Once upon a time in a country far, far away there lived a lovely princess. And she was bored stiff. She had read every novel in the library (which looked a lot like the one in beauty and the Beast), she had built a snowman in the palace garden, thrown snowballs with the servants (it was snowing you see) and now she was pacing up and down in front of the fireplace, trying to think of something to do next.

Explore the castle! That was it. She had done that billions of times before, but that was back in her little kid days. No, for a change, she would be able to reach the top of the great tower before getting exhausted. And this time she wouldn’t be stopped be locked doors. Very happy with herself she set off for the room in the great tower.

Four thousand five hundred and fifty-nine steps later she wasn’t so happy with herself anymore, but after another five-hundred steps she did reach a big wooden door. Of course it was locked. And the princess, who wasn’t the brightest person in the world, had forgotten to bring her bunch of keys. She didn’t despair, there was still an army of pins that tried to keep her hair pilled up, waiting to be useful for a change. With one of those pins she forced her way into the room.

Empty. “Hey, this isn’t as planned!” the princess thought angrily. But behind the door she did find a box, a pirate’s treasury. “Wow, perhaps there even is a map in it to find more treasures and have adventures.” The princess hoped with all her heart. She dragged the chest to the middle of the room and opened it with another one of her hairpins (she started to look like a ragged doll)

In it was the most beautiful gown she had ever seen. It had a lovely shade of pink (close to the color of peaches) and silver threads were woven into the fabric. The princess just had to try it on. It fitted perfectly. The hem actually reached her ankles without the help of a seamstress! Just wearing it made her feel like dancing. She put on her old clothes again and with the dress across her arms she practically flew down the five thousand steps. Running towards the king’s office a new plan formed in her pretty head.

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