The berry prince (one of iris's many stories)
In a castle far away a prince lived alone. His mother wrote him letters everyday, telling him of the things going on in their home kingdom. The prince wished to come live with them, to see the people and the flowers his mom wrote about, but was scared that he wouldn't be the prince they wanted him to be. So he stayed alone, pacing in the halls and wandering the grounds. One day, his mother sent him a letter filled with nothing but small seeds and a little note. The note said My son, plant these so you can see the flowers from home. Love, mummy. The prince knew nothing about flowers, but he wanted to make his mom happy. So he went to the castles library, a room he never went in since his first day at the castle. He found a few books, and started reading.
The books said he had to wait until spring to be able to plant the seeds, so he waited. Everyday he watched out the window for the snow to melt. For the first time in a very long time, he felt excited. When spring finally arrived and all the snow was gone, the prince rushed outside with the tools the books told him he’d need. But planting flowers was harder than he thought. The ground was too hard for his shovel to pierce through. When he read more books, they told him that he would have to wait longer for the ground to get soft. So he did. He wasn’t happy, and paced the castle halls as he waited. Eventually the sun came out and warmed the ground, and he was able to plant the seeds and water them. Now he had to wait even more. The prince got mad, he didn’t want to wait. So he gave up, forgetting about the seeds. He kept writing to his mom, deciding not to tell her about the failed flowers.
As time went by, the prince barely went outside. He instead stayed inside reading, turns out that he liked doing that. A year after his mom sent the seeds, she sent another letter, asking about how the seeds were doing and if they had grown. The prince had forgotten about them, and decided to check. He was sure that nothing had happened, and figured he could send the seeds back to his mom. But when he went out to the garden he found something surprising. The flowers had grown! Big beautiful blooms grew everywhere, as bright and as colorful as his mom had told them they were. The prince knelt down, lifting one of the flowers up. Underneath them was a small bushel of berries. The prince was surprised, his mom never mentioned the berries. He picked a few, and ate them. The berries were the sweetest thing he had ever tasted. He wanted to send them to his mom right away! But…the berries would die before they get there. The prince wondered, should he finally go back home? He was scared. But he wanted to show the berries to his mom, and he couldn’t do it from his castle. So he gathered a bouquet of flowers and a bushel of berries, and set out back home. His mind was full of worries, what if his mom didn’t want to see him? What if the people hated him? Eventually he made it to his moms kingdom, and when he knocked on the palace door, she opened it. She looked up at him in shock, before running up and giving him a hug.
“I missed you so much! I’m so happy you’re back!”
The prince hugged her as tightly as he could, and gave her the flowers and berries, telling her about his garden. Turns out, the townsfolk always picked the flowers before they could turn into berries, so no one ever knew that they existed! The prince stayed with his mom, and the kingdom became well known for their delicious jam and berry pies. And the prince learned that he can’t stay afraid alone, he has to go out and make a change himself.
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