"We're learning fairy tales at school Unknown User Normal Unknown User 2 3 2001-10-29T17:47:00Z 2001-10-29T17:47:00Z 2 686 3914 DellComputerCorporation 32 7 4806 9.3821 0

"We're learning fairy tales at school." The quiet boy told his father one morning over breakfast.

"Really? What fairy tales have you read?"

The boy regarded him seriously, "Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Cinderella…And we're writing one today."

'That sounds like fun."

The boy shook his head, "No! I don't want to write a story. They're hard."

"Not so hard." His father mused, "It's almost like writing songs." His son had taken to music and song writing just like he had. A trait that made him beam with pleasure and that made his wife roll her eyes good naturedly.

"Maybe," his son conceded, "But you're still lucky you don't have to write one."

"True. How about I make up one right now? Just to show you it can be fun?"

"All right."

"Let me think, what would make a good story?" The father ran his hands through his short brown hair and rolled his eyes heavenward, looking for divine inspiration. "I know! Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in the stars."

"In the stars?"

Skeptical, like his mother. Not a romantic like him. "Yes. Her brother was the King- he was brave and wise and she was married to a warrior who was his brothers best friend. She was beautiful, hair of gold- which she wore lots of, and eyes of chocolate- which she liked to eat. She was brave, too and strong. She was loved by all. She could make you fall in love with her so easily.

"She wasn't happy though. She didn't love her husband."

"Then why did she marry him?" The little boy asked.

"Because her brother asked her too, and she loved and admired her brother so much, she couldn't bear to say no. So she was married, even though she didn't love the warrior."

"Poor princess."

"Yes, but she did fall in love, with a man who hated her brother. She tried to tell him that her brother was kind and good and gentle, but he didn't believe her. He was jealous of her brother's quiet power.

"She made a mistake. She told him some of her brother's secrets because he asked her to, because he told her he loved her. She loved him so much she did. And then there was a war and she, her brother, and the warrior died."

"Oh, no!" His son cried, trying not to show how devastated he was by the sudden change in the story.

"Oh, don't worry, it turns out all right! Her mother found them and brought them back to the castle, she took their souls and sent them to Earth and put them in new bodies for them to try again."

"Did it work?"

"I'm getting to that part. In their home in the stars, they were like everybody else, but on Earth they were different, special. They had secrets. She shared her secrets only with her brother and her brother's best friend who she loved very, very much.

"One day her brother told all their secrets to a young girl with brown hair who he loved. At first, she was very angry. She felt betrayed by her own brother. They had sworn never to tell the secrets and he did."

"What did she do?"

"At first she was afraid and wanted to run away. But then she got to know the girl with brown hair that her brother was in love with. And met her best friend, a girl with blond hair and her other friend a boy who had loved her secretly for years. Even though she was afraid, she learned to trust them and grew to love them." He smiled secretly, "Especially the boy. And even though the girl, her brother and their best friend were afraid to fall in love with the boy, the brown haired girl and the blond haired girl, they couldn't help it. They gave up their dreams of the stars and lived happily on Earth."

"Is that all?" The son asked, sounding wistful.

"No. Not nearly. There were some bad times, her brother died fighting, she cried for him. She still does from time to time. But she's so happy. She got everything she ever dreamed, and more besides. She lived the fairy tale life and—"

"And is far happier than she deserves to be…Or ever imagined she could be." The woman announced, arriving unseen from the kitchen. She ruffled her sons hair, "Won't the school bus be coming soon?"

"Yes." The boy said reluctantly, "I'll go get my book bag."

The woman leaned down and smiled at him, "Have fun at school today," she told him, as he walked out front to meet the school bus, "And good luck with the fairy tale."

"That'll be OK." He assured her, "Daddy gave me some ideas."

"Well," She said with a grin, "That wasn't a real fairy tale."

"It wasn't?"

"No." She kissed him on the cheek, "Because it's all true."

He giggled and ran out to the bus.

"Why did you tell him that?" Her husband wondered.

"Because," she said, sitting on his lap and kissing him, "He deserves to know there is a woman out there that is far happier than she deserves to be, or ever imagined she could be."