Princess While- you-wait

There was once a poor orphan girl named While - you- wait who lived with her stepmother.
And while her father had been alive the stepmother had been very kind to While - you - wait.
But after he died, slowly things began to deteriorate between While - you -waits stepmother and her.
Because one day, her stepmother said to her,
"While - you -wait; from now on you're going to have to sleep on the floor".
"Sleep on the floor?", asked While-you-wait, "No thats awful I won't do it".
"You'll either sleep on the floor or you'll sleep on the streets, young miss", her stepmother replied sternly.
And so poor While- you -wait had to sleep on a cold stone floor.
But then things got even worse for, a few days later, her stepmother said,
"While-you-wait; from now on you're going to have to eat left overs while I and my cats eat the main meal".
"Left overs?", asked While- You - Wait, "No, thats terrible. I refuse".
"You'll either eat left overs or you'll starve, Young miss", replied her stepmother.
While - you - wait could not believe how she was being treated but even worse was yet to come for then, a few days later, her stepmother said to her;
"While - you- wait; from now on you shall not wear fine clothes. Instead you shall only have dirty beggars rags to wear".
"Dirty beggars rags?", said While-you-wait, horrified, "No its not fair. I won't do it".
"You'll either wear dirty beggars rags, young miss", said the stepmother, "Or you'll have no clothes at all".
And so, poor While- you -wait was forced to wear grey old rags instead of a pretty dress.
And, every night as she slept on her cold floor, she wept so much that she would have puddles to mop up the next morning.
But then one day, the last straw came for While - you -wait.
For then her stepmother said,
"While-you-wait, from now on we will not have servants anymore. From now on you will be my servant. You will cook for me, clean the house, polish my boots. Do everything that servants would do except that you will not be paid a penny for your labours".
"I will not be your servant", said While - you - wait, angrilly.
"You will be my servant, young miss", replied her stepmother, "Or you will be a beggar on the streets".
But While - you - wait had had enough of being so cruelly treated.
"Fine", she said, "Then I will be a beggar on the streets for beggars see more kindness than I have ever seen in this house".
But hearing this her stepmother flew into a rage, her eyes becoming like two flames of hatred and, picking up a broom, she beat While - you - wait out of the house with it.
"Out you go then, you ungrateful girl", she said, "Into the dark, cold, woods where you'll die of cold and hunger if the wolves do not eat you".
Then she slammed the door in While- you - waits face and the poor orphan girl was left to wander, homeless through the forest and, because she had no clothes except old rags and because she found no food beside the wild berries she managed to pick off of bushes; she soon became malnutritioned and sick.
And so weak did she become that, one day, the poor girl just collapsed upon the forest floor.
But then, while she was lying unconcious, suddenly the fairies of the forest, taking pity upon her, hovered all around her and, dancing and weaving about through the air, cast a spell with their tiny fairy wands turning her rags into a dress fit for a princess, putting golden slippers upon her feet and a diamond crown upon her head.
And then, just at that moment, a handsome prince came riding by upon a white horse and, seeing While- you - wait lying unconcious upon the ground, because of her fine clothes, took her to be a princess in distress and so he picked her up and took her home to his palace, looked after her and nursed her personally back to health.
And as he was doing that he slowly fell in love with her and because he was so kind to her aswell as being so handsome, While - you -wait fell in love with the prince aswell.

And when she told the prince about what her evil stepmother had done the prince had her stepmother locked away in prison.
Unfortunately that was not the end of While - You - Waits troubles because she had a powerful rival; a 1000 year old wicked witch who used evil magic to make herself look young and wanted to marry the prince.
And so she had her gang of 8 evil gnome henchmen kidnap and carry off While - You - Wait and then cast a spell upon the princes memory, making him forget her and soon afterwards he and the evil queen were engaged to be married
But while the queens gnome henchmen had been kidnapping While - You - Wait, carrying her off through the forest, part of her dress got caught upon a prickly tree and tore off.
And, the next day, while the prince was in the forest hunting, he came across the torn off piece of fabric and, the moment he touched it, because it was cloth that had been made by fairy magic, his memory of While - You - Wait was instantly restored.
Then, giving the piece of cloth to his faithful hunting dog so that it could smell the scent, he told the dog to track down where While - You - Wait had gone and the dog led him to the cottage of the 8 evil gnomes who were holding While- You- Wait prisoner.
When they saw the prince coming through the eight windows of their cottage, they put on eight small hats, picked up eight small axes and came out to fight him, growling fiercely.
But even though the eight gnomes looked fierce, when his hunting dog started to chase after them, snarling and barking ferociously all the gnomes were so afraid of the dog that they dropped their eight axes and ran away.
Then the prince rescued While - You - Wait from the cottage and so happy were they to see each other again that they embraced and kissed.
"There are so many strange magical things at work here", he said, "Things that I don't understand".
And he was about to tell her about the torn piece of cloth when it became a cloud of little tinkling fairies with glowing wands which made While - You - Wait and the Prince laugh but also very amazed
When the prince returned to his palace however, he was met by the evil queen who was so angry to see he and While- You - Wait reunited that she turned herself into a giant dragon but, fortunately, the little fairies, rushing round about him like a glittering storm, just as they had made While - You - Waits beautiful dress, made him a suit of silver armour with a silver bow and quiver of arrows
They even lifted the prince up onto his horse and he galloped forwards to fight the dragon.
When the dragon saw the prince far  below however, it just laughed like bellowing thunder, snatching him up like a doll in one giant scaly hand and holding him over the pit of its giant scaly mouth ready to eat him.
But While - You - Wait, seeing that the Prince was in peril and remembering how her scrap of torn dress had turned into fairies, said to her dress,
"If your made of fairies please help him".
And suddenly, her dress became a huge glittering cloud of fairies that flew up towards the dragon and, swarming around its head started to sting it with magic from their wands.
Confused, the dragon tried to swat the fairies away and, as it was distracted, the prince raised his bow and arrow and fired an arrow into the dragons heart.
And the moment he did, sparkling fairy magic spread from the arrow outward and all over the dragon making the giant creature disappear.
Unfortunately, the moment the dragons hand, which had been holding the prince, disappeared he fell out of the sky but then, thankfully, he was caught by the cloud of fairies which carried him all the way back into the palace and into the arms of a happy, smiling While - You - Wait.
After that the fairies, whirling round about the prince and While- You - Wait conjured them up the dress of a bride and the suit of a groom and, that very day, the two were married in the royal chapel and, afterwards, lived happily evermore.