Naptime

It had been a simply glorious morning. The princesses played outside most of the day, but as lunchtime came members of the royal household began to worry that this was just the sort of day that made it so hard to get the littlest princess to take her nap.
Whether they live in a cottage or a castle most little girls would rather play than nap and the littlest princess was no exception. Playtime was so much more fun, and there were so many places to play. The three princesses often played in the large garden behind the castle. Sometimes the littlest princess played alone with her dolls in the maze near the castle.
When it came time for her nap, though, it took everyone’s best efforts to get her to cooperate. The oldest princess would bring her toys to play with so that maybe she would fall asleep while she played.
The middle princess shared stuffed animals with her little sister. The right one might just cuddle her into a dream.
Her papa, the King, played lullabies for her on his harmonica. He was really quite talented, and a soft, pretty tune soothed her restless little body.
If all other attempts failed Mama would read to her from her favorite story books. Mama's quiet, comforting voice eased the way to dreamland like nothing else. But day after day, in spite of all their efforts the littlest princess would say, "I don't want to sleep, I'd rather play," before finally going to sleep.
After lunch a tired little princess went on her own to her room. Everyone look at each other with relief until she came out again; and said, "I can't sleep."
The oldest princess looked up from the picture she was drawing.
“I left some toys in your bed." She said, "Why don't you play until you get tired.”
The littlest princess shook her head stubbornly at her sister and said “I can't sleep in my bed."
“I’m sure the stuffed animals I left in your bed are tired, why aren’t you?" The middle princess asked.
The littlest princess shook her head again, “I’m telling you I can’t sleep in my bed."
Right then Mama came in from the flower garden with her arms full of beautiful flowers. She was getting ready for a party at the castle that evening.
“I don’t have time to read to you right now dear,” Mama said. "But I left some story books to look at. If you just look through them for a while I'm sure you'll get sleepy soon.”
Papa came into the room while the queen was speaking. He listened with a smile on his face, sure that he had the answer.
“The wizard charmed my harmonica to play your favorite tunes. It's just waiting for you to tell it what to play. Won’t you please take your nap now?”
The littlest princess looked around the room at the puzzled faces of her family, and said, “I can’t sleep in my bed because it's too bumpy!”
With that everyone rushed to the littlest princess’ room. They saw a small bed with covers all bumped up over toys, stuffed animals, story books, and a magic harmonica. There was simply no room for a sleepy little girl.
So, the oldest princess took away all the toys.
The middle princess removed every stuffed animal except one very cuddly one.
Mama read the littlest princess' favorite story as the king played a sweet lullaby for a sleepy little girl. Then they tip-toed quietly out of the room.
And the littlest princess took her nap.