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Example Story:
How to Become a Princess” by Emily McDurman
http://www.elfwood.com/~emotion/How_to_Become_a_Princess.3384775.html
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May is a pretty girl. She likes reading children’s stories. Today May is reading once again a story that she had read previously many times. She is reading Snow White one of her most favorite stories. She likes the story so much that she actually starts to dream that she herself is Snow White. That evening she goes to bed as normal. She lays awake dreaming in her mind of being kissed by a handsome prince like Snow White got kissed by.
At about midnight something strange to say the least occurred. Suddenly May’s bedroom window flew open. The next moment a handsome old man with long white hair comes through the open window. “Hi” he says! “I hope you don’t mind me visiting you so unexpectedly? Gee I like the red underwear you’ve got on. You certainly have good taste!” “What are you Dracula in white traditional Chinese clothes? How come you can fly? What are you here for, are you going to try to drink my blood or do some other weird thing to me?” asks May. “No nothing like that. I’m just an old Chinese god that flies around most evenings granting fairy tale wishes to young ladies! Replied the god! “Why don’t you grant wishes to boys? “Boys, are you crazy? Tried it for a while once! First off, they usually attack me as soon as I turn up. Then they all want to be stupid super heroes if they calm down long enough to listen to me.” “I see! That sounds about right but. Boys don’t seem to grow up fast like us girls.”
“Anyway here is the deal May! I know that you want to be this um, Snow White chick. (girl) I can change you into a Snow white but there is a catch! Are you still interested?
“Oh course I’m still interested! What is the catch but?” “Well you must be prepared to loose true love out of your future life. I’ll give you some time to think on that.” “I’ll go with it. Beauty, lovely clothes and a palace will make up for the loose of love from my life.” replied May. “Okay, then you will have your wish come true. Hop back into your bed as you will fall asleep in a moment. When you awake you will be living your fantasy” May gets back into bed and drifts off to sleep quickly.
It is a beautiful sunny morning when May wakes up in a forest. She finds that she now has a beautiful white dress on besides her red underwear. The dress is studded with diamonds. May also finds that her black hair that had been short is now long and silky. Her skin is milky white and without blemish. May no longer has the body of a middle school girl but that of a graceful young lady of about twenty years old. You can imagine how May felt; one moment just looking like an average middle school girl and the next moment looking like Snow White.
Well after May finishes looking at her reflection in a pool of water in the forest she starts to think. “What should I do” she says to herself. “Find a good university and continue my studies or look for an extremely rich handsome young prince and start having babies to him?” Well May is tired of school so she decides to look for a handsome prince so she can start a family.
It is a lovely day so May enjoys herself trying to find her way out of the forest to whoever lies outside of the forest. Towards the end of the day however May is getting somewhat tired and a little anxious as she still hasn’t found her way out of the forest.
Suddenly May comes upon a pathway, so she starts to walk along it. It doesn’t take long before she gets out of the forest. Before her not so far away is a splendid beautiful palace. She is so surprised in finding such a palace. All of a sudden a young man in servants clothes come running up to her. Princess, oh, princess where have you been? We have been so worried. Your parents have been terribly concerned for your safety. Um, so I really am a princess; May thinks to herself.
May goes with the servant to the palace and is taken straight into the King and Queen. They welcome May with great joy. May is introduced to a very handsome man by her parents. The man looks very tired as it turns out that he had just got back from searching all day for May in the forest. The man is a visiting prince from another province called Jiangsu. His father is the king of course and their castle is in the city of Yancheng.
For May it is love at first sight. After all he is handsome, very rich, plus cute. “Hi” May says to him. “Hello beautiful princess” He says back. “My name is Ying! I’m told that yours is May, right?” “Yes that’s right. Oh, I love your muscles! You look so strong and handsome. Are you still single Ying?” “Um, yes how about you?” “Yep, I still looking for a strong handsome prince like you to marry” “Well I’m available that’s for sure. Do you want to go for a walk around the village with me tomorrow?”
Well by lunchtime the next day May had decided that see wanted to get married to Ying.
“Ying, we have been walking together for four hours and you still haven’t asked me to marry you. Don’t you love me or are you shy?” stated May. “Gee, you are fast. I was going to ask you this evening after dinner.” replied Ying. “Good well that settled then we’ll get married and start a family.” said May. “You’re the type of woman I like. You can make up your mind quickly” Ying complemented. Ying then gives May a big hug and a kiss. May is overjoyed now that she is going to marry a prince. Ying tells May that it will take a couple of months to arrange a royal wedding.
The next day tragedy strikes. A messenger arrives on horseback from Ying’s home province. He tells Ying the terrible news. Another kingdom has attacked his parent’s kingdom. Ying must go back to lead the soldiers from his kingdom. He has no choice but to leave May and go home to fight. May is very sad but agrees that his people need him to lead them in battle. Don’t forget me May tells Ying as she kisses him goodbye.
Three years later May has left her parents kingdom to go and try to find Ying. One day she is searching for Ying from village to village in the province where Ying had last been seen. She had been riding all day and had fallen asleep from tiredness on her horse. When May wakes up and finds herself in a beautiful bed inside a palace. A man is standing beside her bed. May is frightened when she sees him. Who is this man she asks herself!
“Hi, beautiful lady, I see you are awake. Don’t be afraid. I saw you slumped on your horse asleep yesterday in a field. I assumed that you were tired and lost. So I brought you to my palace and had the maids put you into bed. You can stay and rest up as long as you like until you are recovered.” The man who was a prince was very kind to May. After all May was a very, very beautiful woman nowadays.
“You can call me John. My father owns this palace.” “Thank you John for helping me.” May said back to John. “You are so, so beautiful. Your horse was a fine animal also. Are you a princess? Asks John! “Yes you are right! My father is the King of another province. May is very shy but she tells John about Ying the prince that she loves and has been searching to find. After John has heard the story he says nothing but takes May down to the dungeon (Prison) in his palace.
In the dungeon May sees a man. The man is very sad looking and is lying down on an uncomfortable wooden bed. He is obviously cold as the weather is chilly and he has little clothing on. May recognizes that is Ying straight away. She runs up to him. “Oh, my poor darling what have they done to you?” May is very upset. “It is life; I was captured and taken prisoner as you can see. My kingdom lost the war. I have missed you so much my love. Now that you are in front of my eyes I am once again happy. I’m sorry I can’t be with you however.”
May cries and turns to John and clutches his hand. “Please let Ying go free! I would do anything in return if you grant my wish.” Ying yells out, “Don’t take advantage of May. Don’t hurt her or somehow I will take revenge on you!”
Later on that day May is sitting on a sofa with John in the sitting room of the palace. John starts to talk first, “You can get Ying out of jail if you are prepared to make a sacrifice with your own life.” May looks at John. She could see that he was serious. “I am prepared to do anything to save Ying. What is it that you want of me?” John smiles at May and replies, “I think what I want of you, you will find difficult to accept” “I don’t care about my own life so say what you want of me.” “Well you are a beautiful woman and a princess. I have no wife so I wish to have you as my wife.” “What, you want me as your wife?” “Yes” replies John.
May sits in total shock. John can see that she is indeed shocked. “Why are you so shocked that I love you and desire you as my wife? You are nice woman, kind and beautiful. You would make a good wife for me I think.” “But I don’t love you. How can I marry you without any love in my heart for you?” “Don’t worry you will get used to me. I am a man just like any other man. The fact that I am rich and powerful is all that separates me from the ordinary man. Anyway if you want to have Ying freed then that is what you must do” May sits and cries as she knows that she must marry with John if Ying is to have his freedom.
May goes down to the prison to see Ying again. She says to Ying, “Don’t forget that I will always love you in my heart Ying until the end of my time on earth” Ying is perplexed and then says, “Why do you say this to me?” “I think you will understand soon. True love requires sacrifice!” Ying feels uncomfortable but he doesn’t know what to say.
When May gets back from the prison she goes to John and tells him, Okay I’m prepared to marry with you and become your wife. John is happy that May is prepared to marry and become his wife. He orders that Ying is to be given some gold and a horse and released outside of his kingdom. May then remembers what the god said to her, “Well you must be prepared to loose true love out of your future life” she now knows the cost of what she agreed to when she was a middle school girl.
Ying never forgot the sacrifice that May had made to set him free. The king’s men told him why he had been given his freedom when they released him and sent him on his way.
Spending and enjoyment. Chen Li. Class one, grade 8
These days here at school I have thought a lot about a question that is on my mind. The question that I ponder on is, “Does spending equal enjoyment in life?”
Yesterday I was walking along a street dwelling in my mind about the question. Unwittingly I went into a pottery shop. It was noisy inside. At the moment it is the beginning of the new term. There was a big article of pottery at the front of the shop. I looked at it carelessly. The price of the piece of pottery was surprisingly expensive. It had a 10.000 RMB price tag on it. I was shocked and thought that the price was way too expensive. No one would buy it. Nearly everyone I think would agree with me on that. A man however came into the shop while I was there. He made a very loud announcement so that everyone in the shop could hear; “I will buy this exquisite (Very, very nice) expensive piece of pottery here at the front of the shop” Many of the people in the shop stood with shock showing on their faces.
The shop owner went to serve the man who wanted to purchase the pottery. He had a look of utter happiness on his face. “Are you sure Sir that you wish to buy this piece of art? It is such a fine piece of craftsmanship. A real one of a kind by a master craftsman!
The rich man laughed loudly and said; “Yes, I am very rich so to me this isn’t a lot of money at all. Here you are. You can count it if you like but it is all there.” The shop owner handed the money to his wife to count while he wrapped up the pottery with great care. The rich man then took the wrapped up piece of pottery and then walked out of the shop laughing once again.
The people in the shop said to each other; “He is such a rich man. I wish I was so rich” A woman said; “I wish I was his wife then I could help him to spend his money” One pretty woman ran out of the shop after the rich man. I was actually perplexed after witnessing the rich man’s actions. I asked myself; “Is this man really happy or did he just buy the pottery out of vanity?”
After the event when I had left the shop I thought of an event in my own family. My grandfather was too old to look after himself. My father wanted to put him into a home for elderly people. My grandfather agreed to go. My father found a good place in Shanghai. My father went there first to see what the environment was like. Dad was happy with what he saw when he visited the place in Shanghai. However when he went into the garden at the home my father was surprised to find many disabled old men there. Some old men were blind, some were deaf. When my father saw this he ran out of the garden quickly. From that time on he didn’t say anything about putting his father into a home. I asked my father why he didn’t talk about finding a place any longer for grandfather. Dad replied that although the place he had visited was quite beautiful he didn’t think grandfather would be happy there. Dad said that modern life has become too artificial. If you were old where would you rather be he asked me? Would you like to live in a palace with all old disable people your same age hobbling about and dying from time to time and being replaced by the next old person or with your own children?
I shook my head and continued my walk until I came to a bus stop where I could catch a bus out into the countryside where I had been invited by one of my school friends to visit her parent’s farm. When the bus driver dropped me off on the main country road I still had to walk quite a distance to my friends parents home. I had been there before so I knew the way.
As I was walking along the laneway to my friend’s place I saw a farmer working on his farm. He was singing and also smiling so it was obvious that he was a happy man. It was not difficult but to see that he was poor. How could he be so happy I asked myself? I ran over to him and asked him what the secret to his happiness was! The farmer picked up a bottle of water off the ground, took a drink and then answered me. “Well I’d say that it’s because my heart is peaceful. I’m happy with my simple life. I don’t need flash things. I have a good wife that cooks good simple food for me. We love each other. I don’t have any boss yelling at me. I don’t have any business pressure. I just have a simple peaceful life. I looked at him and said; “Thanks, you have made me realize what life really is!” He smiled and laughed happily with me.
Now when I am contemplating life, I always remember these things. I really know now that happiness belongs in the heart. It doesn’t have to be associated with money.