A story my niece Hanna wrote when she was 10.

I hope these two posts don't embarrass my niece Hanna, but she wrote pretty amazing stories for a 9 and 10-year-old, and I decided to share.  She is now ALMOST 16, so she has to forgive me if she wants to drive my car.

Hanna says, "you know what I love about this picture?  It looks like an author's photograph in the back of a book.  With a scarf, and a dog, and glasses, and a background, and looking all serious."

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away there lived a little peasant boy who was very small and poor. Even though all of the other, bigger boy teased him and hit him he was still very kind. Now, every day the little boy (his name was Dickens) went to a rich man’s house to work. The man that he worked for was mean and cruel, making Dickens work very hard for almost no pay, even beating poor Dickens until he was week and bloody. The king at that time was very sick and some very bad people were taking over his throne and making horrible laws so that poor people like Dickens had to work even harder and rich people worked even less. Now the king had two beautiful daughters that lived in the castle with him. The eldest daughter was mean and wicked while the other was sweet and kind. One day the king’s condition got even worse. The youngest daughter, her name being Mary knew what she had to do. Against the strong urges of her father she made it known to the whole kingdom that whoever could find the cure to her father’s illness would be rewarded with her hand in marriage. In that time word traveled fast and within days Dickens’ village was buzzing with excitement. All the boys and young men boasted about how easily they would be able to cure the king of his illness. One after one they went to the castle in hopes of returning with the young princes. And one by one they disappeared, filling their families with shame. Dickens soon realized that he was the only boy left who had not gone. The next morning he set off taking with him what little he had. That consisted of a stale rind of bread and an extra pare of breaches. As he walked through the streets people stopped to laugh and shout, “Look, a poor beggar boy is going to save the mighty king! Haw! Haw!” But Dickens paid them no notice. After walking three days, three nights and a morning he came upon the castle. Stunned at its glory he looked up at it as if he were in a trance. Finally coming to his senses he realized that it was nearing dusk. He then spotted a night’s guardsman and decided to ask him about getting in. As he was walking up to the guard he realized that it was a woman inside of the soot. “Who are you and what do you want?”, the guard asked. “I am Dickens and I am here to save the king. Where do I get inside the castle Dame Night?” The night smiled an evil smile making Dickens uneasy. “You do not getin at all you stupid boy. I am the king’s powerful daughter. When the old king dies I become Queen. Then I get rid of my wretched little sister. She has been in my way the entire time and now I am so close to getting… revenge. She deserves to die. By giving herself to the one who saves the king she has attracted attention to him and brought young men here. Instead of being able to work on my plan I have had to murder all the young men. You will be as easy as killing an ant”. Dickens looked around him for something to use in either fighting or a quick getaway. Just as the evil princes was reaching for her sword he spotted a high ledge just out of his reach. He was a good jumper and quite clever and soon he had thought up a plan. “Before we start we should get a clear battle area so every thing will be fair”, he said trying not to push his luck. The princes scrunched up her face and, as Dickens had hoped, pushed the rock under the ledge. “Better”, Dickens said, “but to make sure that you don’t start when I’m not ready, turn around and count to twenty then, when you hit twenty, turn around and fight. Is that OK?” The princes, grumbling under her breath, did as she was told. When she hit five Dickens dashed for the ledge and scrambled up. Just as he was jumping from the ledge to a large window the evil princes hit twenty and turned around. But she was too late for the boy had already gone threw the window. “I’ll get you some day!!!!”, the princes yelled with furry. Still shaken up the boy soon realized that he was in a small room where an elegantly dressed girl was crying in her sleep. Dickens decided that she must be the younger princes. Not wanting top startle the girl he gently shook her arm. The girl stopped crying and looked up. “Why are you crying?”, Dickens asked. “I saw you and my sister and I thought that she would kill you. You are the last boy and the doctors say that father is ever so sick. They have not let me se him for three years. They say that I will catch it but they just say that because father loves me. Sometimes I can hear him from outside. Will you help us?”, she asked. “Aye, that I will do”, Dickens promised. Just at that moment, the other sister charged in. She killed both of them, poisoned her father and took over the kingdom, turning everybody into her personal slaves.