Princess Mary Anne and the Shoes

Once upon a time there was a princess. Her name was Mary Anne. She was a pretty girl and she loved dresses and she loved shoes

Sometimes she used to dream about shoes

She used to imagine she had enough shoes to put a pair on every stair from the top of the grand staircase, all the way down to the bottom.

The trouble was that although she loved her shoes most of them were rather uncomfortable and she could only wear them for a few minutes before her feet began to hurt. Then she would take them off and put another pair on instead.

She used to leave her shoes all over the castle and her father, the King, used to get cross as he was always tripping over them. Her mother, the Queen, gave her a special laundry basket to keep them in as she had so many.

The Queen, or the King, would scoop them all up and drop them in the laundry basket. But Princess Mary Anne loved looking at her shoes so much that gradually one by one they would all come out again as the princess lovingly tried them on. First they would fill her royal bedroom floor, then they would start to go downstairs – on her feet of course, although she sometimes dreamt at night that they would all be dancing on the grand hall floor, bowing, curtseying and leaping about.

The princess was always on the lookout for the prettiest pair of shoes that she could find. She wasn’t too sure about how to know if they would be comfortable. She just wanted ‘Pretty Shoes’ . So she bought the pink shoes and brought them home.

“No good, they keep falling off.”

And the blue shoes. “ No good they pinch my toes.”

And the sparkly silver shoes. “No good, they rub my heels.”

And the pretty furry boots. “No good, they’re too hot to wear.”

And the amazing cloppity clogs. “No good, they don’t stay on.”

And the flip flops. “Only good for flippin’ and floppin’ and they make my feet tired, and I can’t go far in them.”

And the ‘between the toes pretty blue and pink shoes. “No good, they hurt my toes….”

“What? But didn’t the Royal Nana buy those for her? Yes, she did. Even the Royal Nana got the wrong shoes. The Royal Nana had forgotten what little princesses’ feet need. She was embarrassed.

So the little princess lined all her shoes up on the stairs, all the way to her bedroom and she told her Mama, the Queen, and her Papa, the king, exactly what she needed.

“Not like these,” she said, “they keep falling off.”

“Not like these, they pinch my toes.”

“Not like these, they’re too heavy.”

“Not like these, I can’t run and jump in them.”

“Not like these, the press between my big toes.”

“Not like these, the bottoms press up on my little toes.”

“Ah,” said His Majesty, the King.

“Ah,” said Her Majesty, the Queen. “ We know what you need. You need some ever so comfy, holding on to your feet, not slippy sloppy, no rubbing toes, no blistering heels, not too heavy, wear indoors and out, Clarks shoes!”

“Yes!” said the little princess.

“But what if they don’t have glitter?” asked the Royal Nana.

“Or bows,

Or sequins,

Or kitten heels,

Or shiny leather,

Or fur linings,

Or strappy heels?”

“No, I don’t want those kinds of shoes any more. They hurt my feet. I want Clark’s shoes, and that’s that.”

And the little princess got some Clark’s shoes for her birthday and she was so pleased, she felt very grown up in them. She still used to play with her other shoes of course, but at least she knew she had some really comfy shoes that wouldn’t damage her growing feet. And she wore them lots.