" it
asked.
"Because the kitten was hungry," Marcy answered.
"But you need the food more. The kitten is too small to make it
without you. If you starve yourself, you cannot help the kitten."
"Won't the kitten starve?" Marcy asked.
"No, because you will be able to find more food if you are stronger."
Marcy thought about it and realized that the seagull was right. She
began to eat more and became strong enough to find food for herself
and the kitten.
When Marcy reaches the top of the golden stair case, she ia surprised to find herself in
front of the cave again. The troll is in the entrance, yelling at her to take care of it.
"No," she says, "for I see now that by doing everything for you, I have made you too weak
to face the sun and without the sun, you will become sick and die."
"I don't need the sun," harrumphed the troll. "You are suppose to take care of me and
make me happy."
"I cannot make you happy. Only you can make yourself happy. Only you can make yourself
well again."
"But I will be all alone!"
"If you behave yourself, I will visit and make cookies with you. But I belong in the
crystal palace with my kitten. I cannot live in the cave with you."
With that, Marcy went back to the crystal palace and went about putting it back in order.
Dan blew out all the trash that had settled in it and the kitten helped Marcy to polish
everything. The Marcy decided to decorate the palace with plants.
Several months later, the troll came to the crystal palace for a visit. It was amazed at
how beautiful everything looked. Marcy invited the troll to dinner. Though dinner went
relatively well, the troll was still inconsiderate and coarse. After dinner, the troll
asked if it could live with Marcy in her palace.
"No," Marcy said. "This is my palace and although you are welcome to visit, you cannot
live here with me. If you wish, I can give you some cuttings from some of my plants and
you can grow them in your cave. Just make sure they get enough water and sunshine and
your cave can be beautiful on its own."
The troll was not happy, but it left because it knew that Marcy would never take care of
it again. Marcy, Dan, the kitten, the sunbeams, and the clouds lived happily and the
troll found someone else to take care of it.