05/07/2026
National Make A Book Day
The Surveyor and the Shifting Kingdom
Once upon a timeā¦
in a kingdom that refusedā¦ to sitā¦ stillā¦
there lived a land surveyor named Krismas.
And wherever Krismas wentā¦
there followed her loyal assistant surveyorā¦
Snickers.
Snickers carried the extra stakes, the measuring tape, the field bag, and at least two emergency biscuits. Important tools. All of them.
Now this was no ordinary kingdom.
Its hills stretched like theyād done midnight gymnastics.
Forests tip-toed a few feet east before breakfast.
Even the royal vegetable garden packed up its carrots and wandered off to visit the neighboring land.
The villagers blamed dragons.
The dragons blamed tectonic plates.
The tectonic platesā¦ declined to comment.
Krismas, howeverā¦ blamed poor documentation.
And Snickers blamed whoever moved the boundary markers last.
Armed with her brass compassā¦
her cedar tripodā¦
and a field book stuffed with careful notesā¦
Krismas set out to tame the roaming realm.
Snickers marched beside her, hammer over one shoulder, measuring tape swinging like a silver ribbon in the morning sun.
While knights polished swords with heroic determinationā¦
and wizards argued loudly about prophecies and stardustā¦
Krismas adjusted her level bubble and whispered,
āLetās find out whatās really going on.ā
Snickers squinted at the horizon and added,
āAnd maybe secure the bakery.ā
One mist-silver morning, the King summoned them in a swirl of velvet robes.
āOur borders have shifted again!ā he fretted.
āYesterday the bakery was ours. Today it belongs to the Enchanted Marsh. They make dreadful pastries.ā
Snickers gasped dramatically.
Krismas nodded gravely.
No kingdomā¦ should EVER suffer soggy doggy biscuits.
They journeyed to the edge of the realmā¦
boots crunching softlyā¦
tripod balanced carefullyā¦
Snickers carrying a bundle of fresh stakes and muttering about unstable jurisdiction.
Thatās where they discovered the truth.
The land was not rebelling.
It was breathing.
From the forest emerged a moss-cloaked Guardian, voice low as distant thunder.
āYou measure and measure,ā he rumbled,
ābut you do not ask why the land moves.ā
Snickers instinctively stepped behind the tripod.
Krismas stepped forward.
She listened.
And instead of drawing rigid squaresā¦
she mapped the curves of the riverā¦
the gentle lean of the hillsā¦
the patient stretch of the forest.
Snickers followed her lead, carefully stretching the tape along winding ridgelines instead of straight shortcuts. He hammered new stakes beside ancient oaks and double-checked each marking with impressive seriousness.
For three thoughtful days they measured differently.
Not just distanceā¦
but rhythm.
On the fourth morning they returned to the King, presenting a new map that curved and flowed like the kingdom itself.
āThe land is breathing, Your Majesty,ā Krismas explained.
āIf we place our borders where it naturally rests, the kingdom will steady itself.ā
Snickers nodded firmly as he held up a perfectly aligned stake as evidence.
And so they did.
The hills stopped stretching.
The forest stood content.
The vegetable garden committed to a sunny patch.
The bakery returnedā¦
ā¦and the biscuits regained their rightful flakiness.
From that day on, Krismas was known as
The Listener of Lines.
And Snickers?
Snickers was known as
Keeper of the Stakes, Guardian of the Tape, and Defender of Proper Pastries.
For they understood a secret many never learn:
A true surveyor does not force the map upon the land.
They let the land tell its own storyā¦
one carefully measured step at a time.
And the kingdom livedā¦
Accurately Ever After.
