THE FAIRY TALE OF THE RED SHOES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 275, 20 November 1935, Page 21

THE FAIRY TALE OF THE RED SHOES.

(By Bath Park, 78, Sandringham Bead, S.W.I, Auckland. "I shall wear my new cap with the brave scarlet heather, And my dainty new shoes of bright crimson leather. How pretty I'll be!" thought vain little Karen, "When to-morrow I go to the church in the glen." So Karen went dancing through the sweet morning - dews, "How pretty I am in my little red shoes." She danced past the beggar who knelt by the door, And clickety-clack went her shoes on the floor. Then tickety-tack down the shadowy aisle. "How pretty I am!" she thought all the while. Around her the organ-notes fluttered and flew, And the tall painted windows glowed purple and blue. "What pretty red shoes!" said the old beggar man When Karen came dancing out past him again. And lie gave them a tap with his stick as in fun— "Now dance on for ever, thou foolish one!" So Karen went dancing, and could not stop, From the depth of the valley to mountain top, And the sunshine faded at the end of the day, But Karen kept dancing away and away. Clickety-clack went each little red shoe, Over the hill and into the blue, Past the great stars that glimmering hung, West of the moon and north of the sun. Past the guardian angels seven, Clickety-clack to the doors of heaven. Then Karen sobbed, "Oh, let me pass!" But the wind blew up from beyond the stars And whirled her away like a small bright feather, She and her pretty red shoes together. And away and away, for centuries yet, From blue sunrise to gold sunset. In little red shoes that click and twirl, Goes Karen dancing around the world.'

DO YOU KNOW? (Sent in by Marjorle Thorpe, 193, Queen Street, Onelrunga, 5.8.,5.) That a medium size man has distributed over his body a pressure of 3000 pounds, or the weight of three large elephants ? That liquid mercury is 13J times as heavy as water? That the chief product of Alaska is salmon? That Loueia M. Alcott, the author of "Little Women," wrote verees when she was eight years old? That an acre of alfalfa plant in a season can produce 7761b of pork when hogs are fed on it? ; That algebra had its beginnings in Egypt about 2000 8.C.? That alligators are sometimes 20ft long? Thnt a Chinese person must know about 3000 different signs before ho can read an ordinary Chinese book? That the Egyptians invented the first alphabet about 3000 B.C. ? That the Alps pass through five different countries? That the present Houses of Parliament were erected in 1834? That the Parliament of the Isle of Man 16 known as the House of Keys? That a record of every speech in the Houses of Parliament is kept and that the name of the book is called "Hansard" ? That Thomas Edison invented the cinematograph ? That there are gold mines in the County of Merionethshire in Wales? That John Milton, tho English poet, lost his sight at the age of 44? That some birds migrate ever a distance of 2400 miles and that they make this flight without stopping? That an average human hair is l-500th of an inch thick? That within the first nine years of their development a single group of mines near Melbourne produced £97,000,000 worth of gold? That the Mediterranean Sea is 2400 miles long and at one point 1200 miles wide ? That so vast is the fresh water discharged from the Amazon, in South America, that it is drinkable 100 miles from the shore? That the Vikings discovered America 500 yeare before Columbus? That a whale lives about 500 years and a Mayfly four hours? That there are more than 2000 species of ants? That an antelope has been known to attain a speed of 00 miles an hour? That Antwerp, in Belgium, 50 miles from the open sea, possesses one of the finest harbours in the world?

That the apple belongs to the rose family? That the "Arabian Nights" was first published by a Frenchman in 1704? That Archimedes wae the greatest mathematician of the ancients?