The Undercover Princess and the Kingdom of the Shoes
Princess Stephanie didn’t know she was a princess. She thought she was just an ordinary, 7-year old girl whose ordinary mommy and daddy called her by an ordinary name. She was just Annie.
Annie and her ordinary family lived in an ordinary house in an ordinary town. The only thing that wasn’t ordinary about Annie was how much she liked shoes.
Annie really liked shoes. She liked them so much that she would rather get shoes for Christmas than toys.
Annie didn’t know why she liked shoes so much, until one night her mommy and daddy told her a new bed-time story about an ordinary girl named Annie.
When Annie was a little girl, a very, very little girl, before she started talking and remembering her memories, Annie didn’t live in an ordinary house. She lived in a big castle in a beautiful, rich land.
Her family wasn’t ordinary, either. Her mother and father were the queen and king of the land. Annie was a princess. And her name was Stephanie.Stephanie’s mother, the queen, had the prettiest, daintiest feet of all the women in the kingdom. She knew how pretty her feet were, and she spent a lot of time admiring them. The queen was very proud of her feet.
The king loved the queen and would do anything to please her. He sent soldiers throughout the kingdom to bring back the best shoemaker from each town and every village to make shoes for the queen.
The king had a big workshop built in the royal village for the shoemakers. The workshop was bigger than the king’s castle! He filled the workshop with all of the tools and materials the shoemakers would need. When the soldiers brought the shoemakers back, he then he put them to work.
The shoemakers were allowed to sell or trade the many fine shoes she didn’t choose. They were glad the king had brought them to the royal village to work for, because they soon became rich, too. They built fine houses and beautiful churches and for their families, and large schools for their children.
The king and queen became even richer and more famous. The queen became even prouder of her pretty, dainty feet, now that she had shoes that made them look even prettier and daintier.
The shoemakers became even richer as traders bought their fine shoes by the hundreds to sell kingdom wide, and the kingdom became known throughout the world for the wonderful shoes they made. It became known as the Kingdom of the Shoes.
Not everyone was happy for the king and queen. Other kings from other kingdoms were jealous. They wanted to be more rich and more famous. They wanted their people to live in fine houses, worship at beautiful churches, and send their children to large schools.
But they didn’t want to work for it.
So they decided to take it from the king and queen.
The other kings invaded the Kingdom of the Shoes, and the king and queen had to run away and hide, taking their baby girl, Princess Stephanie, with them.
They only had room to take three pair of shoes, and it made the queen sad to leave all of her pretty, dainty shoes behind.
The king’s armies fought the evil neighbors for six years, until they gave up and went back home to their own kingdoms.
Now, as soon as the soldiers make sure the kingdom is safe, the king and queen and Princess Stephanie can come home to the Kingdom of the Shoes, and live happily ever after.
When Annie’s mommy and daddy finished telling her the story, she was almost asleep. They each gave her a butterfly kiss on the forehead and whispered, “Good night.”
Annie was sure she heard her mommy say, “Soon, my Princess Stephanie. Soon we can go home.”
Annie fell asleep with a smile on her face, and she dreamed of a room filled with beautiful, dainty shoes.
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Written for and dedicated to my shoe-loving niece Stephanie, who overcame the temptation to blow her entire tax return on shoes. I'm so proud of you, Steph!!
Catrina Bradley
"God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes." Psalm 18:24 (Msg)
