In a very large toy store, there lived a large community of the most diverse toys. They all dreamed of only one thing: to be bought and played with by children. After all, the toys were very sad in the store. They were incredibly happy with every store visitor. Of course, a toy should never show people that it was alive and could move and talk. But among themselves, the toys communicated, and they did this most often when the store was already closing.
On one of the shelves in the store lived a princess, a knight, and a dragon. And one day they began to argue about who was the best.
There's nothing to argue about, of course there's no better doll than me here.
The princess declared boastfully.
You're mistaken. I'm much better than you. Look at my shiny armor. No one else has anything like it.
The knight interrupted the princess impatiently.
Oh no, that's not true. I'm the best toy in this store. Look how many different buttons I have. I can sing and talk.
The dragon said decisively.
Well, how are we to understand who is the best among us?
The princess asked.
It's simple. Whoever of us gets bought first will be the best toy.
The dragon suddenly suggested.
And the toys began to wait for when they would be bought. But a week passed, then another, and no one bought them. Then the toys decided to be clever and improve their appearance. The princess found a large number of bows in the store and put them all on herself. She began to look like a Christmas tree.
All the store visitors openly laughed at the princess doll. By dressing herself in a large number of bows, she had become a laughingstock for everyone around her.
The knight saw that many boys were buying transformer cars and decided to pretend he was a transformer. He clumsily and inappropriately tried to portray some kind of vehicle, but in this form he looked more like a pile of garbage than a car. Store visitors couldn't understand what kind of metal substance was before them.
And the dragon noticed that children loved talking dolls, so he constantly pressed buttons and spoke. But people didn't like such noise and many toys argued with him.
All the toys that were on other shelves were eagerly bought, but not the princess, dragon, and knight. They wanted so badly to be bought that instead they overdid it with their efforts and turned themselves into terrible toys that no one liked.
But they couldn't even imagine that the problem was precisely in their "modernization." It seemed to them that they hadn't decorated themselves well enough, so they continued to disfigure themselves frantically.
One day a family with three children came to the toy store: two boys and a little girl. When they approached the shelf where our arguers lived, they were horrified.
What kind of monsters are these?
One of the boys asked.
Strange, there used to be a beautiful princess, a dragon, and a prince on this shelf. But what is this horror, I don't even know.
The salesman answered and hurried to remove the toys from the shelf.
Then the princess began to quietly remove the bows from herself.
Wait, wait, I want this toy.
The girl said when she saw the toy without the many bows in the salesman's hands.
The dragon stopped making constant noise. And the knight stood at attention again.
And we'll take the dragon and the wonderful knight.
The boys began to shout over each other.
The salesman looked at the toys he wanted to throw away and didn't recognize them. Before him again were the princess, dragon, and knight that he himself had once placed on one shelf.
He took the toys to the cash register and sold them to the customers. The children brought the toys home and began to play with them constantly. When evening came, the children took each of their toys to bed with them to sleep.
As soon as the children fell asleep, the toys gathered in the middle of the room.
How foolish we were.
The princess said.
You're right. We shouldn't have disfigured ourselves. We should have just waited for someone who would like us to come to the store.
The knight added.
So the toys understood that you should never pretend to be someone you're not. You should always be yourself and then everything will be fine—for both children and toys!
