If I were to Write a Children's Book

Princess Poppy and the Lying Lyre who Lied

By Kathryn Miller

Once upon a time in a fairy kingdom lived a king and a queen who had many many daughters all named after flowers.  The youngest princess was named poppy.  Poppy had short red hair and as many freckles as the sky had stars.  She wore orange sundresses with green stockings and a simple yellow ribbon in her hair on the days she did not wear her princess crown.

Princess Poppy loved to skip.  She’d rather skip than walk.  Her elder sisters would say, “don’t do that inside” or “that’s not the way a princess behaves” but Poppy skipped around the palace anyway.

One day while Princess Poppy was skipping she  bumped into a table knocking over a figurine of a handsome young boy playing a Lyre that was given to her parents as a gift from one of the Fairy Queens.  

“Oh no.” said Princess Poppy looking down at the figurine.  His one arm was now broken and his instrument had fallen from his grip.  “What will I do?” She said sadly kneeling down by the figurine.  “King daddy and Queen Mummy will be ever so cross.”

The little Lyre lying on the ground began to strum itself and make sounds.  At first it made tiny music but then it made words.  The words were, “Walk away.  No one saw you do this.  I won’t tell anyone and no one will know.”

Princess Poppy frowned.  She was not bothered by the fact that the Lyre had spoken to her.  She lived in a Fairy Kingdom after all.  She wasn’t sure if she should take its advice.

“But If I just walk away then...Someone else will just find you.” She told the Lyre.

“Yes, and they won’t know what happened.  They will think the wind blew me over.  And King Daddy and Queen Mummy won’t be cross with you.”

Princess Poppy looked up and down the hallway.  There was no one around.  She could just walk away.  Thinking about it made her stomach feel achy though, like she had skipped too soon after drinking lots of milk.  

“I don’t know if I can do that.” She said looking down at the Lyre.  

“Its not like you’d be lying,” said the Lyre. “You won’t be saying anything at all.”

The Lyre made sense and though it made her uneasy  so Princess Poppy walked away.  That night at when all the Princess were present for dinner King Daddy and Queen Mummy walked over the the grand palace dinner table looking sad.  Princess Poppy felt her stomach feel funny again.

Then King Daddy placed the broken figure on the table and asked, “Does anyone have anything to say about this?”  Princess Poppy fidgeted in her chair.  The other princesses merely looked puzzled.

The little lyre began to play. First there were music and then four clear words. “Princess Poppy broke me.”

“Poppy?” King Daddy said with disappointment.

“But you said you wouldn’t tell.” Princess Poppy cried.

“I Lied.” said the Lyre.

Queen Mummy walked Princess Poppy to her room telling her she  was to eat her dinner alone and have no desert.

“But Mummy, the Lyre lied.”

“It did worse than that.  It made a liar out of you.” Queen Mummy told her gently.

“But I didn’t say anything.” Princess Poppy said sadly.  

“That can be the worst lie of all, dear Poppy.” Queen Mummy told her.  Princess Poppy nodded and vowed from that moment on to never lie nor listen to a Lying Lyre that Lies.