Page 7 - Three of Happiness

“Tell me,” she squealed, “what I must do. I’ll do anything. I am so very red of this unhappiness.”
“Well,” the Elf said, tapping his long thin nger on his cheek, “There are just a few things you must do to prove you deserve the KEY.” “Please,” she said, “Tell me what they are. I’m ready to do anything!”
The Elf smiled a sly smile and then began to speak. “First you must build a road. A wide road that will be paved with stone. It must go from one end of your kingdom to the other.” “Oh,” she said, “That will be very di cult.” “Yes,” replied the Elf, “It will be very di cult.” ‘’It will take a long me and cost a lot of money,” she cried.
“Yes it will, you are correct,” smiled the Elf. Then he said, “And you don’t have to do it but if you don’t, I can’t give you the key.” “Well” she whined, ‘’I guess I can do that. Is that all?”
The Elf laughed and said that it wasn’t. “Next, you must build a large monument at the end of the road with many, many rooms.” “But that will take forever,” she gasped. “It will take some me,” he agreed.
“It will be so very di cult and expensive,” she said. “Yes it will be,” he said. “And you don’t have to do it but if you don’t, you can’t have the key.” The Queen stomped her foot and said, “If I must, I must.” But she was obviously not pleased.
“Is that all,” she demanded. “Well, since you asked. No, that’s not all. You must go throughout the world and search out the thousand best books in the world. Even if it means going to every kingdom known to man. And a er you have found the thousand best books, you must bring them back to the kingdom and place them in the monument.” The Queen sank to the ground and shook her head, “I will never be able to do that. You don’t understand. That will be just too hard.”
“Well...” said the Elf, “It is of no consequence to me one way or the other. I really don’t care. If you can’t do it, ne... but you can’t have the key if you don’t complete the tasks.” The young Queen rubbed her hand on the grass and sighed. “I’m so red of being unhappy but your tasks to get the key to Tree of Happiness are very difficult.” “Yes, they are difficult but you must decide,” the Elf replied. “All right! All right!” she said. “I’ll do the trials if that is what it takes to get the key.”
I told Edgar that the Elf was making ge ng the key very di cult. Edgar agreed with me but then he asked, “What would you be willing to do to achieve happiness?”
"Why, just about anything," was my reply.
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