A month went by like this. The farm princess talking and spending time with the king. The dainty princess being carted around this way and that way by the council of experts to complete whichever task they saw she was fit for. The bold princess always rushing around doing something to complete her tasks.
Then at the end of the month, the bold princess and the dainty princess had said they completed the first task. The bold princess had rushed to the king first, where he and the farm girl were planting a golden apple tree in the garden. “Sire! I have found something that outshines the sun. Come! Please.”
The king nodded. “I will when I am finished.” He went back to planting with the farm princess. The bold princess huffed as she glanced at the moving sun.
“Sire, but you must come now or the shine will be gone soon.” She explained indiginatly.
“But in outshining the sun, the object can wait and keep shining as the sun does. It is not dependent on that time but simply the fire within.” The king patiently explained. The farm princess stared at him.
“Exactly.” said the dainty princess arriving. “Which is why I can wait, your majesty.” she said, flashing a smile at the irritated bold princes and the king. Her smile faltered at the farm princess who was kneeling with the king, gardening together. “And do you have anything to provide for the first challenge, dear?”
The farm princess shook her head. “The sun grows brighter. So is what I am finding.” She said softly, with a glance at the king. The dainty and bold princesses let out a breath.
“It will be more than bright enough in time.” The king assured the farm princess before standing up. “All right, show me what you have found.”
The bold princess grabbed the king and dragged him to the main hall. On a pedestal in the main hall, was a sparkling gemstone that glowed and vibrated with energy. “It is a stone that fell from the stars. I caught it, polished it, and refined it just for you, your majesty.”
The other princesses arrived and gasped at the star gemstone. The king said nothing as he walked up to the gemstone. Then, gently he picked it up and held it against the last rays of sunlight. Soon the stone began to vibrate more. Quickly, the king put the gemstone down and had a magical shield around it. The gemstone let out a high-pitched whine before it burst into shards and dust.
Silence beat through the hall before the bold princess moaned. “It broke? But it was perfect! You all saw how it shined, right?” She looked around as everyone stared at where the star gemstone was. The bold princess looked back and gasped. The king’s was putting the star gemstone back together again with his magic. Everyone watched as the star gemstone was built back up. Finally, it was whole once more, sparkling and glowing, but not as brightly.
“What happened to it?” the bold princess asked. “Is it still broken?”
“It is healing.” The king said softly as he gently put the gemstone back down. “It is whole and complete, yet let it rest and give it time to shine again.”
“But it needs to shine now.” Cried the bold princess. “How else will you and others know that it outshines the sun if it will not shine?”
“It fell from a long way,” the king approached them. “And then was put under much pressure into a form new to it. Then expected to shine as it did once when it was just a star in the sky.” The king gently put his hand on the shoulder of the bold princess. “What it did before belonged to the form it was. Now it is something new. Wait for it to heal and see how newly it shines in this new form. Your gemstone’s brightness is still there. We just have to wait for it to be here.”
“But I want it here now.” The bold princess glanced at her gemstone in frustration. “I worked so hard to put it there and get it to shine. It should shine. Why is not it shining?”
“The sun does not force its brightness,” The king said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It just is bright. Then, as the day wanes and night grows, the sun rests for the moon to shine. Until it can come back out once more and shine. Let this gemstone have its night, to heal, rest, and get used to its new form. Then there will be a day when it will shine again” At the king’s advice the bold princess huffed. “What you brought is good. Do you believe that it outshines the sun?”
“Not right now.” The bold princess relented and shed a tear that the king caught. He put that tear on the gemstone. With the tear, the gemstone shined a bit brighter than before. The bold princess let out a breath. “But maybe one day it will.” With that, she bid everyone a goodnight and went to rest herself.
“Tomorrow, may I present what I found to the king?” The dainty princess asked. The king nodded and with a triumphant smile the dainty princess left to go rest. That left the farm princess and the king.
As the farm princess stared at the gemstone, she asked, “How can something outshine the sun when the sun has been shining for so long.” She looked at the king. “How are we to find that which can out-do the sun’s natural shine?”
“By seeing the way things shine on their own.” The king advised. He looked at the gemstone. “Such as the brightness of this stone is not just in the light it carries, but the fact that after it has fallen such a long way, it still gives off light.”
The farm princess looked at the gemstone again and with the king’s comment in mind, suddenly the fragile gemstone shined not in light but in strength. A strength the sun did not have. “I see.”
The king looked at the farm princess and smiled. “Yes, you can.” The farm princess felt her face get hot. They bid each other goodnight and went to bed.
After breakfast the next day, the dainty princess led the king and others, including her many counselors to her shining submission. A garden wall with mirrors. Many covered their eyes as they approached its blinding form. The king was looking up at the gray sky.
“As you can see,” The dainty princess smiled as she explained her find. “This wall of mirrors to reflect the sunlight for these plants is more blinding than the sun and does not force brightness. It is simply blindingly bright.” The councilors nodded in acceptance of the offer from the dainty princess.
“And what of the rain?” The king inquired.
“The rain?” As soon as the dainty princess asked that, the sky darkened as rain began to fall. Not only did the brightness from the mirrors dim, but the reflections in them became distorted by the rain. “No!” The dainty princess cried as they went inside the palace greenhouse. “It was bright!”
“They were imitating a brightness that was not their own.” The king said. “So when clouds cover what they were imitating, not only does their brightness dim but they are left with only what they are.”
“There’s no brightness to mirrors.” The dainty princess said softly as her tears fell like the rain. The king caught a tear, then went out in the rain and put a tear on the mirror. It glistened as the king put a hand on it. He went back to the greenhouse.
“The sun is covered now but there’s silver in the sky,” the king pointed to the strands of silver glowing in the dark grey sky. “That silver reminds us that the sun is still shining, even though we cannot see it.” He smiled at the dainty princess.
“But if they can only imitate things, what brightness and silver of their own can these mirrors provide?” The bold princess scoffed.
“Being near enough to touch and while having the strength to bear the reflection of the light around is more precious than silver in a time of loneliness and need.” The king said softly. He went back to the mirror. When he touched the mirror where the tear fell, a flash of rainbow light glowed. The mirror wall transformed into a glass mirror sculpture of a deer, its head down searching for water. The king waved his hand and the deer was placed by the fountain. The moment the deer touched the water, the rainbow light glowed around it again. As the people gasped in amazement, the king went to the dainty princess. “Do you believe what you found outshines the sun?”
“It…” The dainty princess sighed as glanced back to her whispering counselors. “It shines but the light is not that of the sun. I will keep looking.” She saw some counselors nod at her decision, and others shook their heads. She looked back at the king and curtsied. “Thank you for your help, sire.”
“Anytime, your highness.” The king said with a bow of his head. Then the dainty princess left to talk with her counselors and the bold princess left to start the second task as she waited for her gemstone to shine. All who were left were the king and the farm princess. She stared at the glistening deer and its rainbow light.
“It is still imitating light, just from a different place.” She observed as she went closer to the deer, not minding the light rain. The king came next to her.
“Sometimes it is not about what something is or does that makes it bright. It is about where it is placed.” The king walked to the deer and touched it gingerly. “What it is formed into. This is still the mirror. Just in a different form and place.”
“The sun is still the sun even if it is behind clouds.” The farm princess summarized. The king smiled at her.
“Exactly.” As the king smiled the farm princess looked at him. She examined his face.
“May I touch you, your majesty?”
“You may.” With the king’s permission, the farm princess touched the king’s face. A warmth settled around them and in her, as the king’s smile grew brighter.
“Sire, I believe I have found something that outshines the sun.” She said quietly. The rain stopped around them.
“What is it?” He whispered back.
“Your smile.” She answered. “It shines with wisdom and warmth. It smells like apples.” She laughed and he joined her. A sudden courage sprouted within her. “Every time I see it, I feel like a flower rising and awakening to bloom. Any form it is in, small or large, or just the tone of your voice, I…need it.”
“Does it outshine the sun for you?” The king asked gently.
“It does.” Her answer was still quiet but as sure and real as the breeze. The king put her hand on top of hers on his face.
“Then it is yours. What you sought, you found.”
The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” -Numbers 6:25-26 NKJV
Something Good 