Once upon a time there was a prince who did all the things that princes do - he went to school, played with his friends, and did general "princely" duties. One day his parents, the king and queen, came to him and said, "it is time for you to catch a dragon." "No Way!" the prince cried, "I can't catch a dragon! I'm too young to catch a dragon! I'm too weak to catch a dragon!"

But the king and queen were not moved. They continued to insist. "You must catch a dragon. It is time for you to catch a dragon." The prince tried everything he could think of to get them to change their minds. He begged. He pleaded. He cried. He threw temper tantrums. He stopped talking to them. He even tried doing all of his chores the best way he could, but the king and queen insisted: "You MUST catch a dragon."

The young prince became very, very depressed because he really didn't know how to catch a dragon. He got sadder and sadder, and began to spend more time in his room. One day when he was lying across his bed, alone in his room, his Fairy Godmother appeared to him.

"Why are you all by yourself up here?" she asked.

"I have to catch a dragon and I don't know how to do it," replied the prince. "I'm not powerful or smart enough. I guess I'll just stay here on this bed forever, because I don't know what to do."

"Well, you're lucky that you have me to watch over you," the Fairy Godmother replied, waving her magic wand and spreading magic dust all over the prince.

"What are you doing?" asked the prince, wondering if he should be afraid.

"This dust is magic. It will help you to gain wisdom and power every night when you sleep until the day will come when you will wake up and know that you are smart enough and strong enough to catch a dragon." Then, with a puff of smoke, she disappeared.

The little prince wasn't sure he believed his visitor, but that night when he went to sleep he DID gain more power and more wisdom, and in the morning when he woke up he did feel stronger and smarter, Every night when he slept he became more powerful and more wise, until one morning he woke up and knew that he was wise enough and powerful enough to catch a dragon. He understood it was, indeed, time for him to catch a dragon, just as his parents had told him.

With a whisper of thanks to his Fairy Godmother for her help, the prince left the palace and caught a dragon that very day. He put the dragon in the royal garden, and the royal garden officials put a special sign under the cage which told everyone that this dragon had been caught by the prince, and date that he caught it.

Everybody in the kingdom was proud that the prince had finally figured out how to catch a dragon, and the prince was happy to discover that he was smart and powerful enough to catch dragons as well as anyone.

excerpted from the book The Magic Glasses and Other Stories and Activities for Children of Divorce and Separation.

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