Once upon a time in a far away land, there lived a custodian named Penelope. She worked at the most famous dance school in the local kingdom. Each day she cleaned and polished the dancing rooms. As she cleaned, the many keys Penelope carried on her key chain made a twinkling sound which was always music to Penelope’s ears.
Penelope loved working at the dance school because her life long dream was to be a dancer herself. She loved watching the ballerinas spin and twirl, but what Penelope most enjoyed watching were the tap dancers. She watched them every day. Their feet flew with amazing grace as they made the most delightful tapping sound. In fact, Penelope loved tap dancing so much, she spent her first pay check on a pair of used tap dancing shoes.
Penelope loved her tap shoes. She wore them every day. She wore them to the market. She wore them as she walked her dog. She even wore them to bed! Everywhere Penelope went, a “tap, tap, tap” could be heard coming from her used tap shoes as she walked through town. Other people in the kingdom would point and laugh at Penelope as she passed through on her way to run her many daily errands.
“Look at those ugly shoes!” one woman said.
“Who does she think she is, making all that noise through town?” another asked.
“She is the custodian at the dance school,” a girl snickered, “She actually thinks she could be a dancer someday!”
Penelope was hurt by the unkind words, but she refused to give up on her dream. One day she would be the most famous dancer in the land, and people would clap for her as she walked through town in her tap shoes.
One day as Penelope was cleaning, and tapping to the jingle of her keys, she came across a small girl crying in a dance room.
“What is wrong little one?” Penelope asked.
“The other girls laugh at me,” said the girl. “They call me clumsy. They tell me I will never be a dancer!”
Penelope sat down next to the girl. “Do you want to be a dancer?”
“Oh yes! More than anything!” exclaimed the girl.
“Then I shall teach you.”
Each day the little girl met Penelope at the school after the other dancers had gone home. Penelope taught her everything she had learned from her years of watching the all the other dancers at the school. Before long, the little girl was dancing with as much grace as any dancer the school had ever seen.
“How have you learned to dance so quickly?” a dance teacher asked the little girl.
“Penelope taught me,” the small girl replied.
Before long, many more students asked Penelope to help them learn to dance. So many, in fact, that Penelope opened her own dance school and quickly became the most famous dancer in the land.
To this day, Penelope wears her same used dance shoes and taps her way through town to the market. But now, instead of laughter, Penelope hears claps and cheers as she walks past other people in the market. And when she is asked from time to time how she became the most famous dancer in the kingdom, Penelope always says the same thing:
“Be true to yourself and your dreams will always fall into place.”
Fin.
For Ryan. Story and images Ⓒ Copyright JL Hill. All rights reserved.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
What a cute little story. I think I will share this with my little one. And so true if you follow your dream you will succeed.
@ Carico: Thank you so much! This is a very special story I wrote for a very special person. So glad you will be passing on it’s message.
It’s a lovely story, and very true. People tend to be cruel and mean with the things they don’t understand, but believers are special people who can make the impossible possible.
Very instructive storiette! Point is presented in the right way! Real world presented in a way that is suitable for children! And of course the point as the guideline to be followed in the proper attitude toward people!