The Contest
    
It was New Year’s Day 1543 in England. All of the kids in the kingdom gathered to hear the king announce the winner of the kids’ writing contest. Excitedly, everyone leaned forward to hear the king’s words: “The winner is . . .”
    
Back one month, the king announced the annual kids’ writing contest. Whoever wrote the best story would win the prize of a wagon full of chocolate.

“I will definitely win the contest, because I’m the best writer here,” boasted Prince Hugo.

The prince was a good writer, and he always worked really hard on his stories, but this year other kids were eager to win, especially because Hugo usually won.

It was only two weeks until the judging. Everybody was working hard to finish their work. Billard, the farmer’s son, was working diligently on a story about a boy climbing to the moon. The butcher’s son, Ronald, was writing about a man saving a unicorn. But the prince, he wasn’t writing his story. He was out jousting and thinking to himself, I usually win the contest, so I’m bound to win it this year!

Now, it was only one week until judging. Kids were putting final touches on their stories, but Hugo, that’s another story. Hugo was still jousting and playing.

Finally, only one day was left. Hugo finally started to write and was having a hard time. A thought perked up in his mind: I could write about jousting. No. How about knights? No, boring. A dragon? Yes, I’ll write about a dragon.

So all night he wrote about his dragon. It was very hard for him to write, because he was so worried about finishing.

The next day at noon in the park the king announced the winner. “The winner is . . . Billard Crower, the farmer’s son!”

“Yippee!” yelled Billard. “I worked really hard every day to make my story the best I could. Everyone thought the prince would win, but not this year!” said Billard.

Darn, thought the prince. Never again will I procrastinate! It dulled my imagination!