Letter to a Little Princess
Dear Princess,
Like most children, Princess Precious was a curious little girl. She wanted to know how Mother Matron made cookies; and that was good. She studied how the flowers grew in the King’s Garden; and that was good. And she liked to know “why” about everything that puzzled her. That was not always so good.
“Precious. Joy. Don’t let the cat into the pantry,” Mother Matron said one morning. “Rats have chewed through a box of crackers and I’m putting poison out.”
“What does the poison do?” whispered Joy.
“I don’t know,” Precious answered. But she decided she was going to find out. After she had finished her chores, Precious tip-toed over to the pantry door. Sure enough, something was scratching around in there. Scritch-crunch-scratch.
“What are you listening for?” asked Valiant.
“Rats. They are chewing on something,” said Precious. “I’m going to see what it is.” She turned the door handle and poked her head into the dark room. The scratching stopped. “Get a flashlight,” she whispered to her brother.
“You shine the light and I’ll hit it with the broom,” said Valiant. Two red eyes glowed on the dark shelf and Valiant charged at them. There was a frantic scramble as the rat dropped to the floor and darted behind a box.
The door swung wide and a flash of orange disappeared into the shadows. Precious was shining her light at the shelf and didn’t see it. “Valiant, just look. It was eating a funny sort of cookie bar!” she said.
But Valiant was poking the broom between the boxes. There was a sound of scuffling, and suddenly Tiger appeared with a fat gray rat in his mouth. “Good cat!” Valiant cried. “Now go and eat your nice breakfast outside.”
Precious opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. Tiger wouldn’t get poisoned if he was in there only one minute, would he? Maybe if she just closed the pantry door quickly it would be alright.
“Precious, come quick! Something terrible is happening to Tiger,” Joy cried, as Precious was clearing the lunch table. “He’s just coughing and going in circles.” Precious ran outside. The poor cat did look sick. His sides were heaving and he kept opening his mouth.
“Oh, dear! He’s poisoned and it is all my fault!” Precious said. Her own stomach felt sick as she hurried to find Mother Matron.
“What a sad way to learn a lesson,” she said after she heard the story. “I’m afraid the poison will kill him, but I’ll take him to the Gardener and see what He can do. I hope you realize how important it is to simply obey.”
“Yes, and I’m very sorry. I’m going to listen and not be so curious any more!” Precious said.
Mother Matron gave her a squeeze. “My dear, sometimes we must be still, and sometimes we need to use our minds to figure things out. King Jesus will surely help you do the right thing if you ask Him.”
May you learn to be a careful, obedient princess the easier way.
With love,
Aunt Faith
