Once upon a time, not very long ago, there was a little princess and her name was _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
Catherine lived with her sister and their mother and father in a wonderful place called The _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
She was always very happy there because hundreds of people came to visit them at the wonderful Troubadour Café where they lived.
Often the little princess to put on her prettiest dress and would go round making sure all the visitors had _ _ _ _ _ _ _ on their tables.
One day, as she was putting candles on all the tables, an old man came to visit them and his name was _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
"Tell me, little princess," he asked, "how tall are you?"
And she said: "I don't know. But if you like you can measure me."
So she stood against the wall and the old man measured her. And they found that she wasn't VERY tall and she wasn't VERY small. In fact, she was JUST RIGHT.
But every time the old man came to visit, she would say: "Please will you measure me?"
And so he did.
And every time he measured her she had grown more and more.
She thought it was very strange.
She just got taller and taller.
Soon she was taller than her father and mother.
And then she was so tall that she couldn't walk through the door without bending.
And every time the old man came to visit she would get him to measure her again and the old man would look very puzzled and scratch his head and say: "Well, I don't understand this at all."
Very soon the little princess was SO TALL that she could hardly see the people on the ground.
And THEN she was so tall that the clouds were all around her waist and the birds were singing and flying round her head and people in aeroplanes waved to her out of their windows.
And the little princess thought: "Well, it is very nice being tall. Yesterday I took one step to the right and I was in my granny's garden. And the day before I took two steps to the left and I was in France. But sometimes I wish I wasn't QUITE so tall."
"I miss my friends at the _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ."
"And I miss putting all the _ _ _ _ _ _ _ on the tables."
"And I miss my little sister, _ _ _ _ _ ."
"And I miss _ _ _ _ _ and I miss _ _ _ _ _ ."
"And I miss _ _ _ and_ _ _ and _ _ _ and _ _ _ and _ _ _ ."
"And I miss the old man who used to measure me."
So, she stopped a pigeon who was flying past and she said: "Please, pigeon, fly down and find the old man and ask him how I can get smaller again?"
And the pigeon flew down and found the old man and gave him the message.
The old man thought very hard and then wrote a message on a piece of paper and said: "Please, pigeon, would you take this up to my friend the little princess?"
The pigeon flew up and up and up until he found the little princess who was painting a rainbow in the sky and switching the sun on and off.
She was very excited when saw the message. She said: "Do you know what, pigeon. All I have do if I want to get smaller again is write a _ _ _ _ !"
She thought for a few moments and then she wrote a little poem and gave it to the pigeon who took it to the old man in the Troubadour.
And guess what happened next?
Suddenly she was getting smaller and smaller and smaller. It was like going down in a lift. She waved goodbye to the birds and soon the clouds were above her head and in no time at all she found herself back at The Troubadour.
The little princess was very, very happy to be home. Everybody was pleased to see her again and they all wanted to know what she had seen and done when she was up in the sky.
And after that, every time she wanted the old man to measure her she would write a little poem – just a very little one – and she would give it to him first. And that way she was sure she would never get TOO tall and everything would be ALL RIGHT.
|
