Bad Prince Dylan
Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away, there
lived a young prince named Dylan. Prince Dylan was
very spoiled. He always had to have his way. He was
not nice to his loyal subjects. He was not nice to his
mom and dad. He was really not nice to his sister,
Princess Alexi.
Princess Alexi was a sweet little girl. She was kind and
gentle with everyone she met. She treated her subjects
with kindness. She was sweet and obedient to her mom
and dad. She was even gentle with her brother Dylan.
The people of the kingdom loved Princess Alexi. They
brought her gifts and bowed before her happily. If she had a wish, it was
granted. Everybody wanted to make her happy.
The people of the kingdom were afraid of Prince Dylan.
He had a very bad temper. He was known for having
people tossed into prison for no reason. He once had a
cook sent to prison because his toast was too brown.
It made Princess Alexi sad that the people feared
Prince Dylan. She loved her brother and wanted him to
be loved by all. One day she was so sad that she
began to cry. As her tears dropped, they began to
gather together. They became a shimmering ball of
light, and then suddenly a fairy godmother appeared.
“What is wrong, Princess? Why do you cry?” the lovely fairy asked.
“Oh, fairy godmother, I’m so sad. Everybody is afraid of Prince Dylan.
Can you change him so they will love him like I do?”
“Princess, I can change many things, but I can’t change a person’s
heart,” the fairy said softly. “Dylan does not have a gentle heart like you.”
“What can you do?” the little princess asked.
“I can turn him into a frog.”
The little princess thought about this.
“What good would that do?” she wondered.
“Well, he couldn’t do much harm as a frog. Frogs can’t send people to
prison.”
“That’s true, but I don’t think Dylan would like being a frog.”
“Maybe if he really hated being a frog, he would be so happy to be a boy
again that he would be kinder,” the fairy suggested.
“Okay,” Princess Alexi agreed. “It’s worth a try. Turn him into a frog.”
The fairy godmother twirled her wand. A bright
light surrounded her.
“It is done,” she said. “You will find Dylan at
the pond with the other frogs.”
The fairy godmother began to fade away. Princess Alexi called, “Wait!”
“What now?” the fairy asked, sounding a little annoyed. “This popping in
and out takes concentration, you know!”
“I’m sorry, but how can I turn Prince Dylan into a boy again?”
“Well, you could kiss him.”
“Yuck!” the princess said.
“Okay, then when he is ready to be a kind and gentle boy, you can touch
his head with the tip of your finger. Then he will be a boy again. Does that
work for you?”
“Yes, I can do that. Thank you, fairy godmother.”
The little princess ran to the pond. She wondered if Prince Dylan would be
very angry. She knew she wouldn’t be happy to
be turned into a frog.
There were many frogs along the edge of the
pond. They were croaking and eating flies. The
princess wondered which one was Dylan. Then
she saw him. He was sitting alone on a lily pad.
He looked quite alarmed. When he saw Princess
Alexi, he began to croak loudly.
“Hi, Dylan. What a nice lily pad!” Alexi cried. “Have you made any frog
friends yet? I hope you won’t be lonely. I can turn you back into a boy when
you learn to be nice. But as long as you are mean, you have to be a frog.”
Dylan croaked loudly. Princess Alexi sat down beside the pond to watch
Dylan. She wondered when she would know he was ready to be nice. Dylan
hopped over to the other frogs and quickly began to take all the flies they
were trying to catch. Then he used three of the frogs as stepping stones to
get to a big fat bug he saw. He hopped right on top of their heads!
Princess Alexi walked sadly back to the palace. Dylan was a mean frog
just like he had been a mean boy.
Every day Alexi went to the pond and watched Dylan being mean to the
other frogs. The people of the kingdom did not miss Dylan. It was a much
happier place without the fear of the young prince. Princess Alexi didn’t
know what to do. She felt bad for Dylan, but she was happy for all the
people in the kingdom.
When Princess Alexi became Queen Alexi, she still
went to the pond, hoping that Prince Dylan had
changed, but he never did. The queen made sure the
frogs were well taken care of and that there were always
plenty of fat flies for them to eat.
Queen Alexi ruled her kingdom with gentleness and
kindness and was loved by all.
They all lived happily ever after. Well, Dylan seemed happy. We can’t
really be sure about that!
The End