The Kiss

‘Tell me a story, Pa.’

It was early in the afternoon, but 3 year-old Eve was pretending it was time for her to go to bed.

‘How about ‘The Gruffalo’?’

‘No. I’m bored with ‘The Gruffalo’.’

‘How about ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’?’

‘I’m really bored with that story.’

‘How about ‘Snow White’?’

‘I don’t want ‘Snow White’. I want a new story.’ 

‘How about ‘Poor Eve and the Ugly Toad’?’

‘Eve? Is it about me?’

‘No.’

‘Ok. Tell me that one.’ She settled herself on the sofa.

‘Well, once upon a time there was a girl called Eve. Her father was a shoemaker, but he died when she was only a baby, and she and her mother were poor. They used to work hard every day so they had a few pennies to buy a small piece of bread.’

‘Was this Eve beautiful, Pa?’

‘No-one knew whether she was beautiful or not, because she was covered in ashes from cleaning out the fireplaces in the city where she lived.’

‘Why didn’t Eve wash herself in the bath, then?’

‘Well, poor people didn’t have a bath in those days – only rich people. She used to wash herself in a muddy stream.’

‘Yuck!’

‘But one day as she was on the bank of the stream, she met an ugly toad. He said to her that if she would kiss him on his lips, he would make her into a beautiful princess. She wouldn’t have to clean fireplaces anymore.’

‘Was the toad really ugly?’

‘Oh yes, very ugly. His brown skin was lumpy, and his thick lips were dirty. I don’t think he had ever used a toothbrush.’

‘Yuck! Did she kiss him?’

‘No, not the first time. She didn’t believe him when he said he could make her into a princess. But she met him again the next day.’

‘Did she give him a kiss?’

‘No, not that second day. He had just chewed up a blue-bottle and was licking his lips.’

‘Yuck!’

‘But on the next day, when she met him for the third time, she felt sorry for him and she gave him a kiss on his lips. At once, she fell fast asleep. And when she woke up from the sleep, she had turned into a beautiful princess. Instead of the rags she had been wearing, she was clothed in a long dress coated in jewels.’ 

Eve looked at me thoughtfully. She was mulling over some question … ‘Was there a chance? Was it worth a try?’

Quickly, she brushed my lips with a modest kiss. Then she settled herself down again as if she was going to go to asleep.

‘When I wake up, I’ll be a beautiful princess’, she said.