Sarah loved the bright colors of the merry-go-round and went there whenever she could, sometimes to ride and sometimes just to watch the horses go by. She had ridden all of the horses many times, but her favorite was Rosie, a white horse with a golden mane, and a beautiful red saddle decorated with roses.
Sometimes her mother would give her a coin for helping around the house, and sometimes for no special reason at all. Sarah would always take her coin and buy a ticket, and then wait until she could ride her favorite horse.
One day when her mother had given her a coin, she was walking to the park when she saw something shiny in the grass. When she picked it up it was another coin, but it was not like any she had seen. It had a picture of someone on the front, and a building on the back, but they were different.
All the other coins had pictures of people who looked old, and strict, and even the buildings looked kind of strict. But this coin had a picture of a princess and a castle! Although she could not read a single word on the coin, Sarah knew it was a princess. She was beautiful, and you could tell that she was kind. Sarah put the coin in her pocket.
When she got to the merry-go-round, she used the coin that her mother had given her to buy a ticket, and then she waited for Rosie to finish giving another child a ride. She didn't mind waiting, but she wished that she could ride Rosie whenever she wanted.
When her ride was over, she wished that she could ride Rosie again, and she reached for the other coin in her pocket, the one that she had found. As she held it, a remarkable thing happened; Rosie stepped off the merry-go-round!
No one seemed to mind or be at all surprised; the ticket man patted Rosie's nose and smiled at Sarah as they went by. The other horses all moved over a little bit so there would not be an empty space.
It wasn't supper time yet, so they went for a ride around the park, and then they rode home to Sarah's house. Sarah left Rosie outside, and ran in to tell everyone.
At first, Sarah's family did not believe her, and would not even come outside to see Rosie, but they finally did, and they were surprised. When they asked Sarah how she got Rosie, she told them about the special princess coin. Of course everyone wanted to see the coin, but when she went to take it from her pocket, it was gone!
Her mother asked Sarah if she was sure that she was supposed to keep Rosie. Maybe she was just supposed to ride her and bring her back, so other children could ride her. When Sarah thought about it she knew this was true, so she rode Rosie back to the merry-go-round, where the ticket man was happy to see her. The other horses moved over to make room and Rosie got back in her old place.
But Sarah was sure that even without the special coin, she would be able to ride Rosie whenever she wanted to. And she was right.