Children’s Story: Princess Mi-Ah doesn’t want to sleep alone (another version)

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess.  Her name was Princess Mi-Ah.  Princess Mi-Ah lived in a castle on top of a hill.  The hill was covered with flowers.  Princess Mi-Ah loved flowers….

“I know you’re afraid, Princess Mi-Ah, but it’s something that all big princesses do.  You want to be a big princess, right?”  asked mother.

“Yes, I do.  But why do I have to sleep alone?  I’m afraid.”  Princess Mi-Ah was sitting on her princess bed in her pajamas.  Outside the stars were out and the moon was a huge creamy ball in the black sky.

Princess Mi-Ah crawled under the blanket and snuggled into her soft princess pillow.  “Please can you tell me a story?  One about the dragon that eats the princess?  I like that one a lot!” 

“Okay, but then afterwards, I would like you to try to sleep alone,” said mother.

“No!  Don’t go!”  Tears started to form in her eyes.  She sat up in bed and held mother tight.

Children’s Story: Princess Mi-Ah and the Binnibon

Mi-Ah has been driving us crazy with her whining and attention seeking.  I know this is the age where she needs to testing us, but…. It’s AWFUL!  So this is my inspiration for this one.  After annoying the hell out of everyone else, she gets a magical creature, a Binnibon that annoys the hell out of her.  A dose of her own medicine.  Although I haven’t had a chance to tell this story to Mi-Ah yet because she keeps falling asleep before I get a chance.  She’ s phasing out her afternoon naps now…

Once upon a time there was a beatiful princess.  Her name was Princess Mi-Ah.  Princess Mi-Ah lived on a castle on top of a hill.  The hill was covered with flowers.  Princess Mi-Ah loved flowers…

Princess Mi-Ah and mother were walking along the shops in the village.  One of her favorite dress shops was coming up.  As they walked by, she peered into the window.  “Can we take a look inside?  Please?”

“Okay, but only to look.  We are not buying any dresses today.  Alright?”  said mother as they stood in front of the shop.

“Yes, okay!”  When her mother opened the door, she dashed inside.  She was in heaven with all of the beautiful frilly party dresses.  A pink one with pink fluffly flowers and trouncy skirts.  A purple and green one with a swishy skirt.  A light blue one with long see-through sleeves and sparkly little jewels all over.  But the one she liked the most was on a special stand, higher than the others.  It was a red one with short puffy sleeves, with a long, flowing full skirt.  It was all in a beautiful shiny red satin.  When she touched it, it felt smooth and slippery. 

“Ohhhh…. It’s beautiful.”  She looked at mother.  ”Mother!  I really want this one!”

“Princess Mi-Ah, we already agreed we were only going to look today.  No buying,” said mother. 

“Oh, but it would be so lovely on her,” said the shop keeper.  Mother glared at her.

“But, mother!  I love it!  I have to have it!”

Children’s story: Princess Mi-Ah and the fairy

Mi-Ah was watching Strawberry Shortcake.  One of her current favorites is an episode about fairies.  She wanted a Princess Mi-Ah story that involved this Sherry Berry character.  I said I would create one about a fairy, but not Sherry Berry!

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess.  Her name was Princess Mi-Ah.  Princess Mi-Ah lived in a castle on top of a hill.  The hill was covered with flowers.  Princess Mi-Ah loved flowers…

“Let me go!” a tiny voice cried out.

“Did you say something, Boerie?”  She looked at her brother.

“No, I didn’t say anything.”  Prince Boerie was chasing a blue butterfly.  They were  were collecting as many as they could for Gardener again.  It seemed he never had enough for the butterfly section of the garden. 

She carried her butterfly towards the basket.  “Hey, did you hear me?  Let me go, you rotten human!”  It was the tiny voice again.

She looked down at the net.  To her surprise, whatever it was trapped inside was shaking a tiny fist at her.  “Finally you notice me!  So you’re not deaf after all!  Let me out of here!  Or else I’ll send the giant grasshoppers after you instead!”

Children’s Story: Princess Mi-Ah and the deep hole

(or Princess Mi-Ah and the baby elephant)

Mi-Ah came up with this title and the baby elephant idea.  I couldn’t think of a name for the  baby elephant so she came up with its name as well.  Clearly a tie to Dumbo on the elephant thing (it can fly, but with wings instead of big ears).  It wasn’t something I would’ve come up with on my own, but I still had fun helping her develop the plot. 

In fact, she has been coming up with more ideas on her own.  Another title she came up with was ‘Princess Mi-Ah has nothing (or no toys)’.  We’ll be working that one together soon.

This is story is about overcoming fear and developing confidence.  It’s also about helping others.

There once was a beautiful princess.  Her name was Princess Mi-Ah.  She lived in a castle on top of a hill.  The hill was covered with flowers.  Princess Mi-Ah loves flowers…

Princess Mi-Ah and Prince Boerie were in the flower meadow catching as many butterflies as they could.  They each held a net in their hand and there was a large basket nearby to hold the caught butterflies.  They were having so much fun running around after them.  So far, Princess Mi-Ah had caught (I ask her how many.  Mi-Ah counts to whatever number she chooses) and Prince Boerie caught (again, I ask her how many).  They were doing this to help out Gardener who was building a new section in the Royal Garden that was going to be especially for butterflies.

Then they heard a tiny voice crying out.  “Help me!  Help me!  I can’t get out of here!  Can someone hear me?”  They dropped their nets and moved closer to where the voice was coming from.  “Help!  Please, someone help me!” the voice cried out again.

Children’s Story: Princess Mi-Ah doesn’t want to sleep alone

(or Princess Mi-Ah and the Vasril Dragon)

Are there more of you parents out there that share this situation? Mi-Ah is terrified of sleeping alone. I asked her why, and she said she was afraid of thunderstorms. While it does rain here often, thunderstorms are infrequent. I remember being afraid of them when I was a kid, but only as they were happening, not afraid of the possibility of them happening.

We’ve tried every method we could get our hands on to get her to sleep on her own. But we’re softies so we’ve resorted to staying with her until she falls asleep every night. Less pain for her, thus less pain for us. I can just hear all of you parents out there tsking away, thinking how weak we are. Well we are. Especially ME. I can’t deal with either of our children crying for too long.

So since I’ve been writing the Princess Mi-Ah stories, the sleeping problem came up as an interesting theme. The result is this story.

I wanted a magical creature that would help her feel safe during sleep. At the toyshop, I looked at the stuffed animals and spotted this stuffed dragon. It obviously fit in with the princess/castle theme so I worked it into the story. She was delighted with the dragon when I showed it to her in the middle of the story, but well, it wasn’t as much of a hit as I hoped. Too bad!

This is, by far, the longest  Princess Mi-Ah story I’ve written. But also the only one where I thoroughly worked out the plot in advance.  What do you think of it?

 

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess. Her name was Princess Mi-Ah. Princess Mi-Ah lived in a castle on top of a hill. The hill was covered with flowers. Princess Mi-Ah loves flowers….

Princess Mi-Ah was in tears. “But I don’t want to sleep alone! I’m afraid! One of you has to stay with me! What if there’s a thunderstorm?”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of! There is no thunderstorm! The sky’s perfectly clear!” The King was becoming exasperated. “Your room and this castle are very safe, even if there is a storm. Nothing can happen. I promise.”

“Noooooo! I don’t want to sleep alone! I CAN’T sleep alone!” wailed Princess Mi-Ah, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“SIGH… Okay. I’ll stay with you again tonight. But tomorrow, I would like you to visit Aldar the Old. Maybe he can help you with your sleeping situation.” The King lay down to sleep on a mattress near Princess Mi-Ah’s bed.

 

The next morning, Princess Mi-Ah set off for the Red Tower where Aldar the Old locked himself away with his many, many books. It was called the Red Tower because it had reddish-toned stones that were used to fix the tower, but this was a long, long time ago. Before she was even born.

Aldar the Old was famous throughout the kingdom as a wise, wise man. He had spent his whole lifetime studying all of his ancient books. He had thousands of books in his study and knew what was inside of them all. Many came to visit him for far away lands, whether it had to do with the politics or treating serious illnesses. Princess Mi-Ah’s problem should be a easy to solve compared to those more difficult situations. At least one would hope so.