See ya on Friday!
22
September 2014
The
Real Princess and the Pea
When
the prince was little he became friends with a little peasant girl.
They would play in the perfect green fields that the prince's family
owned. As they grew older the prince began to fall in love with the
peasant girl. She was beautiful and hard working. She was also very
brilliant and educated thanks to her father who believed in educating
everyone. The prince helped her family and gave them gifts of horses
and clothe. One day the queen told the prince that he was old enough
to begin searching for a bride.
“We
must find a you a princess to marry my dear son! All your sisters
will marry princes and leave but you, my sweet prince, will stay and
rule all this land,” doted the queen.
“Mother,
what if it is not a princess I want to marry?” asked the prince.
“Oh
don't be silly my good son! Your father married me, a princess from a
far off land and his father married your grandmother, a princess from
a far off land. You must marry a princess to unite all of the lands
of the world. It is our duty as royals,” responded the queen.
After
that day, the king and queen arranged for ambassadors to begin
negotiations. Men from all over the world came to lavish dinners and
soon a handful of princesses were picked out. The princesses were
invited to stay at the castle to see if they would be a good fit for
the prince. What the prince didn't know was that the queen didn't
want him to marry a princess from over seas. She wanted him to be
happy so she devised a plan to get rid of all the potential mates and
allow him to find a wife from his own lands. The queen told the
prince that a perfect princess would be picked if she woke up with
bruises.
“Why
bruises mother?” asked the prince.
“I
shall place a pea under the mattress of each princess. If they are
the true and proper princess for you they will have little round
bruises all over their delicate skin from sleeping on the pea,”
smiled the queen.
This
gave the prince an idea. A storm was raging and he told his mother he
needed to make sure his beloved horses were locked up properly. He
took his best horse and rode to his loves house. He spoke to her
father about the queen's plans and asked if he could marry his
daughter. The peasant was elated! He had always loved how kind the
prince was and he happily allowed his daughter to marry the boy she
loved. The prince rode back to the castle with his intended.
“Mother!
Mother! I found this poor girl out by the stables. She was lost and
soaking wet. May she too stay here for the night until the morning?”
pleaded the prince. The queen agreed and sent her to a room where a
pea was under the mattress. The prince was thrilled! He did no think
his mother would fall for it. Once everyone was asleep, the prince
and his closest sister went to the peasant girl's room. They used
berries and powders to create little round bruises on the girl's
back. The next morning, the king and queen held a grand breakfast for
all the guests.
“Thank
you all for coming. I have a confession to make,” said the queen
after breakfast was eaten and wine was served, “Underneath all of
your mattresses was a pea. I had to make sure my only son would find
the perfect bride. I would like to privately inspect the backs of all
of you. Son, you may take the girl back now.”
“Mother,
did she not sleep in one of your set up rooms?” inquired the
prince.
“She
did. Come girl, let's go princesses,” the queen took all the girls
back and inspected their backs for bruises that wouldn't be there.
Each one was kindly dismissed to go home and look for another prince
to marry. Finally she came to the peasant girl. Shockingly, the girl
had little round spots that appeared to be bruises, “Thank you
girl, please go back to your seat and send my son in.”
The
prince walked into the queen's room and expected her to be upset but
she was rather joyous instead.
“Son,
who is this girl?” asked the queen.
“She
is a peasant girl from just outside the fields. Her family has been
loyal to us for as long as they have lived.”
“My
dear prince, do you love this girl?” the prince was taken a back by
his mother's question, “You must love this girl to have brought her
here and faked bruises on her back.”
“I
will be honest, I tried to trick you mother. I do love this girl. I
have loved her for a long time and I do not want to marry someone
else. Her father gave me permission to bring her here and marry her,
if that would be okay with you and father,” the prince took a big
gulp of air and held his breath as his parent's traded glances.
“My
son,” responded the king, “let this be your last trick.”
“We
should make preparations I suppose,” said the queen to the king.
“Preparations?”
asked the prince.
“Why
yes son! We need to get her a wardrobe and a title. We should also
give her family a title as well so they can come to court and attend
to their daughter. When would you like to marry your new bride?”
All the queen had ever wanted was for her son to be good, true and
happy. This girl brought out all of that in him. With a grand smile
she gave her son permission to marry the peasant girl he loved. The
prince and his love lived happily ever after and the rouse was never
brought to light.
23
September 2014
The
Will
When
grandma passed away, she did not have much. She wasn't the type to
collect trinkets and things. She lived in a fairly modest one bedroom
home after grandpa had passed. Even her memorial was quaint. It was
held at one of my uncle's home and she was quietly cremated. We were
surprised when we learned that we were all being summoned to a
lawyers office to read her will. Grandma had a huge family. She had
ten children, each of those children had at least one child as well.
There were fifty of us at this will reading and the lawyer seemed
fully prepared for that. We were not prepared for what he said to us.
“Thank
you all for coming. Your mother and grandmother was a wonderful
person. I have been close to her and her husband for many years now
while I helped with their wills and estates,” said the lawyer that
none of us had ever met, “Now with that said I want to tell you I
was already paid. I want to tell you that so you know this money is
all yours.”
“Money?
Mom didn't have money. We always lived on only what we needed,”
proclaimed one of my aunt's.
“There
is a little about your mother that you didn't know and she liked it
that way,” smiled the lawyer, “Excluding the spouses, each of you
will receive one million dollars,” he paused for an appropriate
gasp that had followed. I think all of us had our mouths on the
floor.
“Are
you serious?”
“Where
did they get so much money from?”
“A
million?”
Everyone
was in utter shock.
“Where
did mom get that kind of money from?” asked my dad.
“Like
I said your mother was a wonderful person. She worked very, very hard
before any of you were born. She saved every penny. When she learned
she was pregnant the first time she decided to sell one of her dolls.
She collected porcelain dolls and after selling a few your family was
set. When you guys started having children of your own she decided to
sell the rest of her dolls that were now in a storage locker in mint
condition. They sold for a large amount of money and she also made a
few investments that she cashed in on when her husband died. She
wanted her family to have comfortable lives. She only has a few
rules,” responded the lawyer.
“What
kind of rules?” asked one of my cousins.
“The
grandchildren do not get their money unless they finish college
and/or some sort of vocational school. She also requests that you all
maintain living within your means and use this money to help people
when you can. She would like you to invest it and watch it grow as
she did. She was brilliant but mostly she thought about everyone but
herself and that is why you all have so much money.”
We
all left after the meeting and had coffee at my family's home. For a
little bit no one spoke. We didn't know what to say. Finally I spoke
up in a way that grandma would have loved.
“Wow!
Grandma was a sneaky, kind liar! Guess we all better go to work
tomorrow and make that inheritance grow. I don't want her haunting me
over bad money choices,” everyone laughed and we all shared fond
memories of grandma being cheap when she definitely wasn't poor.
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