Once upon a time, in a land far, far, away; about as far away as you can get from here, or from most places actually, there lived a beautiful young girl, the Heroine of this story. With each passing year, our young heroine grew more and more beautiful, talented and self-assured. However, these developments did not go unnoticed by her mother, who, always having thought of herself as the Queen, insisted on being the sole center of everyones attention! With each passing day, her not so tactful mirror, reminded her of her mortality, and of her fast-maturing daughters emerging vitality, Rather than accepting this as being perfectly normal, as most mothers do, she grew confused and angry. The mirror did not seem to help either, as every time she consulted it, it confirmed her worst nightmares; her vitality and beauty were no longer those of a young girl, she was, in reality, a rapidly aging woman, while her daughter was blossoming into a beautiful princess, one whose life showed so much promise. But how to deal with this? Accept it? NEVER! So, unable to reverse time, she chose another way out of her dilemma. She decreed; There was to be no admiration or loyalty shown to any one else, not even to a King, just to her!. Her daughter was to be raised by her, and her alone, there was to be no involvement of her husband, and no recognition by him of his daughter being beautiful, or special, in any way! Her edict notwithstanding, from time to time the young princesses dad managed to say a few kind words to encourage his daughter. But despite all of this, still the young girl grew more beautiful, excelled in the ballet, achieved top honors in all her academic pursuits, and was well liked by all who met her. As would be expected, young suitors vied for the privilege to be seen with the princess, at dances and social events, at school and even on vacation! So, as time went by, rather than become pleased and proud of her daughter, like most loving mothers would, the Queen instead became very envious of her daughters youth, emerging beauty, popularity and potential, and before long she was so consumed with jealousy, that she started plotting and scheming thus: If I can only cast a spell over her, one which would make her doubt herself, and trust in no one else, but me, then I will be able to tell her exactly what to do, and what not to do, and she will be under my total control, never able to rise above me. I will tell her who to marry, what clothes suit her, what career to choose, how many children to have, who to befriend, and who not to; but how? So it was that she consulted the dark-powers within her, and she learned that to achieve these ends, to achieve total control over her daughter, she would need to convince her daughter that she was not capable of achieving anything noteworthy, that she was really quite plain, even ugly, at times, and thus quite undeserving of love or happiness, success or admiration. The very things the queen demanded for herself, were to be denied her daughter. But, very importantly, no one else should be allowed to get close enough to the princess to interfere, to tell her anything different! So, she thought; if I get her to believe these things about herself, then she and all of my subjects, even my husband, her dad, will soon see only my beauty, intelligence and obvious charms; my perfictniss,; and the young princess will disappear, into the dark forests of obscurity, forever, where she rightfully belongs, no longer any challenge to my supremacy; no longer even a princess in waiting! And so it was that the innocent, unsuspecting, young Snow-White was chased far away, deep into the forests of obscurity, self-doubt and poor self-esteem; rejected by the one person she had, as is natural, trusted the most, respected the most and obeyed the most. Snow-White was now quite confused, depressed and very alone! .With only the dwarves for company, deep in the dark and lonely forest, now It seemed that all of the wonderful dreams she once had, all of the promise that her life once held, were lost. She had been forced from a warm, colorful, beautiful place; into a cold, austere, dark place, one which was devoid of warmth or color for most of the year; she had even lost her birth-right, she was no longer a princess in waiting. The queen, was pleased! Now not even her husband, Snow-Whites sister, or any of their relatives, were willing to venture into that dark forest and help the princess in her hour of need. But, unbeknownst to the Queen, her wicked plans had long since come to the attention of an all Powerful, Benevolent, Perfectly Righteous King, The only legitimate King, really; and He had already set in place a daring rescue plan for the fair young Snow-White. Just as in the original story, this plan involved many unlikely characters, for they were not, it seemed, powerful, or held in high esteem,, or even rich; they were just Dwarves, but loyal helpers of the King, willing to do His bidding; and, very importantly, a powerful secret weapon, a formiddable Knight, in shining armor, the only one capable of breaking such a wicked spell. Well, trapped deep in the dark forest of obscurity, her life now reduced to simply surviving, the young Snow-White was not even aware of the mighty battle that had formed and was now being waged over her life, her future, her soul; between the forces of darkness, and the forces of Light; or that, waiting there with her, out of sight, but within earshot, ready to come to her defense as soon as she and the dwarves called for His help, was the Knight; the King’s son; the real Prince!

Africa’s Snow-White.And so begins the story

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