The Spring Princess

Once upon a springtime, in the small hours before dawn, a baby girl was born, and her parents called her Romina. Little Romina was so precious that everyone who saw her loved her at once.

Spring soon became summer and autumn and winter followed. Time flew swiftly, as if on bird wings and baby Romina was soon a young girl.

On sunny days Romina loved to play in the garden amongst the grass and the flowers, and she would sing happily for hours. But her favourite thing to do was to listen to her mummy’s stories about a very special princess, who brought sunshine to the world.

Every night her daddy would tuck her into bed and her mummy would come and tell her about the Spring Princess. The Spring Princess was born with sunshine in her heart, hair that smelled like fresh flowers and a voice like a bird’s song. Romina thought it would be wonderful to be the Spring Princess and have all of nature love you so. Sometimes when she fell asleep, she would dream that she really was the Spring Princess, singing with the sparrows in the branches of a creaking tree and spreading sunlight over the garden, to make the daisies grow.

One cloudy morning Romina woke from one of her dreams and told her mummy and daddy that she wished she were the Spring Princess and not just an ordinary little girl. Her daddy laughed and said to her… ‘Romina, when you smile you make everyone feel warm inside and when you laugh the room gets brighter. That’s because you have sunshine in your heart.’ Then he lifted a strand of her hair and placed it under her nose. ‘What does it smell like?’ Romina gasped… ’Flowers!’ Then Romina’s mummy told her to look at the mirror on the wall and whispered… ‘Look at your eyes… do you see that sparkle?’ ‘Yes,’ whispered Romina, ‘I see it’. Her mummy smiled. ‘That’s the sunlight shining out of you, for everyone to see.’

Romina felt so wonderful. Her dreams had come true. But then, she remembered something. ‘Mummy, the Spring Princess had a voice like a bird’s song. Her mummy lifted her up and opened the window. Outside on the fence were perched two small sparrows. Romina began to giggle with glee, and at that a blackbird appeared and swooped down onto the window ledge. ‘You see’ said mummy, very quietly, so as not to frighten the birds. ‘They think you’re one of them.’

Romina’s heart skipped a beat and she was sure she felt it swell. She looked up at the sky and the most extraordinary thing happened. The grey clouds melted away and the sun shone brighter than she’d ever seen it shine. Romina exclaimed… ’I really am the Spring Princess! I really am!’

From that day on, Romina loved to play in the garden even more than she had before. She sang to the flowers, and her new friends; the birds, and had picnics in the long grass almost every day. But Romina decided that the best thing of all about being the Spring Princess, was that now when the day was over and her mummy and daddy called her inside, she never had to say goodbye to the sunshine. Romina knew that if she just started to smile and laugh and make her eyes sparkle, she could spread sunshine all through the house and her mummy and daddy would laugh and sing, because even in winter their house felt like spring!

THE END