Behind the FAWM Series #8 - "The Princess and the Fox"

Around the time I was writing last February's album, my youngest daughter Amelie was having recurring nightmares about ... foxes.

"They chase me and bite my hands!" she would sob, pathetically, half asleep and terrified.

We began to pray with her before bed, that she would dream about lovely things.
Fairies! Rainbows! Princesses!
ANYTHING but foxes.

One night as I crept by her room, expecting to find her asleep, she was whisper-chanting to herself with her eyes tightly shut, "Princesses, princesses, PRINCESSES...NO foxes."
So sweet, so sad.

I posted something on Facebook about it, and as a result, got a song title suggestion out of it.

I wanted the result to be more than a cute kiddie song, but something that she could fall asleep to, and something that would dissolve her fears.

And to my surprise, it actually worked.

The night I played her the finished version was the first night in days she didn't have the nightmare.

She knows all the words and sings it so proudly.

For sweet Amelie:

The Princess and the Fox
Title suggested by Sarah Hamner

There was a princess fierce and brave
Big brown eyes and a pretty name
Hair that shimmered like a pot of gold

Every night when she closed her eyes
Her drowsy self got a big surprise
Sneaky little fox came scuttling into her dream

She said I am so fierce and brave
I am not scared of anything
So why must I be afraid
Of you, you, you, you, you

Was a fox wild and sly
Bushy tailed and shifty eyed
Fur as rusty red as the little pig’s house

Every night in his cozy den
The same ol’ nightmare will begin
A pretty princess chases him in his dream

He says I am so wild and sly
Tell me then, why can’t I hide
She pulls my tail and makes me cry
Oh why, why, why

She leaves her castle
He leaves his cozy den
They stop in the middle
And then…

Stare at each other they
Stare at each other they
Stare at each other they
Stare at each other
Till it gets really awkward and they both laugh and say
I am not afraid, anymore

Sometimes friendship can look odd
A picnic on the castle lawn
The princess and the fox sitting in the sun…