The Kitten and the Tiara - Children’s Story

Commentary below

Written By Rev. Philip Stonhouse

Once upon a time there was a beautiful long haired white cat named Princess, who would never be seen without her prized possession, a tiara. This tiara was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen, next to the cat of course. It was silver and had red rubies, blue sapphires, green emeralds, black onyx, white pearls. Princess would proudly wear the Tiara around the house letting her humans know their place.

Her humans knew their role well. They would open the door when she stood by it. They would turn on the T.V. and pet her while she lay there and watched. They would brush her when she nuzzled the basket. They would have her breakfast ready in her bowl promptly at 7:15am and dinner at 6:30pm. If they didn’t do any of these things they would soon be sorry. They would even clean up after her poo.

Well one day she was napping in front of the T.V. as was her normal practice. The humans on the screen were playing their simple games, when she fell asleep. When she woke up she felt different. The T.V. was off but that wasn’t it. She was about to go check her bowl when she realized what it was. She was missing her tiara. She immediately went to her humans and began to ask them where it was, “Meow, meow, meow”. They didn’t seem to know what to do. “MMMmmmmeeeeeoooowwww”.

Well soon they brought her bowl over. MMMMMmmmmmeeeooowwww. Then they brought her the brush. "MMMMmmmmmeeeeoooowww." They stood by the door and opened it.

"MMMmmmmmmeeeeeoooowwwww." They went and turned on the T.V. But nothing would please Princess.

Since they wouldn’t help her, she would ask outside. Her humans seemed to have a similar thought as they put her outside. She decided to ask the smelly dog, but he just wanted to eat. She went and asked the hyper squirrel but she just wanted to play tag all day. She asked the confused bird, but he just wanted to sing all day. She even asked the dirty earthworm, but he just wanted to dig all day.

Princess began to get frustrated, so she decided to go look herself.

" Who cares about anyone else?", she thought. I am going to find it and ruin all their fun while doing it. Outside, she dug in the earthworm's garden. She mucked up the bird's nest. She ruined the squirrel's game of tag, and she spilled the dog's bowl of food, all to find her tiara. Inside, she knocked the appliances off the counter, and she tracked mud everywhere. She went through the cupboards scattering flour and cereal, breaking plates, dirtying clothes.

The whole time her humans were chasing after her and not trying to help at all. She jumped up onto the biggest human's bed. From there she saw a reflection in the mirror of something quite gross. It was brown and dirty. She was going to turn away from it, as she would turn away from all such creatures, when she saw her own eyes behind all that mud. She looked down and no longer saw her nice beautiful, soft white fur but clumps of dirt and food and no white to be seen, except the flour. Now, she didn’t even have her beautiful hair. She let her humans capture her and wash her, brush her and cut the clumps out of her hair.

It didn’t seem to help, she didn’t look as beautiful as she once was. She just looked like a mess of gray. This made her still angrier. She wanted to take it out on someone. Just then she saw a little mouse scurry into the other room.

Though normally she wouldn’t even care to catch a mouse, she snatched it up just as it turned the corner.

The mouse begged her to let her go. "Please, Please, Please" (not unlike the sound a mouse normally makes).

Princess said, “Unless you have my tiara, I am going to eat you up”.

The mouse said, “I don’t have your tiara but I have something I think is even more beautiful”.

Reluctantly, Princess agreed, “Fine, but if it isn’t beautiful, I'm surely going to eat you”.

Princess waited, thinking she would eat him even if the mystery item was pretty. She was about to fall asleep when she heard a dragging, scraping sound from the other room. She walked over and saw a big gray rock, not unlike the colour of her now stained fur.

“What is the meaning of this?” she said.

Princess was about to grab the mouse when it squealed “Wait, wait, wait. It is beautiful on the inside”.

“What good will that do me?”

“Well, we have to break it open”.

Princess thought for a while and realized she could drop it out of a tree. So she climbed up higher and higher and when the mouse just looked like a little speck, she dropped the rock.

When it hit the cement it broke in two. When she finally got down she saw a big shiny glistening, clear, pure diamond.

The mouse said to her, “See it was what was on the inside that counts. It doesn’t matter if something seems ugly on the outside. The inside can be far more beautiful”.

Just as Princess reached for the stone, she once again saw that her fur matched the grey part of the stone. For the first time in her life, she hope that her insides were more beautiful than her outside.

She looked at the mouse, “How could my insides be this pretty?"

“Well . . . .” The mouse thought long and hard. “We could be friends for a start”.

“I’ve never had a friend”.

“Great, I’ll be your first”.

Soon, Princess and the mouse were best friends. Princess now went about her days playing and helping others. Singing with the birds, playing tag with squirrels, finding food for the dog, snuggling with her humans. She even let the mouse keep the beautiful diamond.

The End . . . (Or is it?)

Oh, I know you are still wondering what happened to the tiara. What do you think happened to it?

Well, one day, Princess was going to go help mouse get some cheese when she saw the littlest human girl, coming down the stairs in a satin blue dress. She had never seen a human look so beautiful. Then she saw it. On the top of the human’s head was her tiara. Her old self wanted to come back as she felt anger rising, but just then the sound of a bell filled the house. At the front door appeared a young human boy holding a small flower. Princess could tell right away from the look in his eyes that he thought this little girl human was beautiful too. Princess decided to let go of the tiara, she didn’t need it anymore. Now, all she hoped for was that this human would be as beautiful on the inside as she looked on the outside.

Comments: Pride and self-centeredness, are two of the greatest causes of pain, isolation, and lacking faith; some would say they are the centre of all sin. Princess was chock-full of both. She thought the world revolved around her, that it owed her something. So that’s how she lived. Soon when things didn’t go perfectly, her pride and selfishness led her to her own destruction and the torment of others too. Thankfully, in her distress/tantrum, she was willing to listen to someone to point her way (serving as God in her midst). Sadly, this does not happen for everyone. Either someone doesn’t speak up or we don’t listen. She does listen, and she sees that a beautiful heart, love, and relationship are far more important than what is on the outside. She finds a much more enjoyable life when she is willing to live with, and for, others (all that is lacking is God’s priority). This means that when her worst fear arises, she now sees the hope in it.