Grace- Story Time

I am going to write the 1st part of a story, and then I am going to ask one of the other writer's on here to continue it. She will then pass on the baton and so forth until it comes back to me.

Rules

• Nothing gross or inappropriate.
• A godly message.
• No moonlight kissing scenes.
• A good fight or two.
• A heroine is an absolute must.
• A hero is a life necessity.
• No villain, no story.
• Comic relief, absolutely.
• One character who we all totally fall in love with just for being who they are. Like Sam in Lord of the Rings.

Once upon a time...

There once was princess by the name of Fern. She was the daughter of the king and queen of a land called Dimland.

This princess was stunningly beautiful, rumored to be the most beautiful princess in the world. Her hair was a shiny black mane that reached to the floor. Her eyes were olive green, and her skin white and creamy.

Her voice was melodious, her step was graceful. She could dance all night and never grow weary, she could ride and wave to her people all day and never falter, she could sing and play on her lute for hours on end and never lose her voice. She was in fact considered, the perfect princess.

But those that really knew her knew that statement to be untrue. For though Princess Fern was beautiful and accomplished, she lacked some very basic qualities.

First of all there was her temper. Many a poor maid had been locked up in a high tower on bread and water for days on end because of this fault. Many times had she raised her voice in anger to her royal tutor, who bless his soul had only corrected her grammar. And many horses had she scared by letting herself go into rages while in the royal stables.

Second of all, the princess very vain. She would spend hours sitting while maids arranged her hair or dress. She was constantly fussing about her appearance, and she had even hired one maid whose only task was to stand ready with a golden mirror.

Third of all, the princess was selfish. She had never cared for others. As a child she had never shared her toys and pleasures with the other children at the palace. When a poor blind beggar came up to her carriage and asked for alms she turned him away.

Truthfully, Princess Fern was definitely not the perfect princess.

There was another girl who lived in the kingdom, a shoemaker's daughter. Her name was Katherine. She was a very sweet and lovely girl, but not considered out of the ordinary. Her hair was a brown color, her eyes blue. And her skin tanned from being out in the sun.

A stranger passing by her would have taken no notice of her existence, but to those that knew her she was treasured above great riches. For Katherine was a princess in her own way.

Katherine had a temper of her own, and she quite frequently lost it. But it was not at the trifles that Princess Fern would lose hers for, it was at injustice, cruelty, and dishonesty.

When younger Katherine had worried very much about her appearance, always doing this or that to make herself "prettier". Her father and mother noticed this after a time, and one day they took Katherine out into the hills surrounding the village for a picnic. Here there was a splendid view of mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys. While gazing it awe at this scene, Katherine's mother said,

"Do you see all of this beautiful creation that the Lord has made Katherine?" Katherine nodded, her eyes bright in wonder.

"You know also that He created you, don't you my darling?" Katherine nodded again.

"Well did you know that you are the highest thing in His creation? That He made you in His own image? So to Him, you are no less beautiful, but in fact more beautiful than all of this?"

Katherine never again questioned her value or beauty. Not that she dressed without taste, or never enjoyed the pretty trinkets that delight a girl's heart, but she never again fretted about not being the most "beautiful".

Katherine was very unselfish. Her mother was often sick, and so Katherine had to take over the responsibilities of running the household while tending her mother. In constantly giving of herself Katherine had learned the hardships, and the joys of being unselfish.

One day Katherine put on her cloak and went out into the town with her market basket upon her arm.

She was bargaining for some lettuces when a crier ran through the town shouting,

"Way for the Princess Fern!"

The crowd immediately parted and squeezed together on the sides of the road so that the Princess and her attendants might ride through. Katherine looked up in interest as the princess rode by. A trader beside her leaned over and said...

Okay, I am going to ask Jess to pick this story up and make it go on. Forward my brave writers!