Saulina who was forbidden to smile (IP)

Once there was a king and a queen who lost their only child and they were so consumed with grief that they ordered that none within their kingdom could smile anymore; that all must dress in black and that there could be no music unless it was sad music; no bird song unless it was the song of a crow; no story told unless it ended with the words ‘Sadly ever after’,  no dancing; no laughter or joyfulness of any kind.

And for many years the subjects of the king and queen, because they were afraid of being arrested and put to death, dutifully obeyed these orders and they made their children obey as well; because smiling wasn’t permitted they smacked them when they smiled and praised them when they frowned and soon they learned that it was better to frown than to smile.

Everything in the kingdom was the colour of mourning too for the king and queen had forbidden all bright colours and so all of the buildings, even the primary schools and the nurseries were painted black.

But there was one little girl called Saulina who, perhaps because she was born with an excess of joy in her heart, could not stop being happy.

Though her parents did all they could to discourage it they could not cure Saulina of what they considered the loathsome habit of smiling; they tried locking her in a darkened room but she filled the darkness with her brightly coloured dreams and her smile glowed even brighter than before; they spanked her each time they caught her smiling and that made her cry for a little while but it only took a little thing, like a sun beam or a butterfly or a rainbow in the sky to make her forget her pain.

“Oh why can’t you learn to be miserable, Saulina”, said her parents, “Like all the other children”.

One Summer day, however, while Saulina was in her room where she had been locked to punish her for laughing and singing happy songs, the drab grey curtains in front her window suddenly parted as if drawn apart by invisible hands and then the window, unlocking itself flew open and then, in the next moment, a peculiar looking man who was flying upon an enormous lollipop stick the way that witch’s normally fly on broom sticks, flew right into the room landing beside Saulina.

“Ahh, so that’s where the light was coming from”, said the man, looking at the little girl.

“Light?”, asked Saulina, confused.

“Yes”, explained the man, “Because no one else in your kingdom ever smiles and because it’s so drab and grey, your bright smile shines out the way a star shines against a dark sky and it looks so bright that even from the highest hills and towers in Heaven it can be seen”.

“I know”, said Saulina, slightly embarrassed, “Its wrong of me to smile. My parents always tell me so but I just can’t help it. There’s a happy glow inside of me that just won’t go away”.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Saulina”, said the man, “Smiling is a wonderful thing. The more people who smile, the brighter the world becomes and your smile is one of the loveliest smiles I’ve ever seen”.

Hearing this, Saulina’s smile grew wider and brighter.

“Thank you”, she said.

“Don’t mention it”, said the man, making his magical flying lollipop stick shrink up until it was the size of an ordinary lollipop and then handing it to Saulina, “Here, have a Lollipop”.

Saulina took hold of the Lollipop and looked at it, seeing that it was all the colours of the rainbow.

“What flavour is it?”, asked Saulina, popping the multi-coloured Lollipop into her mouth.

“Any flavour, and any colour, you wish”, replied the man smiling happily.

Saulina wished that the Lollipop tasted of blackcurrants because blackcurrant was her favourite flavour and, just as the man had said, when she made the wish, suddenly her mouth filled with the taste of blackcurrant and, taking the lollipop out of her mouth, she saw that it had turned from a rainbow of colours to bright purple.

“Mmm”, she said, smiling, “It’s delicious, thank you”.

“I’m glad you like it”, said the man, “But now, little girl, you need to help me bring back some colour to this mad, morose, monochrome kingdom of yours so that all the little girls and boys can have smiles as bright as yours”.

Then the man showed Saulina a bag that he was carrying that had the words “Department of happiness” written upon it, explaining that he was an Inspector who worked for the department of Happiness in Heaven.

“It’s my job to try and bring as much pleasure and happiness into the lives of people as I can, especially into the lives of little girls and boys. Oh, but unfortunately there are so many mean people in the world who keep spreading misery and gloom, like that awful king and queen of yours”.

“Yes”, said Saulina, nodding in agreement, “You’re going to have a lot of trouble making this kingdom a happy place with them on the throne because they lock away anyone who smiles or laughs or sings and dances. They put them in a dark dungeon without any windows so that they can’t even see the sunshine”.

“Don’t worry”, said the man, “I have a plan; a very clever plan if I do say so myself of how to deal with your moody monarchs and you are going to help me”.

Then the man opened his case and loud music came out of it; waltzing music like the kind that princes and princess’s dance to in fairy tales and then taking Saulina by the hand he started to waltz with her around the room.

“Why are we dancing?”, asked Saulina.

“Ahh”, explained the man, “This is no ordinary dance. This is the flying waltz”.

And then suddenly, to Saulina’s amazement, looking down she saw that their feet were no longer on the ground, in fact, they were waltzing together on air.

And then, in the next moment, they weren’t just dancing round in the air but waltzing right out of the open window of Saulina’s room and across the bright blue sky.

“Wheee!”, shouted Saulina, laughing, as they both whirled round and round, faster and faster, the Waltz music growing faster too and climbing up to an enormous crescendo of clashing cymbals, pounding drums and tooting trumpets.

Just then however, the music came to an end and, just in time too, for looking down again, Saulina saw that they were coming to land in the grim courtyard of the gloomy palace of the mournful king and queen.

“Halt intruder!”, shouted the captain of the palace guards and, all of a sudden, Saulina and the man found themselves surrounded by black uniformed guards with long pikestaffs and round helmets on their heads.

“Don’t worry” , said the man, plucking a large business card from one of his pockets, “I’m just a clothing merchant and this girl is my…uh…apprentice. We have clothes to deliver to your king and queen”.

“Clothes?”, asked the captain, “Are they long, dark gloomy winter clothes? Clothes of black and white and grey? Our king and queen only wear gloomy clothes and they have expressly forbidden the wearing of bright colours or short summer clothing which reminds them too much of the happy summer time”.

“Oh don’t worry”, said the Man, “I guarantee that these will be the longest darkest, drabbest and gloomiest clothes that your king and queen have ever seen”.

“Very well”, said the captain of the guards, “follow me”.

Then the captain of the guards led Saulina and the happiness inspector into the palace and along a long corridor to the throne room where the king and queen were sitting.

The king and queen were dressed from head to foot in black and their clothes were long and stiff because of all the starch that had been put into them; not to mention they were wearing very tight shoes that pinched their feet and were sitting upright on hard wooden thrones that were very uncomfortable; all of which helped them to stay miserable and maintain the gloomy expressions on their pallid faces.

“Who are these…these people”, asked the Queen in an annoyed voice, pointing to Saulina and the man.

“Clothing merchants, your Majesty”, explained the Captain of the guards.

“Clothing?”, asked the Queen, “And have you explained to them that we only wear long dark, gloomy clothing of black and white and grey? That we have expressly forbid the wearing of bright colours or summer clothing which remind us too much of the happy  *yucch* summertime”.

“I have your majesty”, replied the captain, “But they say that all of their clothes are dark and gloomy”.

“Very well”, said the Queen, “Then the merchants may show us their wares but they must take care not to be too entertaining in their sales patter for we will not stand to be entertained. It makes one far too happy”.

The captain of the guards stepped to one side and allowed the man and Saulina to see the king and queen and then, placing his bag in front of them, the man from the department of happiness opened it up and this time rather than music, looking in the bag, Saulina saw that it was full of clothes.

“If your majesties would care to inspect these items of clothing”, said the man, taking out first a pair of black crystal women’s slippers from the bag, then a pair of long black men’s boots, then a black and white dress made for a queen, then a black army uniform, then a black crystal crown and black military officers cap, all from inside the little bag before taking a large coat rack out of the bag too to hang them upon, “I am sure you will find them very gloomy indeed. Each thread upon them dyed, double dyed and triple dyed until it is darker even than a raven in the night seen through dark spectacles”.

“Yes”, said the queen, “One is very pleased…I mean…displeased with them. They are so black that they even make the drab clothes we are wearing took too colourful”.

Getting up from their uncomfortable thrones, the King and Queen said that they wanted to change into the clothes and then, while they were getting changed, Saulina and the man were taken to a little white walled room where they were made to sit on uncomfortable chairs, given dry bread and water and made to listen to sad music and a frowning court jester who, rather than telling jokes to make people laugh, told them depressing things to make them feel sad.

“We’re all going to die, you know”, said the miserable black clad jester, “Grow old and die. Isn’t that depressing?”.

“Yes”, said the man, “But that’s why you should enjoy every moment of your life while you can”.

The jester looked frightened, glancing furtively about to see who might be listening and then, barring his lips with a finger said, “Shh! Be careful what you say, sir. Life is not for being happy. As we say in this kingdom, ‘Starve, go thirsty and be miserable for tomorrow you may die’”.

But, just then thankfully, the King and Queen returned wearing their new darker clothing.

“Yes”, said the Queen entering first, a grim expression still upon her face, “This dress is acceptably dark and drab”.

“Agreed”, said the king, sighing, “The black uniform is exceptionally severe and sombre, just right for funerals and executions and the black boots looked fine although I find they are rather too comfortable. You may have to tighten them so that they nip the toes and cause the proper amount of discomfort while walking”.

Suddenly however, a large smile spread across the face of the man from the department of happiness.

“So glad that your majesties are happy with your new clothes”, he said.

The Queen glared in anger,

“How dare you sir!”, she said, “Do you not know that it is forbidden in this kingdom to smile or to use that…that ‘H’ word. Stop smiling at once or I shall have you thrown in a dungeon and have your smiling head cut off”.

But the man would not stop smiling, in fact his smile only grew broader and brighter and then, taking off his dark, sombre jacket, he turned it inside out to reveal a bright, yellow and orange polka dot jacket with a revolving yellow bow tie and taking off his black top hat, he turned it inside out to reveal a bright green clown hat with a red bobble on top.

Then his trousers became bright sky blue baggy clown pants and his shoes turned from black sensible shoes into big bright pink clown shoes.

Even Saulina’s clothes changed as well; in a flash of bright yellow light they transformed from a long black dress and boots into an orange T-shirt; green shorts and bright blue sandals.

“Wow!”, said Saulina, smiling as she saw her new bright clothes.

“That’s the only way to dress on a bright, warm summer day like today”, said the man.

“Aghhh!”, shrieked the Queen in anger, her pale face now starting to break her own rules about bright colours by turning bright red with rage.

Then both the Queen and King called for the captain of the guards to come and arrest the man and Saulina.

However, before the guards could do anything, suddenly the happiness inspector started to make a strange motion with his index finger; a tickling motion.

And then, suddenly, to their shock and surprise, both the king and queen felt an odd tickling sensation, first upon the souls of their feet, then between their toes, then upon their legs and then their arms; then under their arm pits, then at the back of their necks and behind their ears and under their chins and then all over them; a tickling that made them squirm and jiggle and jump about and smile and laugh.

“Oh stop it! Stop it!”, said the queen, collapsing on the floor, giggling hysterically, “Stop tickling me. I can’t take it”.

“Oh its these clothes”, said the king, joining the queen in rolling about and laughing, “These clothes are tickling me all over”.

And not only were the clothes tickling the king and queen but they were also changing colour, becoming bright yellow and red and blue and green and all the colours of the rainbow.

And seeing the King and Queen rolling around laughing in their brightly coloured clothes, Saulina started to laugh as well and so did the guards when they entered the room; they laughed so much that they fell down too and even the miserable jester, who had been sad for so long that he had almost forgotten how to laugh, started to chuckle and then his chuckle became a guffaw and then his guffaw became a roar.

It was like something infectious, one after another, servants of the queen, hearing the laughter and commotion came to see what was happening and, when they saw the laughing king and queen they started to laugh too.

“There, you see”, said the man from the department of happiness, “It feels so good to laugh and be happy, doesn’t it”.

“Oh yes, yes”, said the Queen in between giggles, “It does!”.

And that is how the man from the department of happiness brought happiness back to that black and white kingdom and, after that day, the king and queen didn’t want to be miserable anymore and they didn’t hate bright colours either; in fact they passed a new law that the whole kingdom should be painted in bright colours and that flowers should be planted on every street and birds should be allowed to sing happily in the trees  and there should be parties and celebrations and everyone should be happy and smile and laugh and sing whenever they felt like.

Of course the king and queen were still unhappy about the beloved child they had lost but instead of mourning, they decided to do happy things to remember him; the sort of things that would have made him smile; like giving toys and sweets to all the children of their kingdom and putting on pantomimes and concerts and fireworks displays for them

And in that new, happier Kingdom Saulina was no longer told to stop smiling; in fact she was given the role of chief cheerer-upper because her smile was judged bright enough to make anyone smile.

And looking down upon the kingdom that was now brightly coloured and full of smiles, the superiors of the man from the department of happiness were so pleased with him that they gave him a special golden medal with a smiling face upon it and, needless to say, Saulina, the man from the department of happiness; the king and queen and everyone in the whole kingdom lived very happily ever after.