Once upon a time, in the magical Land of Candy (the place where sweets are made and all children are very, very happy), King Candy made a royal pronouncement. "I have just received word that our petition to make candy the seventh food group has been denied. This is a public relations disaster! The Vegetable Kingdom and the Land of Grains will kill us on exports. Therefore, today I decree that all citizens figure out another use for candy--besides eating it. Bring your ideas to the castle by sunset. The winner will get a chest of treasure!"
Everybody ran home and started scheming. One man turned his candy into glue, but his hand got stuck to his doorknob. Another removed the sugar from his candy to make it healthier, but it tasted horrible. Finally, a third man melted down some lollipops to make a giant window. The king was most impressed. "That's terrific!" he shouted, as the royal carpenters installed the window into one of the castle walls. "Now let's see how it looks from the outside."
Everybody walked outside except for some children quietly playing on the castle floor. Outside, the window looked beautiful--until rain began to fall. In just a few minutes, it melted and rain leaked into the castle. "Oh, this is terrible!" the king said.
"I'll say," said the man who invented the window. "There goes my treasure!"
"Wait," said the queen. "Look inside!" The children were playing with the most magical toys anybody had ever seen--puppets made of lollipops, licorice tic-tac-toe games and even a sugary replica of the castle.
"Who made these?" the king demanded, carefully studying each one.
"Why, we did, Your Majesty," said the children.
"You win!" the king cried. "You've saved the kingdom! Scribe, notify FAMILYFUN! We must share these ideas with the children of the world!" Which they did.
And to this day, a creative child can still win a chest of treasure for a novel candy craft. Long live the Land of Candy!
