continued from yesterday......
One late summer evening the King held a great ball. Everyone in the kingdom was invited to attend, and although the little princess was too young to dance down in the great hall she looked forward to the evening with much excitement.
When the day arrived she put on her prettiest dress. It had a buttercup-yellow silk overskirt, tied with a yellow ribbon that hung down over a cream underskirt. Short, puffed sleeves were also tied with yellow ribbons. The little princess tied a matching yellow ribbon in her long dark hair, and thought she looked very pretty when she stood in front of her mirror. If only she could go down to the dance floor with everyone else.
The princess made sure she was ready early, then she skipped to her favorite balcony so she could watch as the guests arrived. They were lovely! The little princess oohed and aahed as she watched the beautiful people enter the hall.
Everyone in the ballroom wore a crown on their head. Each crown was different. The king wore a stately crown that looked like it was made from twisted strands of gold. Held within the golden bands were five large stones. A diamond, a ruby, an emerald, a sapphire, and an amethyst. No one else’s crown had as many jewels, in fact, most had no jewels at all. Some crowns were carved from polished wood. Others were silver, and a few were made from gold. Every now and then the princess would see a crown adorned with one or two rubies or emeralds, but not often.
The little princess saw a lovely older lady sitting in a chair at the edge of the dance floor. She wore a beautiful golden crown on her head, and there were three sparkling opals set in the gold. She watched the lady all evening. She never moved from her chair to dance or join the feasting in the banquet hall.
Later, when the king stopped to see how his daughter was doing, she pointed out the lady below, and asked about her.
"How did she get such a lovely crown?" she wanted to know.
"She earned it," the king answered. "All crowns are earned, little one. Some day you will have a crown of your own."
"What do I have to do to earn it?" the princess asked. She wanted to have a crown as pretty as that woman’s.
"Oh, many things," her father replied. "To begin with, you must learn as much as you can. The more you learn, the nicer your crown will be."
"Is that why her crown has jewels in it," the princess wanted to know. "Does she know more than everyone else?"
"She is very wise," the king answered. "but it’s more than that. That lady’s crown is beautiful because she has learned how to give happiness to other people instead of trying to find it for herself."
The princess thought about what her father said the rest of the evening. She wondered if she would ever wear a crown as wonderful as the one the lady wore. She saw that most of the princes and princesses who lived in the palace wore only polished wood crowns. It seemed that they hadn’t learned much yet, even though her father required everyone to go to school.
Later in the evening she saw the dragon and she looked at it’s head. It was wearing a bright silver crown. Apparently the dragon knew more than most of the princes and princesses.
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