Princess Sarah: The Mystery Resolved

These aren’t the exact words, but I’ll try to retell them as close as I could … Sarah held her doll tightly, the news was hardly registering – her father is dead? With pride that always made her stand out, she lifted her chin and left the room as fast as she could; she wanted to stay away from Miss Minchin’s sight. “Aren’t you going to thank me for giving you a home you child with no gratitude?” Miss Minchin’s cry echoed the room. “Why should I?” Sarah called back. “You are not nice. And this is not a home.” Sarah knew the doom that awaited her but never really knew how hard it would be.

“How sad.” I thought turning the pages of the book before putting it back to the shelves. “Just another children’s book.” I sighed and left the library.

Several weeks later, I was with year 8 class when I noticed a hardcover book. I looked at it and read its summary. It says the story is about a rich half-Indian half-French girl named Sarah who was sent to a boarding school in London by his rich business man father who pampered her with stuff and care as if she was a princess but until he died penniless due to a failed diamond business. It hit me! Isn’t this the book of Princess Sarah? The cartoon TV series that I was die hard of when I was a kid which I watched religiously every day but not until I saw its ending, our family had to move to a new place where we didn’t quickly get access to TV channels. I never knew its ending. I never knew what happened to Princess Sarah. When I got to high school, I saw parts of its Filipino movie version starred by Camille Prats but it didn’t really amuse me that I didn’t even finish it. I looked at the title of the book, “A little Princess Sarah” written by Dr. Arthur Pober adapted from the version of Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I’m now on my late twenties, a teacher. How many years passed since I was in grade 4 when I’d cry if I missed its daily show. I suddenly went back to being a kid. I saw again the cartoon characters - the turbaned man climbing the roof when he visits Sarah in the attic, the monkey, the old sad Indian man, Emily the doll which Miss Minchin sent away along with all of Sarah’s belongings immediately when the news came that Sarah dad died and she was no longer rich.

I devoured the book in an hour. Then I came to the part when Sarah called back, “Why should I? You are not nice. This is not a home.” Oh my! How funny. Isn’t this the same book that I ignored in the library? Now the puzzles were meeting each other and all the questions answered. I no longer wonder about the turbaned man and why Sarah became poor. I no longer wonder what became of her. I am now rest assured that Sarah got back her title and her fortune. Princess Sarah, the girl that I loved so much when I was a little girl, is no longer a mystery.