Once upon a time in ancient Japan, there was a village in a secluded valley. The village was surrounded by mountainsides and it was guarded by evil samurai. The villagers would never venture out into the mountains because they were afraid of the evil samurai. The evil samurai were filled with hatred, jealousy, and rage because they believed that life had no purpose. The samurai always killed off nature, animal life, and even the villagers. Whenever the villagers left beyond the mountains, they would never return. Many of the villagers believed that the samurai would take over one day. They feared of the samurai's dark hearts, and the good villagers became fearful.
One day, there was a visitor who came out of nowhere. She was beautiful, pure as snow, and was delicate. She had a gentle and quiet spirit. She would always have paper with her to paint and draw beautiful pictures for the villagers. The pictures gave the villagers hope, and showed meaning and purpose. They would call her the Paper Princess. Her artwork would always give inspiration to the villagers. Her drawings were stunningly beautiful with depth and perception like a view through a window. Soon enough, the villagers love grew towards the princess. The villagers' fear was being replaced by peace and joy from the Paper Princess. The samurai had found out about the Paper Princess and feared that the princess would take over their authority. So soldiers were sent to find and kill the Paper Princess.
When they found the princess, they too were overwhelmed by her love, beauty, and innocence. They did not dare harm the princess so they returned back up into the mountains and lied that the princess was dead. They were too scared to report their failure. However, next morning the villagers were upset, for they could not find their Paper Princess- the only person in the village that gave them courage. They understood that something was awfully wrong. The villagers understood that the evil samurai had taken their princess. But they were too scared to go up into the dark mountains. The next day, beautiful folded paper animals appeared all around the village.
The villagers were delighted to see these paper animals because they were so lifelike and it reminded them of their princess, but no one knew where they were coming from. The number of the paper animals increased over the following days. The evil samurais took note of this and figured that the villagers were planning a rebellion.
The villagers soon learned how to fold their own origami and this paper art seemingly took on a life of its own. Now the evil samurais were furious. Again their anger lead to hatred, and hatred led to fear. The evil samurai were determined to get rid of the princess. So the army of soldiers went down to the village to destroy all the paper animals. When they got down to the bottom of the hill, they were confronted by a giant paper dragon which was protecting the villagers. As the evil samurais came closer, the dragon vanquished the entire army, killing all the evil samurais. After the battle, the dragon unfolded itself into sheet of paper and re-folded itself back into the Paper Princess. The princess gave the villagers hope, and hope brought life back into the village.
