THE PRINCESS AND THE ROOKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE PRINCESS AND THE ROOKS.

Once upon a time there was a princess who was put under a spell by a dragon, and she lived alone in a waste place out of which she could not move becaase there was ft magic ring round her. Nobody came to rescue her, berause nobody thought she would be in tli -j middle of a waste place, and she often wondered when tho dragon would come and eat her. At last she saw some rooks -flying, so she made a little piece of poetry in case they came again, for rooks must always be spoken to in rhyme. One day ehe saw them again, so she called out:

"Rooks, Rooks, you have wings, yon are

free. Rooks, Rooks, stop awhile, pity ine! Bring me something to break this charm, And I will protect you for ever from harm. Hooks. Rooks, can't you throw me a rope, Or bring me a prince, or give me hope?"

The rooks fluttered over her head like black shadows; then they held a parliament outside the ring, and suddenly they all flew away.

Day after day, the princess waited for them to come hack, and when at last she saw them she held up her hands to them in joy. • Then they opened their beaks and let a shower of acorns fall to earth.

"Oh, they are no good to me!" wept the princess, as the rooks flew. away. All the winter the acorns lay on the ground, but in the spring they sprouted, and in the summer they grew into tres! And trees, of course, draw water out of 'the earth. These oaks drew a little stream up, and, as running water breaks all spells, the stream ran acrosa the magic circle, and the princess stepped out.

She beheld a prince riding to see why that forest had grown so quickly, and he went and killed the dragon, then married the princess. They built a castle in the forest, and the rooks came and nested in the oaks, and they all lived happily ever after.