The Princess and the Pea

After re-reading Leslie Ludy's Authentic Beauty, I wrote this a few weeks ago. It's been hard to do, and I'm still not entirely satisfied with it. Any suggestions regarding either content or style will be gratefully received.

Once upon a time, there was a handsome Prince named Charming who wanted a Princess to help him in his service to the Great King. Prince Charming, while not perfect, truly wanted to be obedient to his King and felt that he would be better equipped to be so if he had a beautiful Princess to give him encouragement, companionship and gentle advice in his pursuit of this worthy goal.

Prince Charming had only one problem. Both he and his parents had the wrong idea about what a true Princess is like. They understood well enough that a Prince is to protect his Princess, and this is because a Princess is softer and more vulnerable than a Prince to the evil in the world. Charming and his parents understood that a true Princess wishes to submit to the leadership and protection of a Prince. The problem was that they misunderstood this princess-like submissiveness and desire for protection. This misunderstanding led to them accepting a cheap counterfeit for the real thing.

It happened like this. It was a stormy night and a Princess named Jennifer was traveling home from a ball in her carriage. Suddenly, lightening flashed and poor Princess Jennifer fell out of her carriage and was left dripping on the road. The castle of our noble Prince was nearby, and she hastily fled and begged for shelter.

Prince Charming was a true Prince, and as such chivalrously gave shelter to every princess that called, regardless of whether or not he thought there was a possibility of that princess being his Princess. But as he showed this Jennifer inside and introduced her to his parents he secretly wondered if she would one day become his Princess.

His parents also wondered.

While Princess Jennifer went off with Charming's sister Rosamund, Charming and his parents had a quick discussion. They were certainly very impressed with what they had seen of Jennifer so far. However they wished to ascertain whether or not Jennifer was a true princess. Many princesses they had met had no desire to obey any leadership, and as such were not behaving worthy of their station.

So they came up with a plan. A true Princess, they thought, would be very sensitive. So Charming's mother prepared Jennifer's sleeping arrangements in a very special way. She placed a small pea on the floor. This pea was a nasty comment about Jennifer. On top of this pea were placed 50 mattresses that had been fetched from the Great King's palace earlier that day. These mattresses were no ordinary mattresses. They were reminders of the Great King's everlasting love and care for all his Princes and Princesses.

Princess Jennifer could not sleep that night. Instead of resting in enjoyment in the promises of the Great King's love for her, she completely ignored them. Instead her thoughts were consumed with the critical comment. Instead of resting comfortably in the mattresses, she was as conscious as possible of the pea. In fact, she almost found a sort of pleasure in bruising herself with it.

In the morning, Prince Charming was greeted by a weeping Jennifer who begged for protection from the aggressive pea. Delighted in what he saw to be a truly feminine Princess, he immediately proposed. Jennifer, though a little shocked at the suddenness of it all, was delighted. All her life she had hoped that she would be loved by a Prince. She thought that all her troubles would go away under his love and protection. So she accepted his proposal and they were married.

Unfortunately, many troubles came to their marriage. Jennifer soon found that Charming could not tell her often enough how much he loved her. He could not praise her half as often as she wished. Charming was exhausted from constantly having to affirm her. To top this off, the very insecure Princess tried to make herself feel better by tearing Charming down and criticizing him. Instead of being a help to him in his service of the Great King, Jennifer became a first class hindrance.

This came about through misunderstanding true Princesshood. Princesses have been given a desire to be protected, loved and led by the earthly men in their lives. This is a desire given by the Great King, and should definitely not be suppressed in any way. However, this good desire is not allowed to supersede her desire to be protected, loved and led by the Great King. Ultimately she realizes that the Great King is the only One who can always be there for her. She trusts in the mercy and love of the Great King, and does not desperately seek out these things from the hand of any Prince, because she believes the Great King's promises to be true. She believes that He loves her and so follows His commands.

So please young women, please do not mistake the courageously submissive spirit of a Princess for a cowardice stemming from a lack of trust in the Great King.