Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in the
In another kingdom on a hill called Lemon Hill, there was another princess. She was the nicest person you would ever meet. She was cheerful, kind, funny and fun. Her name was Hayden, but she was totally opposite from Christine. Hayden was ugly. She had short and messy blonde hair, plain brown eyes, a billion freckles and a tiny, tiny nose. The nice things about her were her smile. It was sweet and always there. Hayden was ugly, but her smile made everything better. The other thing was her voice. She had a sweet voice, she sang well, when she laughed it was so sweet. Princes’ did not call on her to get married to them though. The princes’ were quite shallow in those days, so Hayden had no suitors, but many friends, like other princesses and villagers. Hayden’s parents were very proud of Hayden. They weren’t disappointed that their daughter was so homely. They loved her all the same.
One day, the kings and queens around the world came to the
Princess Christine decided to walk in the woods, followed by two guards and two servants. So they went, until they came to a clearing in the wood. There sat a prince. He was Prince Derrick, from Lavender Meadow, The most handsome prince in the whole world. He had short blonde hair, striking blue eyes and he was very tall. When Princess Christine saw him, she immediately fell in love. Derrick was certainly very handsome and strong. “Good evening, your highness.” Christine said, curtsying. Derrick smiled and bowed. “Good evening, Princess--?” Christine smiled, which made Derrick smile even more. “Christine.” she replied. Derrick sat down again and motioned for Christine to sit down. Derrick had heard about Christine’s bad reputation, but decided that he had heard wrong about her. “Very nice evening, isn’t it?” Derrick said politely. Christine nodded, making her curls bounce a little. Derrick was very charmed by Christine. She was so pretty and nice, or so he thought. Then someone rushed into the clearing, followed by a trail of children. The person was laughing and the children laughed too. When the person saw Christine and Derrick, she stopped and the children bumped into her and laughed. “Who are you?” Derrick asked politely. The person bowed her head and curtsied. “Princess Hayden, sire.” Christine giggled. “What is it?” Derrick asked. “Princess Hayden?” Christine said, giggling. “She is only the ugliest princess in the history of the world!” Christine started laughing again. Derrick was taken aback. He was surprised that Princess Christine was so rude and so mean. Hayden fought back tears. How humiliating! She ran out of the clearing, and the children followed her. Prince Derrick stood up. “Excuse
Derrick pulled her sleeve but she ran faster, ripping the sleeve off. “Wait! Hayden!” he shouted. Hayden ran, and tripped over a branch. Derrick went over to her. Hayden screamed. “Don’t eat me, don’t eat me!” Hayden was shaking in fear. Derrick smiled at her. “Its okay, don’t scream.” he said. Hayden looked up and saw Derrick looking at her. The children were staring down at her. Hayden blushed. Derrick pulled her up and laughed. “What did you think I was?” Derrick asked. Hayden blushed again. “An Oryer.” she said. Then she realized how weird she sounded. Derrick laughed again. Derrick thought, ‘Hayden is really nice.’ Derrick wasn’t really shallow, he saw past Hayden’s face, into her heart. Hayden felt so shy suddenly. She smiled shyly. Derrick was so surprised that Hayden had such a pretty smile. He took her hand. Hayden’s heart started beating really fast. Hayden pulled her hand away. “Let's get the children back.” she said quickly. Derrick nodded and they took the children out of the woods. On the way back to the castle, she bumped into Derrick’s brother, Seth. He was a handsome fellow, but not as handsome as his brother. At lunchtime, he would crack jokes and he seemed really friendly. When he wasn’t talking, she saw him stare at Christine a lot. She giggled when she looked at him. But, she was also doing the same thing to Derrick.
After lunch she talked to Seth. He was a friendly guy. He made a lot of jokes and he seemed so nice. “Let’s be friends.” she told him. He agreed and they became very close that day. Seth told her many things, and Hayden did too. Seth told her that he had loved Christine. “I know she is a nice person, deep down inside her.” Hayden nodded. She told him that she liked Derrick. “He is so sweet. I think I love him.” Hayden and Seth became best friends and they promised to write to each other.
As the days passed, Hayden thought about Derrick a lot. She wondered if he loved her, or if he was marrying someone else, or—Maybe he forgot her.
One day, Christine decided to hold a party. She invited all the princes and princesses in the world. All of the princesses and princes did not like Christine, but they all loved parties, so they all went. The party was to be held on the 21st of May. But Hayden came earlier. She was always early. So she arrived on the 15th of May. She went there and she settled herself into a nice inn. One day, she went walking in the wood, and she went to the same clearing the wood. There she met Christine. “Good Morning, Christine.” she said politely. Christine just stuck her nose in the air and sniffed rudely. Nearby the clearing stood was a fairy. She saw what happened and she was very angry. She was the sort of Fairy who liked to punish the bad people and make good things happen to good people. So she popped out of the bushes. The girls gasped. “Hello, what have we here?” she asked. Hayden, remembering her manners, curtsied. “Good afternoon, Madam.” she said, smiling. Christine just sniffed. “What are you doing in my kingdom?” she asked snobbishly. The fairy stuck out her tongue at Christine. “My name is Deirdre the fairy.” she said, becoming nice and sweet again. Hayden smiled at Deirdre again. Christine rolled her eyes. “More like weird-dre.” Christine said rudely. Hayden nudged Christine to keep quiet. “Um, hello. My name is Hayden. She is Christine.” Hayden said. Deirdre nodded and started twirling. Christine laughed at her. Hayden had to keep back giggles. Suddenly, Deirdre started spinning like a top. Around and around, she spun. Hayden and Christine got dizzy just watching. They lay down to stop the sensation. Hayden couldn’t take it. Suddenly, she went unconscious. Christine breathed heavily. Then she went unconscious too. Deirdre whispered something and disappeared.
Christine woke up to find herself on her bed. “Oh… It was just a dream.” She got up and went to the mirror. To her horror, she was uglier than Hayden. You could tell it was her, but it was like she changed some of her features. Her hair was messy and dirty, her face was covered with freckles, her ears were red, her face was also covered in pimples, her eyes had bags under them, and the worst thing was the huge brown mole right next to her nose. Christine screamed. Her servant Jess ran is and screamed. “Your highness—you look, just--” Christine cut in. “Disgusting!!!” Christine started to cry. Her parents ran into the room. “Oh my goodness.” The King said. The Queen started to cry. “My beautiful daughter is now ugly!” the Queen ran out of the room, sobbing. Jess noticed a note on the dresser. “Your highness, a note.” Jess handed the note to the King. The king took it and read it. It said: Your daughter needs to learn Manners. She will stay ugly if she doesn’t change her ways. Christine was rude to me in the woods, so I cast a spell on her. It will never come off. She will regain her beauty every time she changes her attitude. Sincerely, Deirdre the Fairy.
The King glared at Christine. “This is a punishment. It will never come off. If you want to get your beauty back, you must change your attitude. The fairy was very reasonable.” The King marched out of Christine’s chambers and slammed the door behind him. Christine threw herself onto her bed and started to cry.
Hayden woke up. She looked around and saw that she was in a room. Not her room at the inn, but in a royal room. The room was decorated with purple and blue. She was on a bed. The bed was soft and it was covered by a canopy and curtains. There was a dresser studded with jewels and a chair in front of it studded with jewels too. There was a blue couch with purple pillows, a wardrobe with a full length mirror on it and a big bookshelf right next to it. There were many books inside as well as pictures and decorations on it. This room was as nice as her own bedroom at home, so Hayden felt very comfortable. She drew the curtains at the bed and stepped off the bed. There was a big purple robe on a chair next to the bed, and Hayden put it on. Hayden went to the dresser and looked into the mirror. She gasped. She was not ugly anymore! She had long silky blonde straight hair, deep and beautiful brown eyes, no freckles, a normal sized nose and smooth and soft skin. But Hayden’s smile remained the same. Hayden was so delighted. You could tell it was her, even though she changed so much. Then she spotted a note on the dresser. It said: Hayden, you are beautiful now. It’s because you have a kind heart. Your personality becomes your looks. This spell would never come off, but if you become horrible and rude, you get ugly. Only that time, worse than your normal self. Use this wisely. Love, Deirdre the Fairy.
Hayden sighed in relief. Then it struck her. “Christine!” she exclaimed worriedly. She tore out of the room. “Christine!” she screamed. “Where is Christine? Help! Christine!!” A servant in the hall took her arm. “What are you doing? Your mother is going to be very upset with you if you keep on screaming. Princess, why did you dye your hair? Why are your eyes brown? Your Highness, I don’t like it when you do things like that. Why are you shouting your name? I know I’m your servant, but your father gave me authority!” The servant stopped for breath. Hayden giggled. “I’m not Princess Christine. I’m Princess Hayden of Lemon Hill.” The servant pouted. “No excuses. Go to your room.” Hayden sighed. “Where is it?” she asked. The servant groaned. “Don’t tell me you don’t know where your room is! Fine, I’ll take you there, if you would just stop.” Hayden nodded. The servant took her to the room in a huff and stomped away. Hayden knocked on the door. “Go away!” a sad but angry voice said. Hayden knocked again. “It’s me, Hayden.” “Double go away!” the voice said. Annoyed, Hayden opened the door. The whole room was pink. She looked at Christine and gasped. Christine got up and went over to her. “I told you to go away!” she shouted. Christine sat down on a pink chair near the door and sobbed. “I need to tell you something.” Hayden protested. “I know. I read a note that Deirdre gave me.” Christine said. Hayden looked at Christine and sighed. “If you want to be more beautiful, you just have to change your attitude.” Christine burst into tears again. “But it’s so hard!” she said sadly. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” Hayden said with a smile.
The five days passed by quickly. Christine and Hayden were best friends already. Hayden helped Christine and Christine was as beautiful she was last time. Hayden had sent her parents a letter and they sent one back saying that they were delighted and they could not wait to see her. Christine was different now. She was becoming sweet and gentle, and everyone liked her now. She had more friends and suitors. Christine had friends over and people saw how nice she was. Word went round about what had happened to Princess Christine. But no one took notice of poor Hayden. Hayden started to feel awful.
Before the party, Christine had Prince Derrick come over for a dinner. Then, as if things couldn’t get worse for Hayden, Derrick proposed to Christine. Christine was to get married the next month. Hayden was sad. But she tried not to show it. She acted normally and Christine didn’t see any change in her.
Christine’s party was coming soon so Hayden was given a new dress for it. It was peach coloured and it had many lace flounces. It resulted in being very itchy. Hayden was to wear it with a plain necklace and a beaded bracelet. Hayden felt miserable about it but she tried to hide it. Christine, however, was looking very beautiful. She was to wear a beautiful blue dress with purple petticoats and 10 white lace flounces. She looked very exquisite. Hayden couldn’t help feeling a little jealous. After all, her best friend was going to marry the most handsome prince in the world. Hayden loved him too. Christine was also getting a gorgeous dress. Hayden then remembered what the fairy Deirdre had written to her. She put on a sweet face and tried her hardest to be kind and happy. Doing this made her forget her jealousy.
It was the night of the party. Hayden had dressed in her beautiful dress and she looked picturesque. Christine was a vision. Everyone marvelled at her beauty. Hayden reminded herself sternly that she wasn’t to be jealous. The party went on and everyone was having a good time. Then Derrick came in and everyone saw how handsome he was. He was very happy that night and that made him look extra handsome. He walked over to Christine and embraced her. They kissed each other and Hayden felt a twang of sadness. She looked around. No one except for Christine had talked to her. No one took notice of her. They thought she was just another random princess. She walked quietly from the room and went to the fountain outside. She sat down at the side of it and there she sobbed and tears fell onto her dress. She didn’t look so pretty anymore. Her makeup was smeared and smudged and her dress was messy because she used the dry spots to wipe her eyes. She looked like a ruined Cinderella. Suddenly, Deirdre appeared. “Hayden? What is the matter, darling?” she asked, even though she knew the answer. Hayden sobbed out the story to Deirdre. “And I don’t want to be jealous. I know that being jealous is wrong. I know that I want to be Christine’s best friend too.” Hayden said, wiping her eyes with her dress again. Deirdre smiled at the sweet girl shedding dewdrop tears. She patted Hayden’s shoulder and gave her a magical hanky that would be clean and dry all the time. Hayden wiped her eyes and blew her nose. Deirdre sat down next to her and smiled at her. “Ready for some magic?” Deirdre asked, mischievously. Hayden looked at her with wondering eyes. Deirdre jumped into the air and suddenly, half the water from the fountain formed into a dress around her! It was long, silver, sparkly, and it had thin straps. The straps crossed at the back of her neck and formed into a neat bow. Hayden looked dazzling. Her shoes were strappy and made of crystals. Hayden felt like Cinderella. Hayden’s hair was shiny from the water and her face was cleaned. Hayden had a silver chain with a diamond pendant on her neck and a matching bracelet. She wore a beautiful diamond tiara on her head, and her hair was pulled together and it sat gracefully on her head. Deirdre filled the fountain with water and Hayden saw her reflection. She looked more beautiful than Christine. Deirdre smiled at Hayden. “This is kind of like Cinderella except that you can keep these things. They won’t disappear at
Hayden stepped into the Ballroom and suddenly all eyes were on her.
“Who is that lovely girl?”
“She is so beautiful.”
“More beautiful than, you, eh, Christine?”
“I want to dance with her.”
“She looks so graceful. Like a dewdrop in the morning.”
Hayden blushed with all these compliments. She ran over to Christine. “Hayden!” Christine exclaimed. Derrick looked at her in disbelief. “Hayden?” he asked, puzzled. “Are you the princess from, L-l-l-lemon Hill?” Hayden smiled and nodded. Derrick almost fainted. “But—you—I—It’s impossible!” Hayden smiled shyly and went to go sit down. Many princes asked her to dance. Hayden enjoyed herself thoroughly. Then she spotted Seth, Derrick’s brother. She remembered meeting him. He looked a bit sad. Hayden felt her heart pounding as she walked over to him. ‘Do I love him?’ she wondered. Seth’s eyes lit up when he saw Hayden. “Hi.” he said awkwardly. Hayden smiled at him. ”Hello. May I have this dance?” she asked him. Seth laughed and pretended to curtsey. They danced together and all eyes were on them. Hayden was so beautiful, and Seth was very handsome. They were the perfect pair. When their dance was over, they went outside and sat by the fountain. That night felt romantic and quiet. Seth leaned over and kissed Hayden. Hayden’s heart started pounding and she felt so different. ‘Is this what its like to be in love?’ she asked herself. She smiled at Seth and he smiled back. “I’ve been looking for—for—for you.” he told her. “I was shocked when Derrick announced his engagement to Christine. But to my surprise, I wasn’t that upset. It was then that I realized, I loved you instead. When we talked, I felt so close to you. I know that I didn’t just like you as a friend, but deep down inside I knew I loved you.” Hayden blushed. Hayden smiled shyly. “I guess I felt that way too.” she told him quietly. They stared into each others eyes. Then Seth reached into his pocket and pulled out a glass box. He opened it and said, “Will you marry me?” Hayden gasped at the beautiful ring. ‘Seth loves me! Even when I was ugly he saw me for who I was!’ she thought excitedly. “Yes!” Hayden said. “Yes, yes! Of course I will marry you!” Seth kissed her and they got married in two months time. And so, they lived happily ever after.
~The End~
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