Princess Marigold and the Lost Crown
Princess Marigold had a rule about her crown: it went on her head at breakfast and came off only at bedtime. She had kept this rule for three years without exception.
Until the morning she woke up and it wasn't there.
She checked under the pillow (where it never was, but you check anyway). She checked the window ledge. She checked the floor on both sides of the bed and the top of the wardrobe and behind the blue armchair.
Nothing.
She put on her dressing gown and went out into the hall. Her lady-in-waiting hadn't seen it. The cook hadn't seen it. The dog had an expression that suggested possible knowledge, but he always looked like that.
In the garden, she found the first clue: a small muddy three-toed footprint in the flowerbed.
Then another. Then five more, leading through the rose garden, around the fountain, and into the vegetable patch.
Marigold followed them to a gap in the hedge.
On the other side, in a small sunny hollow she had never noticed before, a fox sat beside a rabbit warren. The crown was balanced on a stick in the middle of the hollow, and around it were arranged an assortment of small objects: a shiny button, a glass bead, a piece of blue ribbon, a particularly round pebble.
"It's a collection," said the fox, sounding pleased.
"It's my crown," said Marigold.
"We know," said a rabbit, appearing from the burrow. "We just wanted to see it properly. Without someone wearing it."
Marigold sat down in the grass. This seemed like the right thing to do.
"What did you conclude?" she asked.
"Gold," said the fox. "Seven flowers. Slightly scratched on the left side."
"From climbing the apple tree when I was eight," said Marigold.
"And heavy," said the rabbit. "We tried it on."
Marigold looked at the rabbit trying to look as though it hadn't just worn a crown. The rabbit looked dignified.
"Does it suit you?" she asked.
"Everything suits rabbits," said the rabbit.
Marigold picked up her crown and put it back on. The scratch on the left side caught the morning light.
She left the blue ribbon as a fair exchange and went in for breakfast.
The crown felt, somehow, slightly more interesting than it had before.