I want art!

    Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a young boy named Blaise. His parents, the King and Queen, were always busy and ignored him. He had a big room but no art on his walls. He wanted to decorate the walls with pretty art and invite friends to see them in his beautiful castle. But he had no money and his parents couldn't care to buy him any art.

(exposition)

We are too tired to go to Castle Stone, son.

    One day, Blaise’s family got a letter from the King and Queen of Castle Stone to visit their art collection. Blaise really wanted to go, as he loved art. But his parents were really tired that day and told Blaise to go alone. Blaise was sad and a little bit mad, but he still went. 

(rising action)

Wow.. so much nice art!

    As he entered the shiny royal home, he stared in surprise at how much art the family owned. From paintings of cute puppies to beautiful places, the walls were covered. Blaise was so jealous, he wanted the pretty art in his own room. 

I want that.

    Blaise walked around until one picture caught his attention from the corner of his eye. On the wall was a giant painting of a big rainbow lollipop with a red bow. His eyes widened and behind him, a voice said, “Oh! Do you like the art too?” 

Hi! I'm Claire.

I'm Blaise.

    Turning around, Blaise saw a cute girl in a sparkly dress and her hair in pigtails. “Yes, the candy looks super tasty. But I have never tried it before.” 

    Surprised, the little girl said, “Hi! I'm Claire, the princess of Castle Stone. Here’s a piece of candy.” She reached into her pocket and placed a colorful candy in his hand. 

    Blaise asked, “Why are you being so nice to me?”

I should be always helping out.

Why do you do all of this?

    “My parents taught me that I should always help people who need help. In our kingdom, we believe in the action of zakat, one of the Five Pillars of Islam (“The Five Pillars of Islam”). My duty as a good princess is to always help those who need it (Macaulay).

    “But why do you do it?” questioned Blaise.

    She smiled at Blaise. “Because it is the right thing to do as a good princess to my people (“Zakat: The Third Pillar of Islam”). Zakat tells me that I must help others, even if it is small, like giving them a sweet (Azhar).” 

Nice to know.. goodbye.

    Blaise listened to Claire speak, but he felt that it was weird. He didn’t really like how a little girl was teaching him all of this. He still didn’t get why she was being so nice. So, after saying a quick goodbye, he went to look at other art. 

What is this painting doing here..

Don't say that!

    Blaise walked into another room. He saw a painting of an old shoe with mud stains. 

    “What is this? Why is this ugly painting here?” Blaise wondered.

    “Aye! Don’t insult the shoe! Everything has a spirit that is connected with human actions in this world (Park). It is something called animism and that old shoe is a spirit that holds a lot of meaning (Waldrep),” cried a boy from behind Blaise. 

    “Oh, what do you know?” Blaise said back.

Don't talk badly about my religion!

That's dumb and not true.

    “Well, I’m Tarlo and I come from the Yoruba religion and we always practice animism (Gordon). My mommy taught me that even the simplest things, like rocks and old shoes have spirits (Smith). It’s why you should always respect them, even if they are small (Smith).”

    “You sound dumb. How could that old shoe have a spirit?” Blaise replied.

    Tarlo looked angry and yelled, “Don’t insult my religion!” He ran away from Blasie, leaving Blaise to wonder what he said wrong.

I want that painting.. I'm going to take it!

    Later that evening, Blaise became really angry. He thought, “Why can’t I just take what I want? I want that painting of the lollipop.” Blaise made a bad choice. He decided he was going to steal the picture of the lollipop because he wanted what others had. 

(climax)

Thief!