Princess Nicholai had just had the worst day. Her paints had not arrived, her sister had scribbled on her drawings and daddy was angry at her for refusing to curtsy to the duke. Who could blame her? The duke acted so insufferably to any woman he came across and she had even heard that he had told Mademoiselle Giselle that a woman should not waste away her brain studying but should use her magical mind to create fabulous meals like the ones his late Maman used to make. Sure he meant it as a compliment, but his protruding tummy and bulbous nose did not do him any favors. "He should just keep his compliments to himself," Princess Nicholai thought crossly as she stomped angrily to her room. Maid Matilda saw her on the way and curtsied, but the princess, in her rage hardly noticed. "My my, must be an especially terrible day for princess Nicholai," Maid Matilda thought as she rushed to the kitchen to help the cook with the pumpkin pie. Princess Nicholia had hardly entered her room when she heard a "tsk tsk tsk" sound coming from the inside of her chambers. She started in fright and turned to look around to find whoever it was that had dared to enter her chambers. There on her bed lay a magnificent cat, it's fur a golden brown mixed with strands of silver. It purred softly and tsked again at Nicholai. "Why Gerarde!" Princess Nicholai exclaimed, "What are you doing here?". She ran and gave the cat a big hug. "Why its been ages since I last saw you," cried Princess Nicholai joyously. The cat chuckled, "I was on my way up North and I thought I'd pop in and see you," he explained, for he had traveled many miles on account of the news of Princess Nicholia's bad's behavior. "Well Maman and Papa will be certainly glad to see you," Nicholai exclaimed, "except", here she sobered up a little bit, "Papa is quite mad at me at the moment." Here Nicholai turned quite red and stomped her little foot on the floor. She then proceeded to fling herself onto the bed. Gerarde quickly moved out of the way to avoid being squashed. He watched her with his gentle blue eyes as she grabbed a pink pillow and threw it at the wall. It bounced off and landed with a thump on the carpet. Gerarde sighed. He had known that the princess had a terrible temper for as long as he had known her. He had known Princess Nicholai since he was a kitten and she a baby. They had grown up together until he had decided to move two cities away to start a mouse killing business of his own. "Why Gerarde," Nicholai cried, "What have you brought me this time?, you always bring me such interesting things from the places you visit." Gerarde chuckled. "Indeed," he said, "he carefully opened his paws to reveal a diamond brooch that shimmered and sparkled in the sunlight. Princess Nicholai gasped in delight. "Gerarde, this is absolutely magnificent," she cried, "where did you buy it?" Gerarde thought for a while and said, "Well I was in the town right before this one and popped into a jewelry store that had lots of beautiful jewels in its front window. I asked for the prettiest selection of brooches they had and picked out this one just for you." He beamed proudly as Princess Nicholai screamed in delight, "Oh how I shall show everyone in the castle. They shall all adore my new brooch. And I shall wear it to the grand ball!" "Tut tut", Gertrude said for he had quite forgotten that he meant to talk to the princess about her attitude. "Now before I go, I shall tell you a story." To this, Princess Nicholai squealed in delight and sat upright for she quite enjoyed Gerarde's stories. "Once upon a time," Gerarde began, "there was a little boy who had quite an extraordinary temper. He would get upset at the slightest of inconveniences and one day, as he was leaving the grocery store, someone bumped into him and upset his cart, spilling all his beans and cabbages onto the ground. To this, the boy angrily threw his basket onto the ground and stomped away in a fury. He stomped on until he reached a river, and there in river, was a mother duck struggling with her young ducklings against the current. She screamed to him for help, but he was so angry, all he could hear was the blood boiling in his ears. So he stomped off and left them screaming desperately for help. Then he passed an old lady happily digging about her garden and he stormed right through the garden leaving the old lady's garden ruined and her poor turnips completely squashed. He went by a farmer's field and threw sticks and stones at the cows until they moo'd in agony. When he got home, he found he was still in a terrible mood so he upset all the hens in his mother's coop and pulled his sister's ears until she cried." " Oh what a terrible, nasty, nasty boy," exclaimed Princess Nicholai, totally unaware that the boy was exactly as she was. "That night," continued Gerarde," an elf visited him in a dream and explained to him that because he had been so angry, he had quite totally forgotten about others and only selfishly thought about himself and how to release his pent-up frustration. He explained to the little boy that he could have easily forgiven, and the rest of his day would've been much better, it was all his choice." To this, princess Nicholai suddenly realized how silly she had been letting the duke upset her day. "Oh how shameful I have been," she cried. "I need to go apologize to the duke and kindly ask him to stop making such upsetting jokes," said Princess Nicholai. She hugged Gerarde goodbye and rushed from the room to make amends with the duke. The duke was very surprised indeed to hear her apology and even more surprised when she told him how his jokes upset her. "Oh, but I thought it was just a funny joke," he said. "Forgive me Princess Nicholai," he said sorrowfully. And so for the rest of the day, princess Nicholai helped the duke by teaching him how to tell jokes that were actually funny. And when she went to bed that night, she found a note on her bed saying, "I am very proud of you Nicholai."
