Once there was a small kingdom. It was surrounded by several dense forests. A wise king and his queen lived there. Their daughter lived there with them. A lovely princess named Elizabeth. But she was no ordinary princess. She was different.
Every princess liked to dress and groom herself and behave like a princess. Elizabeth wore trousers rather than dresses and skirts. She liked to wear her beautiful long black hair in a ponytail. And instead of going to balls and walking gracefully in the garden, she sat in her room and drew.
But it wasn’t just any pictures. Elizabeth drew experiences. They were extraordinary stories. The drawings were of dragons rescuing princesses, friends running away from big lizards, or animals helping to save the forest. Elizabeth often imagined how she experienced everything in her stories too. She liked it best when she could put away her princess crown and start drawing. But she had no idea how her pictures could come to life.
One day, after a hard day of studying and having to try to behave nobly and doing all the things a princess is supposed to do, she came to her room and couldn’t wait to rest. Instead of a dress, she put on something comfortable and loose and lay down on her bed with a paper and pencil in her hand. She turned on her imagination and began to draw. A mysterious forest began to appear on the paper. There were strange animals running around everywhere. Purple elephants, striped monkeys and snakes with legs. The princess didn’t spare her imagination and drew whatever came to mind. As she closed her eyes for a moment, wondering what else she could draw for the story, someone tapped her on the shoulder.
When she opened her eyes, the animals she had drawn were in her room. Elizabeth quickly jumped out of bed, closed the large door to her chamber, and pulled all the curtains on the windows closed so no one could see what was going on inside. The animals looked at her and the purple elephant said: “What are you looking at princess? You have always wished to live out your drawings. So we all came to you. We love the way you draw us. And we want to have an adventure with you. Come on.” He nudged the princess with his trunk and things started to happen. The animals played with Elizabeth and helped her draw more friends. They built little houses and kingdoms out of pillows in the room. The princess was happy. She didn’t have to wear fancy clothes and she didn’t have to act like a princess. With her lively drawings, she acted like she was a little girl again.
By the time the animals were back on the paper and they were just pictures again, it was already evening. Elizabeth put on her evening dress and got ready for dinner with the king and queen. But she didn’t mind now. She knew that even royal duties had to be fulfilled. She was a princess, after all. And because she was smart and obedient, she knew she had to behave like a princess. But she also knew that the time would come again when she would draw her friends and enjoy every moment with them.
