The Princess and the ...

Shoe???

"There was once a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must be a real Princess. He travelled right around the world to find one, but there was always something wrong. There were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real princesses he had great difficulty in discovering; there was always something which was not quite right about them. So at last he had come home again, and he was very sad because he wanted a real princess so badly.

One evening there was a terrible storm; it thundered and lightninged and the rain poured down in torrents; indeed it was a fearful night. In the middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old King himself sent to open it.

It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and the storm. The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess.

'Well we shall soon see if that is true,' thought the old Queen, but she said nothing. She went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea....." (borrowed from Hans Christian Andersen

Awe, heck. Who am I kidding??? Let me start again.

The other day, a beautiful princess was walking through her office building. She limped and gimped all day long, for lo, there was something soft and squishy inside her shoe.

But alas, the beautiful princess was far to busy to stop and investigate the odd thing in her shoe, and soon, forgot about the pesky item. Until she arrived home. And remembered. Yes ... she had been walking all.day.long with a lump in her shoe.
Upon removing her shoe, the princess discovered a folded nasal strip. Yes. A Breath-Right strip. Thanks to her wonderful prince, who kindly left it on the floor, causing the princess to step upon it whilst preparing her beautificus self for work that morning.

And, verily, verily, I say ... Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate foot to notice a folded Breath-Right strip under layers and layers of -- er -- stockings. So the prince decided to keep her as his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess, and the Breath-Right strip was put into the Museum, where it may still be seen if no one has stolen it.

Now this is a true story.