My preteen typically writes stories excluding females or romance and instead includes lots of battle scenes between good guys and bad guys.  Perhaps that is why I found the following story he had to write for a school assignment so enjoyable to read.  I don’t know if you’ll like it as much as I did, but I wanted to share what brought a smile to me one day on this challenging journey called parenting.

Cinderella From Prince Charming’s Perspective

My name is Prince Charming, and I live in this big kingdom called the Charm Kingdom.  My dad, King Charm-Charm, is bald but has a lot of facial hair, and he likes to tell jokes (they’re not always funny).  My mom, Queen Charmelina, has always been considered to be the most beautiful lady in the kingdom.  That is, until I met Cinderella.

You see, on my 18th birthday, my dad says, “You are a man now.  It is time you find a maiden to marry, so that you and her can become king and queen after your mother and me.”  Now, I didn’t want to marry some rich damsel.  In fact, I didn’t really want to get married at all.  But, I have to do what my dad says to do, especially since he is the king.  So, we scheduled a ball to be held in 4 weeks.

When the day came, I was somewhat nervous.  I don’t really like dancing, especially not dancing with a bunch of girls who I have never met before, all of whom want to marry me.  As night fell, the palace gates swung open and a horde of damsels and princesses and nobles’ daughters swept in with their expensive gowns and overdose of makeup.  Then, a girl glided in who took my breath away.  If you took all the beauty of a gorgeous sunrise and an even more gorgeous sunset and a sparkling diamond and a perfect rose and a foaming waterfall, it would hardly compare to her beauty.  She was wearing an amazing light blue gown, and her beautiful blond hair was crowned with a sparkling silver tiara.  She danced toward me on dainty glass-slippered feet, and I took her white-gloved hands in mine.  In that moment, I changed my mind about girls and love and marriage.  We danced for hours, oblivious to everyone else.

Then, the clock struck twelve.  Suddenly, the girl, who hadn’t even told me her name, rushed out of the ballroom.  I ran after her.  “Wait, come back!” I called as she ran down the steps leading to the palace gate.  She looked back, then tripped, causing one of her glass slippers to fall off.  She turned away and ran through the gates without even picking up her shoe.  I hurried down the steps, grabbed her shoe, then ran through the gates just in time to see her speed away in a big, blue, round carriage.  One of the guards ran up to me, and I told him to summon my carriage.  He saluted and ran off.  A couple minutes later, my big, red, royal carriage pulled up, and I jumped into it.  I told my footman to drive east, which was the direction she had gone.  Although we went as fast as we could, we never caught sight of her or her carriage.  All we found were the sparkling remains of a large smashed pumpkin outside the town of Dooders.

The next day, my dad sent a proclamation throughout all the kingdom that I was looking for this mystery girl, so anyone who could fit in the glass slipper would be brought to the palace so I could see them.  My dad wanted a description of the girl, but I just couldn’t seem to remember anything about that night.  However, I knew that if I saw the girl again, I would know that it was her.  So, Duke Flark, my dad’s right hand man, took the glass slipper and went throughout the kingdom so every maiden in the kingdom could try on the slipper.  He started in the town of Dooders.  That very morning, someone from the town of Dooders was brought in.  I was told that she was just a servant girl, but she had been the only one in the whole town who could fit into the slipper.  When she was brought in, I immediately knew that it was her.  Her beauty once again took my breath away, even though she was in a plain, brown dress and had smudges all over her face.

“What is your name?” I asked.

“Cinderella,” she said.  The sound of her voice was more beautiful than a nightingale.  I dropped to one knee and stared up into her gorgeous eyes.

“Will you marry me?” I asked.  Those were words that just a day ago I could never have dreamed of saying.  Cinderella looked shocked, but then a gorgeous smile spread across her lovely face.

“Yes.”

THE

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