Many moons ago, there once was a Princess who lived with her mother and father, the King and Queen, in a castle in a fairytale land. She was a lovely girl but because she was a Princess she was used to having whatever she wished for or wanted. The King and Queen loved her dearly and so did all the people in the kingdom, so whenever the Princess wanted something, she was soon presented with it. Whether it was a pony, a new dress, a shiny necklace, or even a second slice of her favourite chocolate cake, she never had to wait very long before it was given to her. Yet, despite having whatever she wanted, she always seemed to want something more. She never truly felt happy or satisfied, not deep down in her heart, where happiness really counted.
Then one warm summer evening she was gazing out of the window of her bedroom in a tower of the castle and she decided, right there and then, that what she wanted, more than anything she had ever wanted before, was….a piece of the moon.
“It’s so beautiful. Glowing in the night sky”, she explained to her father, the King, “and I’m a pretty princess, don’t I deserve to have pretty things, and what I want is a piece of the moon”.
Well, the King was troubled by this. He loved his daughter and always tried to give her everything she wanted but this latest thing, well, it was going to be a bit tricky. He wasn’t quite sure how anyone would actually go about getting a piece of the moon.
“Dear, deary me…I’m..er…I’m not quite sure..how..exactly..”, he stammered, but the Princess stamped her pretty little feet and shouted, “It’s what I want and I shall have what I want! I’m a Princess!” and with that she stormed out and up to her bedroom for a really, really good sulk.
The King put up notices all round his kingdom asking if there was anyone who could bring his daughter a piece of the moon. Quite a few people turned up, hoping to please the King, or maybe receive the reward of gold that the king had offered but all they had were bits of old rock painted white. They were trying to trick the King and were placed on the naughty step or sent away with a good telling off. One person even arrived with a bit of old cheese and tried to convince everyone that it was a piece of the moon! Nobody seemed to be able to bring the Princess what she wanted and her sulks were getting longer and longer and much more frequent.
Then, one fine day a humble lad, dressed in simple clothes, strolled into the castle and asked to see the King, the Queen and the Princess. He announced to them and everyone present, in a very confident voice, that he would succeed where all others had failed and would bring the Princess a piece of the moon. A lot of people laughed when he said this so confidently and all of them thought him foolish to be so certain that he could do it, but the King recognised the lad as being the son of a Wiseman he knew and who had been a good friend to the King for many, many years.
“When!” exclaimed the Princess, “when will you give me my piece of the moon?”
The lad looked at her, grinning, “I will give you YOUR piece of the moon tonight”, he replied, “You must meet me down by the small river that runs gently through the castle grounds, just after dark”.
“I had better come along with her”, announced the King, thinking to himself, “this is going to be interesting!”
So that night the King, the Princess and a few of the Princess’s friends walked down to the river. There to meet them was the lad’s father, the wise old man, and the lad himself, with bare feet and his trousers rolled up to his knees.
“Where is it?”, the Princess demanded, “where is my piece of the moon? It’s dark and a little bit chilly and I would like to get off to bed”.
“Shame, I think it a rather splendid night”, said the lad, “just look at the river”.
They all looked at the gentle, slow moving river, almost completely still in the moonlight and there, reflected in the water, was the lovely, big old full moon. They all gasped at the sight and smiled, commenting to one another how beautiful it looked.
“Shall I wade in and fetch you a piece?”, he asked the Princess. She clapped her hands in excitement and replied “Yes, yes..hurry up!”
The young lad waded it to where the moon shone on the surface of the river and he cupped his hands into the reflection of the moon. Turned and slowly made his way back to the bank, being ever so careful, as if he carried something so very rare and precious in his hands.
“Have you got it? Have you got it!”, cried the Princess, “…give it to me!”.
“Here, bring your face a little closer”, said the lad, “that’s it..if you really want it so badly, here have it!”
..and, with that, he threw a handful of cold, icy, river water straight in the Princess’s face! And, what was worse, he laughed a big hearty laugh as he did so!
“There!” he chuckled “There’s your piece of the moon!”
And the King chuckled too, but quietly into his big long beard, so the Princess didn’t see him.
“Arrest him!”, she screamed, “throw him in the dungeon!”
“We can’t have people thrown in the dungeon without proper reason”, the King said, scratching his chin, “but then I suppose we can’t have people throwing water over princesses either. You had better come along with us, boy, and bring your father”.
The wise old man winked at the King and the King winked back before turning to the lad and saying,
“We’ll all go back to the castle for some tea and tomorrow you will have to explain why you did it and if the explaination isn’t good enough, well..!”, he shook his finger at the lad. The King had added the last bit because, from the corner of his eye he could see the Princess, standing with her hands on her hips, her hair all wet and stuck to her face. It was a funny sight and the king wanted to laugh but thought it best to just wag his finger, instead.
“You’ll throw him down the dungeon!”, the Princess wailed, “for throwing water at me”.
“It was only a bit of water, my dear”, the King replied, “nothing hard that would have, actually, hurt you…such as..er..”
“…A piece of the moon!”, said the lad, giggling all over again.
That was all too much for the Princess and she stormed off to her room for the longest sulk ever.
The next day the lad found himself before the King and Queen to answer for his actions. His father, the wiseman, was there and as he took his seat, he winked at the King, and the King winked back.
“Why did you throw water over my daughter?”, the King asked, struggling to keep a straight face.
“To wake her up”, the lad replied.
“I wasn’t asleep!”, the Princess gasped.
“Your eyes were shut to other people’s thoughts, hopes and dreams”, he answered.
“I don’t know what you mean”, she said.
“You wanted a piece of the moon?”, the lad asked.
“Yes”
“And what would you have done with this piece of the moon?”, the lad asked.
The Princess thought for a minute before replying, “I don’t know, I would have put it on the table by my bed so that I could look at it, I suppose”.
“and then?”
She thought for a bit longer before saying “I would have wanted another piece, to put on the table on the other side of my bed!”
“So, if I had managed to fetch you a piece, pretty soon you would have wanted another piece?”
She nodded.
The lad continued, “and what the princess has, the other people in the castle want too, so more pieces would have to be fetched”.
“I suppose…”, said the Princess.
“And each piece would have a price, and as less and less moon was left, the price of each piece would increase, so only the richest could afford to own a piece of the moon”, said the lad.
“I suppose, that’s true”, the Princess whispered, thinking to herself about what he was saying.
“Until, there was no moon left at all”.
Everyone fell silent for a few minutes before the lad asked the Princess, “Don’t you think everyone has a right to look at the moon? A kitchen maid, as well as a Princess?”
“Yes”, the Princess whispered.
“And if a few people were greedy enough to all want a piece of the moon, there would be no more moon for everyone to gaze at and enjoy”, the lad continued, “you see, the beauty is not in the actual stuff the moon is made of, the beauty lies in our hearts, how we feel when we gaze up into the night sky and see the moon and more importantly how we feel when we see other people’s enjoyment at looking up at the moon. If those of us who could afford a piece of the moon all took a piece of it for ourselves..all we would really have is a lump of dull old rock and no more moon for us, or anyone else, to look at and enjoy”.
Everyone in the room fell silent and thought about the young lad’s words. Then the Princess spoke,
“I suppose, in a way, because I can look at the moon whenever it shines in the night sky and I know that wherever I am in the world it is the same old moon that my loved ones are looking at too and because I feel happy to see it and to see the enjoyment it brings other people, well, in a way…I already have my piece of the moon, don’t I? It is here in my heart already”.
The young lad smiled and nodded.
“There’s still the matter of throwing water over my daughter!”, the King said, laughing and winking at the wiseman.
“Indeed, my apologies!”, the lad said, “if the Princess still feels annoyed about that, well…perhaps I should allow her to splash me with water, in return for me doing it to her!”
“I will not quite splash you with water”, the Princess announced, walking towards the lad, “but I will do this” and with that she kissed the lad on the cheek, for she knew at that moment that he was not just the son of a wise man, he was quite a wise man himself!
THE END
