Once upon a time --
A beautiful princess named -- oh, let’s call her Diane -- lived in a kingdom far away in The Great Frozen North. Beautiful, that is, in a biker bar waitress sense.
She was destined to live a life as happily ever after as any princess could live in a land where birds helped with the housework and dogs were wise counselors.
But, as in all tales of this sort, an older woman showed up. Miffed about a misdirected party invitation or upset about ingenue beauty, we will never know.
What we do know is that poor Princess Diane found herself waking up in a tropical land where she could not speak the language. And where, what she called “those people,” did not treat animals as she knew they should be treated.
What had seemed to be sensitivity in The Great Frozen North, in her exile, suddenly seemed like self-righteousness. She alone needed to set right the imbalance between people who were not nice to animals.
So, the princess who would have tossed in bed with the presence of a pea, changed herself into a thief. Someone is threatening a dog with a stick? Steal it. Or what appears to be a starving puppy? Steal it. Or someone is training a fighting cock? Buy it.
Pretty soon she was a princess with a menagerie of animals -- none of whom could help her with her chores or advise her on her next step. So, she started doling out animals to people she hoped were as sensitive as she thought herself to be.
Of course, they weren’t. It is one of the delusions of self-righteousness. Being nice is nowhere near the same thing as being good.
And she knew things had come full circle when she stole two kittens and had to leave them stuffed in a box at the front door of a woman who did know the difference between being nice and being good -- and doing the right thing.
When last seen, poor Princess Diane was dressed in a black cloak carrying an apple looking for Snow White.
Because today’s princess is merely tomorrow’s sorceress.
Note: The photograph at the top of this post was shot by Nancy Dardarian and posted on her blog: Countdown to Mexico. It has set on my desktop for months waiting for just the right story. And here it is.
