The+Tall+Tale+of+Lady+Elizabeth+Masterson

Mary Klein Ms. Bond LAL period 1-2 3 April 2012 **The American Tall Tale of Lady Elizabeth Masterson **  Once in the town of Hartford, Connecticut, a little girl was found on the door step of the Hartford Orphanage. She had huge sparkling diamond earrings on her little ears and her eyes were as blue as the ocean. Just a few days later, a very wealthy family, The Masterson’s, adopted her. She was treated like a princess, but all she wanted was to be a true princess.  As she grew up, she started working in her father’s restaurant. Her father’s restaurant was her life. She worked there all day long. She would clean up after costumers and wash the dishes until they were spotless. Though, if she did have free time, she locked herself in her room and dressed up like a princess. She had a dress that she got for her 15th birthday. It was a beautiful gown. It was pink and had patterns of swirling sparkly designs and was laced up with satin ribbon. She loved it that was the only thing she would wear (when she wasn’t working).  Her purple poodle was named Princess Fiona but she called her Princess for short. She felt like a queen when she did this because she loved Princess as her own daughter. She did everything with her. But she also loved her dish washing sponge just as much as she did with Princess.  One day in her father’s restaurant, her father bought an industrial dishwasher. And as for Ela being the one who always washed the dishes, she was furious.  “Papa, please take that thing back to the store I’m fine with doing it by myself. I do not want a machine to take my place. Do you even love me father?” Ela started to cry.  “Of course I love you Ela… but washing dishes is the last thing that my little princess should be doing!” he argued.  “But, Papa-” She thought it was useless to argue with him anymore. Ela ran away and locked herself in her room. Now there was nothing for her to do in the restaurant! She felt like she wasn’t allowed to do anything, which was correct. Her father always had an excuse of “washing dishes is the last thing my ‘little princess’ should be doing!”. She did not like this sometimes. If this was what a princess was to be treated like she did not want to be a princess anymore. At this point, she was so angry that the next day she challenged the dish washer to a duel of who could wash more dishes until they were spotless in only 2 minutes. If she won, her father had to bring the dishwasher back to the store and let Ela wash the dishes for as long as she lives. If the dishwasher wins… she was banished to another galaxy where she would clean for life. She thought this was unfair but she knew she was going to win.  The next day was the first day of training. She cleaned and cleaned the dishes until all of them were completely spotless. She practiced for the big duel every day. She sang and whistled to keep herself moving. Ever since she was little, music always inspired and motivated her to just keep going no matter what. Just when she finished she also saw the dishwasher practicing.  Today was the day of the duel.  “Now here are the rules,” announced the judge, “Whoever has the most dishes clean is the winner… but they all have to be completely spotless. This means no dish washer stains or grease stains,” the judge continued, “Ready… set… wash!”  As soon as he said this, Ela was off washing dishes. She washed faster than the speed of light but the dishwasher was catching up to her pace. She knew that she could go faster than that, and so she did. She pushed herself as fast as she could go. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> “Time!” exclaimed the judge. He checked every single plate. They were tied with exactly 1,432 dishes clean. But Ela recognized the dishwasher stain on her plate from just a few days ago, when they were practicing! She hoped and prayed that the judge wouldn’t notice it. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> “What’s this? I have found a dish washer stain on Ela’s dish! How could this be… she is not a dish washer. This could only happen if,” everyone gasped. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Almost everyone begged for a re-match but the judge just wouldn’t allow it. It was the one with the most spotless dishes, so it was only fair that the dish washer won. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> That night, Elizabeth packed up her stuff and walked off the face of the Earth. Now and then she might whistle. Listen close and you might even hear her singing and howling with her dog. Some people call it the wind but, now you know, that’s just Ela and her dog playing around and washing dishes for the rest of their life. Legend has it, that she even met her biological family. And guess what they did! Her mother was the queen of cleaning and her father, well he was the king! I guess Elizabeth was a real princess after all.