A Happy Story

This post is for my young friend Ivey. She is a wonderfully talented and beautiful young lady who told me that she liked my last story, but wished I would write a "happy story" next time. So here goes, young friend...

Once upon a time there was a beautiful young princess who lived with a nice family in central Alabama. The princess was tall and quite striking--more beautiful than any of the other young girls in the kingdom. But that was not all. This princess had brains to go along with her beauty. She was a talented artist: she could draw or paint almost anything imaginable (which she often did). She could sing like a rare tropical songbird (which she often did). She could even make up stories right out of the air when she wanted. Some say that she was even secretly writing the "Great American Novel," quite an accomplishment for a girl of 15 tender years.

But the most amazing thing about the beautiful young princess was that she was happy. Not just your run-of-mill-hum-a-little-tune-out-loud happy, but real happiness. Happiness was not just a feeling to the princess, it was a way of life. She wanted the whole world to share her happiness, and she was determined to seek out those who were unhappy to share her secret.

Now there was an evil dragon living in the same part of central Alabama. He lived in a cave on the banks of the Coosa River (on the Chilton County side, of course--Coosa County is too poor even to feed a dragon).

This dragon was not happy. Some say that he was even grumpy. He complained constantly. "All there is to eat in this stupid kingdom is peaches!" (that proves just how unhappy he was, for everybody knows that Chilton county peaches are one of the tastiest treats anyone could ever hope to eat).

The dragon was just plain mean. Every now and then he would breathe fire and torch a kitten, just for fun.

All the people of the kingdom were afraid of the dragon. Not one would challenge him.

The princess decided that something must be done (she was a lover of kittens). She resolved to journey to the banks of the Coosa, confront the dragon, and teach him the secret of happiness.

She made the long journey and stood at the cave entrance. "Come out Mr. Dragon," she sang in her beautiful princess voice. "I'll share with you the wonderful secret of happiness!"

The words had no more finished echoing through the dark cave when the foul dragon rushed out and swallowed her whole.

Luckily for the princess, a kindly forester happened to be passing by. He slayed the dragon on the spot, cut open it's huge belly, and rescued the princess.

Now the moral of the story is threefold:

1. You can be happy yourself, but that doesn't mean others will decide to join you.
2. If you are going to be eaten by a dragon, it is a good thing to have a kindly forester in the near vicinity; and
3. Sometimes two people can't be happy no matter how hard they try. This is called "irreconcilable differences," and it makes lawyers very happy.

The End