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Once upon a time there was a little girl named Nora.

She lived with her mommy and daddy in a beautiful castle in a faraway place.

One day Nora was feeling mischievous so she decided to go play in the castle’s kitchen. She knew that she wasn’t supposed to be in the kitchen by herself, but today she was feeling adventurous.

Nora quietly snuck down the castle stairs towards the kitchen. As she tiptoed down the stairs, she carefully listened for any indication that her mom or dad were nearby. She heard no sounds, so she continued towards the kitchen. As she neared the bottom of the stairs, she saw the huge wooden door that led into the kitchen. The door was closed tightly and she wondered if she would have the strength to open it. Nora really wanted to play in the kitchen so she knew she would have to try.

She approached the door and gave it a push but it did not budge. Nora pushed harder, still the door would not budge. Nora took a moment to listen, and when she heard nothing but the quietness of the castle, she pushed at the door with all of her strength. Eureka!!  The door slowly began to creak open. Nora was able to push the door far enough that she could sneak through the opening and into the kitchen.

Upon entering the room, Nora decided that she should leave the door open so that she could make a hasty exit if the need should arise. Her imagination was fully ignited, and she could picture all kinds of magical mythical creatures within the kitchen. In her mind she was picturing unicorns, fairies, gnomes, and elves all present within the dark corners of the room. 

Then she heard a loud creak coming from the fire that was burning in the large stone fireplace and suddenly her mind began picturing a huge dragon coming towards her from out of the flames. Nora gasped in fear, but then reminded herself that she was alone in the room, and that dragons usually stay outside. She felt secure in this thought, and her courage quickly returned. 

She gingerly moved forward, and looked around with wide eyes, in awe of the huge room and all of the hidden places. In a far corner of the room, she spied a cabinet with many drawers and decided that this would be a good place to start her adventure. 

Nora skipped over to the cabinet and pulled open the bottom drawer, where she found numerous old pots and pans. Not wanting to stop now, she quickly moved on and continued to open the drawers. Drawer after drawer she discovered many items that she was intrigued by. The excitement of each new thing she found inspired her to continue looking.

The last drawer was almost too high for her to reach, but Nora was determined to investigate its contents. She spied a small wooden stool, so she dragged it over to the cabinet and gently stepped up onto it. She was now at a height where she could reach into the top drawer. She gently slid the drawer open, and slowly stretched herself up on her tiptoes so that she could peer inside. Unlike all of the other drawers, with their loose assortment of kitchen accessories, this drawer held an unusual wooden box within it. 

Her imagination was ignited, and she could envision all of the wonderful possibilities of what she may find within the box. She deliberately reached into the drawer and gently removed the box. She stepped down from the stool and placed the box on the floor. She softly seated herself on the cold brick floor in front of the box, and shaking with anticipation she slowly began to open the lid. 

Inside she saw a very carefully folded piece of bright and colorful fabric. She was in awe of the beautiful colors and patterns she was seeing, and she was almost scared to disturb the cloth. 

 Nora considered it for a few moments, and then decided that she needed to remove the fabric from the box. She began picturing all of the possibilities of what the fabric may be, and she thought again about how she wanted to play and have an adventure.

She carefully removed the fabric from the box and began to unfold it. To her surprise she discovered that the fabric was an apron. She slowly stood up, with the apron held out in her hands in front of her, and wondered where it had come from. She knew that she had never seen her mother wearing this apron while she worked in the kitchen, and she didn’t think that her father would wear something this colorful! She thought about it as hard as she could, and she could not recall ever seeing any one else wearing this apron either. 

 As she admired the beauty of the apron, she wanted to try it on. She felt as though the apron didn’t belong to anyone, so nobody would get upset with her for wearing it. She slowly rose the strap over her head and allowed it to fall down her back. She then lowered her arms and caressed the soft fabric as it covered her front. Nora was very small, and the apron was very large, so it hung down to her feet and draped over the stones of the floor. She gently raised the bottom of the apron off the floor, and folded the fabric over at her waist. She then proceeded to wrap the belt around her waist and tied it snuggly at her tummy to make it fit.

As Nora tied the strings, she began to feel a tingly warmth radiate throughout her small body. She was pleasantly surprised, but did not question the feeling at all. She excitedly began to twirl around the room, feeling like a fairy princess with the spectacular fabric draping her body.