June 1981—Grandpa Story to Techi. DO 1754

1. ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A PRETTY LITTLE PRINCESS, JUST LIKE YOU. Only she was a little bit older than you & she was walking through the forest & she got lost. Poor little girl! And it began to rain & to storm! (Techi: Poor little girl!) Yes. (Techi: Poor little birdies & poor little girl.) The birdies are all right, they fluff up their feathers real big like that so that they can't even feel the rain. (Techi: Little tiny birds, they live in a little tiny branch.)

2. DO YOU WANT TO HEAR WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LITTLE PRINCESS? (Techi: Yes.) OK. It was stormy & rainy & she was all wet & it was getting dark. (Techi: Poor little girl!) Yes. And it was getting cold. (Techi: Did she look like a princess?) Not after she got all wet like that, she didn't look like a princess! She looked like a cat that had been dragged out of the river! She looked like a wet wet cat! Did you ever see a wet cat? They really are a mess! (Techi: They really are a mess! They really are a messy mess!) She began to cry. And then, what do you think she did out in the rain? What do you think was the best thing she could possibly do? How could she get out of such a mess?

3. WHEN YOU GET IN A MESS & EVERYTHING GOES WRONG‚ WHAT'S THE BEST THING TO DO? (Techi: Go hide in your house.) Hide in your house? But she couldn't find her house! When you're in trouble or when you're sick or when you have any problems, what should you do? Yes, you should pray & ask Jesus to help you, right? So that's what she did. So the princess got lost, she was all wet & cold. And so she got so desperate she was crying & she prayed & asked Jesus to help her to find her way. And guess what? What happened? Just then she saw a light‚ a light through the dark forest!

4. JUST AFTER SHE PRAYED, JESUS HELPED HER SEE A LIGHT! And she ran toward the light & there was this big castle with a big big gate! (Techi: And she could jump over it maybe?) No, she knocked on the door & knocked on the door, but her little hand was so small it didn't make much sound. But then she saw the bellcord! There was a bellcord hanging down like this, so she pulled it & pulled it & the bell went, "BONG, BONG, BONG!" Inside the castle was the king & the queen‚ another king & queen, not her mama & daddy, & a young handsome Prince Charming who was just about her age. And so they said, "Who's that? Somebody's at our door!"

5. AND PRINCE CHARMING RUSHED TO THE DOOR & HE THREW OPEN THE DOOR & THERE WAS THIS POOR LITTLE WET GIRL ALL STRAGGLY, HER HAIR ALL WET & STRINGIN' DOWN! And her clothes all wet & all dirty from the mud! She'd been wadin' through the mud & she had dirt & leaves on her & she was a mess! All wet & cold... (Techi: And she didn't look like a princess!) Exactly, she didn't look like a princess at all! (Techi: She was a mess. She was a messy mess!) Oh my! She was messy mess! And so the Prince Charming looked at her & said, "Oh, you poor little girl! Why don't you come in here quick out of the rain & the cold & the dark forest & come in here quick & get dry!" And he led her by the hand to his mommy & daddy. There was a great fire burning in the fireplace & oh, the mother said, "Oh, my poor little dear! You're so wet & cold & shivering!" She was shivering, she was sssso cccccoolllddd, sssshe wwwas ssshivering, like that! And so her teeth were chattering like that, she was so cold!

6. THE QUEEN SAID, "OH MY DEAR, YOU MUST TAKE OFF THESE WET CLOTHES QUICK! We'll hang them here on the chairs by the fire to dry." And the little girl looked around a little bit bashful & embarrassed because there was the Daddy King & the young Prince Charming all amazed, watching her get undressed in front of the fire. But Mommy said it was alright, so she took her clothes off right in front of the fireplace & she was standing there all naked, so she could get dry. The mommy quickly went & got a blanket & wrapped it around her to keep her nice & warm & dry. She dried her all over with a towel first & then wrapped the blanket around her, & she sat her down in a chair at the table where they were eating dinner. And the Queen said, "My dear, you must drink some of this hot soup, to get you all warm in your tummy!" The poor little wet girl, well‚ she was gettin' dry now! The mommy had dried her hair & tried to feed her some nice hot soup to get her all warmed up. And then they put a bucket of warm water at her feet to put her little cold feet in to get'm warm.

7. AND SHE WAS GETTING ALL NICE & WARM & BEGAN TO GET HAPPY NOW & NOT BE SO SAD ANYMORE. (Techi: Like a princess!) Yes! She looked more like a princess. And she began to get dry & warm & happier & her little hungry tummy was getting full of soup & she felt so much better now! And she said‚ "Oh my, I've walked so far through the woods & I am so tired! I think now I need to go to bed." They said, "Alright, fine." And Prince Charming said‚ "I'll get her bed ready for her & I'll put on a nice mattress & a nice fluffy pillow & nice warm covers & we'll put her in bed, so she can sleep till tomorrow morning, all nice & snug & warm." Then they all went to bed & went to sleep because they were very tired.

8. THE NEXT MORNING SHE WOKE UP & THE SUN WAS PEEKING THROUGH THE WINDOW & she heard the birds chirping & the sun was happy, the birds were happy & everybody was happy! Pretty soon Prince Charming came to her door. He wasn't sure if she was a princess like she had said she was, but he still called her princess. He said, "Princess, are you awake?" The butler was there too with her breakfast. "How did you sleep last night?" asked the Prince.

9. SHE SAID, "OHHHHH, I'M JUST MISERABLE! THERE WAS A BIG BUMP IN MY BED." "Oh!" he said, "There was? I made your bed, I didn't know there was a bump in it." She said‚ "Oh, my back hurts so bad, there was a big bump in the bed!" And he said, "Let me look & see." He pulled back the covers & said‚ "There's no bump there!" She said, "Oh, but it was right here in the middle, under my back." He said, "Let me look underneath the mattress." And he looked under the mattress & there was nothing under there but a little tiny pea about as big as the little end of your little finger. (Techi: Right through the big blanket!) And he said, "I'm so sorry about that! We'll take that pea out & we'll try to see if we can give you more mattresses tomorrow night & you can rest up & be all strong & we can take you home later!"

10. SO PRINCE CHARMING WENT BACK & TOLD HIS MOMMY & DADDY THE STORY ABOUT HOW SHE HAD SUCH A BACKACHE FROM THE LITTLE TINY PEA under the mattress, one little tiny pea! The mother said, "Well, she surely must be a princess or she wouldn't have been so delicate to feel that little tiny pea like a big bump!" She said, "I'll tell you what, she claims she's a princess. But we shall see. Tonight," she said, "we'll put two or three mattresses under her back & see if she still feels the pea under her! This will be a test to see if she's really a princess!"

11. THAT NIGHT, THEY PUT TWO MATTRESSES UNDER HER. And in the morning again, "Oh, I have such a backache!" said the princess. "There's this big bump in my bed!" But every night they'd put another mattress on top until finally, guess how many?—They had put 20 mattresses on top of each other under her before she couldn't feel the pea anymore! Then the mama said, "Ah‚ she surely must be a princess if she's so delicate that she can feel a pea through all those mattresses!"

12. AND GUESS WHAT HER YOUNG BOY SAID? "I'M SO GLAD, MOMMY, THAT SHE'S A PRINCESS, because I'm a prince & in this week she's lived with us, I've fallen in love with her & she with me & we want to get married!" And so his mommy & daddy said, "Well, we'll take her home & visit her mommy & daddy & we shall see." And sure enough, her mommy & daddy liked his mama & daddy & they liked the little Prince Charming‚ so when they got older & grew up, they let them get married & have a nice big castle of their own & have lots of nice children! But she was such a delicate princess, she always had to sleep on 20 mattresses to make sure she didn't feel any bumps!"—Aren't you glad you're not that delicate! GBAKY tough & strong for Jesus!—Amen?—We love you!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family