I have just finished reading this (or just started? Who knows and who is Who?!!!). Yes, as you can see I am very confused!

Would love to hear your thoughts on this book, particularly in relation to the following questions:

1. Why does the princess not turn up until pg 71?
2. What has she been doing all this time?
3. More importantly, what happened to her Princess Etiquette Lessons on gratitude to people who help her out of sticky situations?
4. What do 'withered' princesses look like?
5. Where are the fairies?
6. How often am I going to read this book before some of it starts to make any sense? ... or will it ever?!

Please keep your answers nice and simple .... or I may end up with more questions!!!!!

LOL

It is not to be read like a non-fiction technical book. It is to be read just allowing your whole self to get involved.

Maybe the question is... Why are you asking about the princess? What inside of you drove you to ask about her?

Just enjoy the read and let yourself go and allow your imagination to run away with you. Now.

I haven't read the book but I've got it on CD (read by Harry Nichols) and - don't laugh - I actually woke up in a hedge after listening to it on a walk and then sitting down for a funny kind of rest!

I don't remember very much about that afternoon... so I can't answer your specific questions. Though I will say I felt delightful after my dreamy experience and I hope you feel delightful and dreamy now too.

Hi Candice,

I've got to say that I've never been able to maintain a conscious awareness of the story very much past the first few paragraphs, so I have absolutely no idea what happens later...

And I think, as others have hinted at, that it's meant to be hypnotic metaphor wrapped up in the trappings of a fairytale rather than the traditional logical (okay, at least fairytale logic) narrative that you find in the Brothers Grimm. And I never did figure out exactly what they were so grimm about anyway!

Be Well,

Michael Perez

I have read this story 30 maybe 40 times to my daughter as a bedtime story... it has been her favourite for years and she is now 11 :-)

Thanks for your comments! I have taken Gabriel's suggestion to let my imagination run away, and once I'd caught up with it, this is what I came up with.
This book is missing a 'prequel' (as opposed to a sequel) about the princess - it just hasn't been written yet!
So to answer my own questions .....

'The princess had spent much of her time (that time being before she arrived at the crossroads called pg 71) life coaching other princesses and fairy tale leading ladies. Not that this expense was costly as she had had some fantastic return on investment ,such as the launch of a slipper finding charity, the invention of GPS for tracking down princes and her agency of frog kissing volunteers going global.
She had also dedicated herself to the study of non-violent removal of over enthusiastic fairy godmothers, evil step sisters, fiery dragons and the odd witch or two. Had she not devoted many hours to gown fittings, shoe sales and tiara polishing like any other self-respecting princess, she could easily have appeared by pg 3.
Such is the pressure on young princesses nowadays to be somewhere other than here or now here that she missed her lesson on p's and q's and ended up with a degree in i's and t's. (Hence her lack of thanks to Anybody). And perhaps if she hadn't been so distracted by her sparkly shoes, she would have noticed the two men and dealt with them herself - in a non-violent way obviously - thus negating the need for any princely action!'
As for the other Q's. I believe 'withered' must be a typo - wit heard seems more princessy.
There are no fairies because they always know where and who they are, they all have their own bells and are way too lazy to look for a fab bell or however you want to spell it!

Chris, I suggest you use your ipod under supervision in future, but applaud your creativity at choosing a hedge rather than the park bench!
Michael - how do you know if you read the rest of the book?!!!

Sweet dreams every one x

and can I add... the book benefits significantly from being heard rather than just read, IMO... 'swhy the opportunity to read to to my daughter has been so much fun (and she's in for a bedtime story tonight :-) )

Hi Adam! Its interesting that your daughter enjoys this book so much and its a great way to share special time is it not.
I ended up reading this aloud to myself as my 2 year old decided crayoning was more fun after listening for about 5 mins!! (Her preferred trance material being Gruffalo et al!!).
Would you please ask your daughter about the princess? I am certain she will be able to shed a little light on the mystery for me!!
Happy reading.

What is reading the book supposed to do? Other than entertain, I mean. If it is hypnotic, for what purpose?

I don't know. Does it have to "do" anything? Bandler could have written it because it was fun to do, because he could, any number of reasons.

For me, what it does do: enhance my hypnotic language acuity while, I believe, developing a certain flexibility of understanding regarding perception and identity. But that, if true, is all by the by. I just enjoy reading it (and just regarding the hypnotic language patterns as a literary device like any other) :-)

My all time fave
I'm going to read it again Now

KR,
Mike.

Canice>"Would you please ask your daughter about the princess? I am certain she will be able to shed a little light on the mystery for me!!"

Emily>"Princess? What Princess?... oh, that princess. I don't know"

:-)

I think Emily has the right idea!

Thanks Adam. Very funny, made me laugh!
I wonder how many other people have picked the book up again (or are going to) as a result of this thread?

I read this book to my daughter while she was in hospital awaiting surgery [img]icons/icon0.gif[/img]

One of the consultants who was sent to explain the surgery to my daughter told her that there was a strong possibility that the operation she had to have would leave her blind..... He really didn't frame it in a way that there was any choice...

I looked at her frightened face and said "Anyone can do anything!" ------- "and It doesn't really matter what Somebody says" --------- "Because Somebody doesn't really know how much trouble they are in right now"

My little girl began to laugh hysterically [img]icons/icon3.gif[/img] the consultant looked bemused and a little edgy......

I looked straight into the consultants eyes and said "Somebody !!! needs to follow me now" and he did

This incident changed the way the doctors worked with children in my local hospital,

Yay to Adventures of Anybody

PS My daughter still has perfect eye sight \o/ <--- that really is magic

So glad to hear your story had a happy ending!

Well done.

Yay to Melanie

Well done Melanie!

Wow Melanie, great story. Thanks for sharing and doing something to make a positive difference for other children having treatment.

They keep sending me letters to get involved on the board of trustees but I have too much enthusiasm for laughing \o/ I am not good at being bored

Love and being to you all x