Princess Bess and The Big Blue Problem
I wrote this story for someone I know who has a distinctive and visual disability (we're going to make a book together), and as I was reading back over it I thought it was quite pertinent to B also. The difference with B is he is absolutely unaware of the stares, it's my other kids that have to deal with the barrage of attention when we're out. Attention for all the wrong reasons might I add! Enjoy..
Princess Bess and the Big
Blue Problem
Once
upon a time in Amarillo Land there lived a princess. Her name was Bess and she
lived in a castle with King Daddy, Queen Mummy and her baby brother Prince Tam.
The castle had high walls and was decorated with beautiful flags and it was
most definitely Princess Bess’s favourite place to be. When Princess Bess was a baby, she spent lots
of time in the castle with Queen Mummy and King Daddy. Being in the castle made
her feel safe and warm.
Princess
Bess was a little different to everyone else in Amarillo Land. All the other
people she knew had bright yellow hair. This yellow hair was shiny, soft and
golden and Princess Bess wished she had hair just like theirs. Her hair was blue-
the same kind of blue as the deep clear sea. No matter what she did, it stayed
blue. Once she spent a whole week eating bright yellow custard to try and
change it, and another time she coloured her hair with 13 yellow felt tips.
Still, her hair was blue. Her family told her all the time how special it made
her but Princess Bess just couldn’t see the specialness. All she saw was how
different she was, and it made her grumpy and cross. She looked in the mirror
and saw a big blue problem. When she went out of her castle to school she knew
people were looking at her and it made her feel all gloomy inside. Didn’t they
know she couldn’t help it? Didn’t they know that’s just the way she’d been
made? Another thing about Princess Bess’s hair that made it even more annoying-
it got longer and longer and would not stop growing. Even if she cut it, the next day it would
magically return to it’s swishy blue longness. Sometimes it got caught on
things and hurt her, making tears well up in her beautiful eyes. Other times it
looked all messy because she couldn’t brush it properly and it tangled up like
spaghetti. It made her cross.
One
day on her way to school, Princess Bess met a frog hopping along the path. He
wasn’t blue or yellow; he was green like the leaves rustling in the trees
above. To her surprise, the frog began talking to Bess. At first the princess
was a little confused- she stopped walking and stared at the bright green frog.
‘Hello,’ he croaked, ‘my name is Fred. What’s yours?’ ‘Err,’ stuttered the Princess, trying to find
the words and wondering whether chatting to the frog was some sort of weird
dream. ‘Er, my name is Princess Bess.’ Fred smiled a big froggy grin. ‘Why are
you staring at me?’ he asked. ‘I’m sorry,’ answered Bess. ‘I don’t mean to be
rude, it’s just I’ve never met a talking frog before.’
‘You
know something?’ Fred said. ‘I’m the only one, the only talking frog in all of
Amarillo Land. Sometimes I feel lonely. I don’t think any of the other frogs
like me because I am different. Sometimes they laugh and point. They stare at
me with their big eyes and it hurts my feelings. I don’t know why they don’t
understand, I mean, it’s not my fault I was born with a voice instead of a
croak.’ As the frog spoke he started to cry, and wet tears rolled down his face
and dripped into a small puddle on the floor. Princess Bess knew exactly how
Fred felt. She told him all about her blue hair, about how she wished she had
yellow hair like everyone else, about how everyone stared at her and how sad it
made her feel. She told him all about her big blue problem. Fred the frog
listened carefully, and scratched his head. Princess Bess couldn’t be sure, but
it looked like Fred was brewing up an idea. ‘Hey! When I met you just now and
said hello, you stared at me. I know you weren’t trying to be mean, because I
can see the kindness in your eyes. You were just curious right?’
‘Um,
yes. I was just wondering why a frog was talking to me. I had never seen that
before,’ stuttered Bess, thinking about whether Fred would be upset with her
for staring.
‘When
people haven’t seen something before, they stare. You stared at me. We would
both stare if we suddenly saw a giant flying saucer in the sky. Maybe instead
of thinking people don’t like us, we should think about asking them why they
are looking. I think the reason may be because they haven’t seen anything as
unique as us before. ‘
Princess
Bess thought hard for a moment and realised the frog was right. Although she
didn’t like people looking at her blue hair much she had to agree, everybody
stares when they see something unique. Unique means super special and
one-of-a-kind, just like a blue-haired princess, or a talking frog. She giggled
when she thought about the talking frog hopping around at her feet.
‘So,’
she said slowly, ‘Maybe instead of getting all gloomy inside, we can ask those
people WHY they are staring at us, just like you did to me. Then we can chat to
them and make new friends.’ Fred nodded and smiled. ‘I used to think about my
voice as my big croaky problem, but now I’ve met you because I can talk. That’s
not a problem, that’s a great thing!’
Princess
Bess thought about it. Fred was definitely right. If everyone was looking at
her, at least she would always have people to chat to, even if they did want to
talk about her blue hair. Maybe sometimes talking about her blue hair instead
of trying to change it, or pretend it wasn’t there, was the right thing to so.
She set off down the road to school chatting all the way to her new friend.
With Fred by her side she thought she might be able to do this- maybe she could
look in the mirror and smile tonight. Instead of a Big Blue Problem, today it
would be her Big Blue Different. After all, different always has good bits too………
Comments
Post a Comment