There once lived a Princess in Jelly Bean castle, who wanted more and more and more. Princess Evy Von Greedy was a difficult character. No matter what was offered to her it was never enough, parties, jewellery, a beautiful white pony, Princess Evy Von Greedy would turn up her nose to it all and ask for a bigger, better and more expensive one.However, things were not always this way. Princess Evy Von Greedy was born a happy, delightful baby, who enjoyed the tender loving care of King and Queen Von Greedy and she was adored by the castle staff. The butler, the chef, the head maid and the stable staff enjoyed their daily greeting by the smiling princess and made every effort to share her happiness. The chef, Monsieur Le Beouf, would make Princess Evy the sweetest chocolate tarts, shortcake hearts and strawberry meringue filled with cream. “Yummy” Princess Evy would respond when Monsieur le Beouf offered her such indulgent treats. But one day the Princess, having already eaten two tarts and a bowl of strawberry mousse, handed her silver serving tray back to the chef and demanded “More Monsieur Le Beouf, More!” Amazed by the Princess’ request, Monsieur le Beouf, replied, “Why Princess this is more than enough for a little girl of your size, any more would simply be too much.” But the Princess was not going to be stopped that easily, “I am the Princess, I can never have too much and I get what I want. Two more chocolate tarts Monsieur le Beouf!” Staggered by this demand, the chef gave in and served up some more pudding delights to Princess Evy Von Greedy.
The House Maid, Madame de Dustier, was also a favourite of Princess Evy’s. Everyday Madame de Dustier would enter the Princess’ quarters and help her clean up her toys and beautiful royal dresses. Madame de Dustier was asked by the King and Queen to encourage Princess Evy to tidy up her own room and look after her toys. The King said to Madame de Dustier “Although we are the richest in all the land, the Princess must learn to look after Jelly Bean castle, because it will all be hers one day”. However, the Princess was often very distracted and instead of helping Madame de Dustier with the daily cleaning chores, Princess Evy wanted to ride her pony, Lucifer, around the Jelly Bean castle grounds. Madame de Dustier would have to work very hard to clean the Princess’ quarters by herself, but the Princess was so adorable it filled her with joy to see the Princess enjoying her ride on Lucifer the pony.
One day Princess Evy had been looking for something and emptied all of the contents of her drawers, wardrobes, storage chests and closets onto the floor of her room. Madame de Dustier was not pleased, “Princess Evy, what is the meaning of this? Clothes and toys everywhere, what a mess, I will need your help to clear this up by dinner time” she said. Princess Evy, not bothered by Madame de Dustier’s despair said “I am a princess and I can do what I want and right now I want to ride my pony” Princess Evy promptly marched out of her princess chambers and slammed the door behind her. Madame de Dustier, amazed by this reaction, had no time to lose and started the big clear up, alone.
Over dinner that evening, Monsieur Le Boeuf and Madame de Dustier were discussing the Princess’s bad behaviour, a conversation which caught the ear of Mr Hoofclop, Jelly Bean Castle’s Stable Manager. Mr Hoofclop leaned in to the dinner table and whispered, “you too? I am also finding the Princess to be very difficult these days. Yesterday she refused to ride Lucifer the pony, she now wants to ride the King’s horse Augustus, and only the King is allowed to ride Augustus.”
The three discussed what a difficult situation they were in. They did not want to speak to the King and Queen for fear of upsetting them. They also wanted to keep the Princess happy, for perhaps she will grow out of her childish ways soon.
The next day Princess Evy was taking a stroll in the Jelly Bean garden, enjoying the fragrant plants and colourful displays. Her favourite was the sticky toffee bean plant that grew small beans of delicious toffee sauce. Princess Evy leant in to reach the back of the plant where she had spotted the largest bean of all, as her face pushed against the giant leaves, she heard a squeaky voice “Allo”. The Princess turned herself towards the noise and discovered a silver snail looking at her from one the leaves. The Princess in shock replied “My, you are a snail and snails cannot talk!” The snail responded “but I am a magic snail dear Princess, let me introduce myself, I am Dale McVale the magic snail.” Princess Evy now looking very interested asked “so if you’re a magic snail Mr McVale, can you grant wishes?” To which the snail replied “Yes indeed I can dear Princess”. Princess Evy, thought about this and paused for a few seconds. “Well Mr Snail if you don’t grant me a wish I will remove you from my sticky toffee bean plant and throw you in the compost heap which will be collected and buried tomorrow.” The snail not too surprised by this reaction replied “well although I am very tired having granted three wishes today already, I can grant you, dear Princess, the last wish of the day.” The Princess immediately responded “Mr Snail, my wish is that I want everything, the biggest collection of dresses in the land, the finest carriages, everything a Princess needs” Mr McVale the magic snail replied “so be it dear princess, your wish is granted.”
Princess Evy skipped back to the castle, happily singing out of tune ready to start the rest of her day. Upon arriving back at her chambers she noticed the door to her room was bending and creaking, as though being pushed from the other side. That is unusual thought the Princess as she started to turn the door knob. Then as quick as a flash, an explosion of dresses, clothes, toys and shoes rushed over her like a big ocean wave. Princess Evy was buried underneath her own mess. After managing to swim and crawl through the big pile of clothes and toys that had buried her in the corridor, Princess Evy gave up on going further into her room which was floor to ceiling with her dresses and toys, nobody could even pass the doorway! Princess Evy was upset that she couldn’t change out of her garden clothes and being that there was so much mess she thought the King and Queen would find out, and how would she even start to clear it herself to get to her bed this evening! The thought too much to bear, so she decided to visit the stables to cheer herself up.
“Mr Hoofclop” she called several times, but no one replied, in fact the castle had gone very quiet – where was everybody? However, just as she turned into the stable block she was greeted with the magnificent vision of Augustus, the King’s horse, in all his finery, a beautiful golden saddle and bridle to match. I am still the Princess she thought and for the first time she decided to ride Augustus, Augustus not familiar with the princess was a sensitive beast and scared by his change of rider took off to the field, the Princess could only hold on for a few strides of his galloping when she slipped sideways and fell into the stable yard muck heap.
Covered in manure and ready for a bath, Princess Evy with her dented pride headed back to the castle kitchen, where she was greeted by the most delightful surprise, a table filled with tarts, puddings, trifle and the famous jelly bean jellies. The Princess could not resist and dived in with the biggest spoon she could find, sampling everything she could eat along the way. One hour in, Princess Evy, did not feel at all well. In fact, her stomach ache from eating so many desserts was so bad she started crying. But no one came to console her. Princess Evy was miserable and alone and so she decided to take herself up to bed, which was difficult when she felt so ill. Princess had forgotten that her room was full of mess that she couldn’t get in it, feeling too full and uncomfortable to find an alternative the princess laid down on the cold stone floor, in all her misery and pain, princess cried herself to sleep.
The next morning, Princess Evy was greeted by Madame de Dustier, in her bedroom, somehow she had awoken in her bed. The Princess, relieved that everything had returned to normality, jumped out of bed to give Madame de Dustier a big cuddle and then helped her tidy her room so it looked polished, beautiful and fit for a princess.
Princess Evy then made her way to the kitchen where she bumped into Monsieur le Boeuf, who had baked several delicious treats for the princess. “My dear Princess, these are for you” says Monsieur le Boeuf offering several pink and white icing cakes for her on a silver tray. Princess Evy responded “My! These treats do look delicious Monsieur le Boeuf, but I would like to offer these wonderful treats to you and the castle staff to say thank you for all your hard work” Monsieur le Beouf nearly choked on his own icing sugar dust with astonishment at the princess’ kind gesture.
Skipping out of the castle, Princess Evy wanders over to the court stables, where she finds Mr Hoofclop hard at work polishing up one of the saddles. Mr Hoofclop, I did a bad thing yesterday, I tried to ride my father’s horse, Augustus, and I fell off. “Well that cannot be Princess as the King has been away on duty for the past day and Augustus has gone with him” Mr Hooflcop and the Princess looked very confused, and then Princess remembered the wish that was granted to her by Mr McVale the magic snail, it must have been a part of the magic wish. The Princess thought Mr McVale the magic snail had made it so that she had everything that she wanted and look what happened. “Oh Mr Hoofclop, I have been a silly Princess, I made a wish for everything I wanted and it has not ended well, I will no longer be of trouble to you, Madame de Dustier and Monsieur le Beouf”. Mr Hoofclop replied “very good Princess Evy. Let’s go and see to Lucifer your pony.” “Yes indeed” smiled the Princess, “and I would like to help.”
And so the princess learnt that having her wish granted did not make her happy, and she grew up to be a wise princess who fairly ruled the lands of Jelly Bean castle.