Diamantine was the princess of Kesthesia, a kingdom that was known for its beauty. Princess Diamantine had little work to do apart from sitting in the Court of Royals everyday, looking as beautiful as she could and then she would go back to her room. She dined with all the other princes and princesses in the huge dining hall and ate the most delicious foods. At other times, she ordered the royal tailors to make beautiful gowns for her. But most of the time she spent preening in front of the mirror.

All was well for her, apparently, except for a little problem — she never felt happy. This affected her so much that she began to lose sleep. She would sit wide-eyed all night long for several nights in a row. Sometimes, if she slept, it was only for some minutes. The king was very worried and called wise men from all over the world to solve this problem, but no one was able to do so. No sleeping potions worked on her and she began to feel worse with each passing day.

Princess Diamantine came to be known as sleepless beauty all across Kesthesia. One day an old wise man suggested that Diamantine would only sleep soundly if her heart was happy.

On listening to this, the senior advisor of the king suggested that expensive gowns and shoes would make Princess Diamantine happy. So the king ordered exquisite gowns and shoes from all over the world. Even at the palace, tailors sat all day long sewing dresses and cobblers started designing shoes. But when all these were presented to Princess Diamantine, she still did not find any solace in them.

Some suggested exotic cuisines, others beautiful flowers, etc., to make the princess happy at heart. But the princess was growing weaker day by day, the bags under her eyes were darker. One day, she called for her special advisor Dmitri.

Dmitri was an elf with drooping ears and the brightest green eyes anyone had ever seen. Seeing him, the princess started crying began to speak between sobs, “Dmitri, look what has become of me! I have everything but I’m not happy.”

Dmitri listened to everything and then suggested to her that all the expensive clothes, food and other things she had ordered to cure herself should be given to the poor and needy. Not only this, but she should do some work in order to keep her mind occupied.

So the princess did as the elf suggested. When she saw little children with bare feet smile after wearing her shoes, and young girls merrily playing with each other in her clothes, she felt her heart flutter. And for the first time she experienced a sense of happiness. It had not come from spending money on herself but on others who were in need.

She also decided to spend her time in a useful way rather than looking in the mirror all day long. So she began to teach in the morning in a nearby school where most of the students were from poor families. After doing all this, Princess Diamantine felt happy and light-hearted and was never sleepless again.