Page 31 - Three of Happiness

Finally, she told of raising the army of peasants and the dread she felt when she faced the dragon. The Queen also related how the Dragon had run away.
“Well...” said the Elf, “You completed all of the tasks and now I must give you the KEY.” With great ourish, he reached into his shirt and took out the large golden key. The Queen grabbed it and ran to the Tree of Happiness.
She put the key in the lock, turned the key, opened the door and went inside. In an instant she jumped back out of the tree and said to the Elf... “This is just an old empty tree!”
“Is it?” questioned the Elf. “Tell me Queen, are you happier now than the first time we met?” ‘Well...”and the Queen thought for several minutes, “Yes, I am quite a bit happier,” she admitted.
“Tell me,” the Elf asked again, “Do people s ll dislike you?” “Oh no,” she said. “Since I went around and talked to all the people and told them how important they were to me, how much it meant to me to be their Queen... well, now they treat me like they treated my mother. They cheer when they see me and throw flowers when I ride through
the town.”
“Oh I see,” said the Elf. “And are your people still dreadfully poor?” “No!” said the Queen. “Since we built the Queen’s Road, now there is commerce up and down it. People learned job skills while we were building the road and they also had an income. Why, now traders go up and down the road selling their goods. We have Wal Marts and McDonalds and everything!”
“Really...” said the Elf. “And are you s ll real stupid?” “Oh no!” she said with a laugh in her voice. “I had to really study and learn lots of things when I was looking for the 1,000 best books. Why now I’m considered quite smart.” “What about your subjects... are they s ll dumb?” “Not since I brought those books back and put them in the monument. Anyone who wants to learn can go there and learn all there is about almost anything,” the Queen said proudly.
“What about that Dragon?” he asked. “You would not believe it,” she said. ‘’It ran away when I faced it. I really believe that I will be able to face it again if it comes back.” “What about the other dragons?’’ he asked. “Well, I will just face them as they come,” she said.
“You sound very happy to me,” said the Elf. “Yes, now that I think about it, I am really very, very happy,” said the Queen. “You see,” said the Elf, “It really is the TREE OF HAPPINESS and you may never need to come back to it again.”
Edgar turned to me and said, “And that is why this is the most important tree there is.”
Page 30