A story by Rebekah, age 7

Once upon a time...

there was a beautiful princess. She lived in a beautiful castle, surrounded by beautiful things. Everything was shiny and sparkly. Princess Elisabeth had a closet full of beautiful dresses. There were pink dresses and purple dresses and yellow dresses and green dresses. Each one was more beautiful than the next. But Princess Elisabeth had a favorite beautiful dress. It was white and pink and light purple and Princess Elisabeth insisted on wearing it everyday. Each night her sweet maid would wash her dress for her and hang it back in her closet along with her other beautiful dresses and each morning Princess Elisabeth would wear her favorite beautiful dress that was white and pink and light purple.

One day, while she was going for a walk, she saw a beautiful tree filled with beautiful apples. Princess Elisabeth thought they would make a beautiful apple pie. She loved apple pie. She ran back to the beautiful castle to get a beautiful basket to pick the most beautiful apples. She climbed up into the apple tree and very carefully picked the most beautiful apples she could find. Beautiful red apples, with no spots and certainly no worms. But as Princess Elisabeth was climbing down from the beautiful apple tree, she torn her favorite beautiful dress! Princess Elisabeth stared down at her favorite white and pink and light purple dress and she began to cry because it wasn't beautiful anymore! What would she do? Princess Elisabeth sat down beneath the beautiful tree and cried beautiful tears.

A soft voice asked her why she was crying and Princess Elisabeth explained that her favorite beautiful dress was torn and that it was no longer beautiful. She then looked up and saw some one who wasn't beautiful at all. Before her stood a little old lady with a wrinkled face and frizzy gray hair. Her teeth were all gone and her back was all bent. Princess Elisabeth thought she wasn't beautiful, no she wasn't beautiful at all. But the little old lady sat down on the ground beside her and opened her big bag. Inside there was a rainbow of beautiful colors. Scraps of fabric and snips of thread. Rummaging through her bag, the little old lady found a piece of beautiful fabric with beautiful flowers on it, all white and pink and light purple. She quietly stitched a patch on the beautiful princess' torn dress. And as she sewed, she spoke in a soft voice that Princess Elisabeth thought was beautiful. And as she watched her torn dress being mended, the little old lady became beautiful. Her wrinkled skin began to glow and her eyes became all shiny and sparkly.

"At first, you weren't beautiful, but now you are! How did you do that?" Princess Elisabeth asked the little old lady. The little old lady began to explain how true beauty is in our hearts and the kind things that we do for others. And true beauty is in our eyes and when we love someone, we always see them as beautiful. Princess Elisabeth loved the beautiful old lady and she took her home to her beautiful castle where they ate a beautiful apple pie for dinner. Her most favorite beautiful dress was always mended and patched and she still thought it was beautiful.

picture by Evabeth, age 9

picture by Abraham, age 4