"SINGING GOLD."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 139, 13 June 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

"SINGING GOLD."

By MARY KITCHI^G.

IT was hung across the blue-misted sky—a shimmering span of colour. Red, orange, yellow, green, bluo, indigo, violet: they were all glistening in the pale sunlight. It was B.obbie who saw it first. "Look, Del," he said, and he pointed excitedly. Delicia turned from the sweet peas she was picking, and saw it too. "A rainbow, Bobbie!" she exclaimed. "What a beauty! And look, I can see where it er.ds. Bobbie, do come and we'll find the pot of gold." Bobbie, aged seven, stared up into the face of his big sister. Seventeen she was, "just on the verge of ginhood, and she had not yet left quite behind the dear realms of childhood.

"Pot of gold, Del?" he echoed. "Why, yes. The fairies have hidden a pot of gold f oo k the rainbow, and whoever finds it can keep it." "Can we keep it for ever and ever?"

"If we find it," laughed the sister. "Come on Bobsy, and let's search." Summer day sweetness pervaded the fields as they ran along hand in hand. Dewy fresh was the tall grass after the light showers; and it went swish, swish against their bare legs as they passed. "There, Bobbie—see where it ends? Right down in that, paddock by the creek. Perhaps it finishes in the water."

ilsv On they went, the girl humming a song for the pure joy of being alive on such a clay as this. The cool freshness of the air was sweet upon her brow, the coo* caress of the breeze was soft on her hair. Somewhere in the sky above a lark sang —and Delicia laughed to herself, for the song was a reflection of her own joy- * and nearer they were to-the end of the rainbow. It wasn't the first time that Del had chased that elusive span across the sky— but surely this time she would find the finish? So close now . . . "Hurry, Bobbie, before it goes!" Closer now, and closer ... .A joyous thrill shot through Delicia as she saw where it dipped into th« grass by the running water . . . and finished. "At last," she breathed, hardly daring to believe that she had found the end. "Here Bobbie—search for the fairies' pot of gold." Down on the grass they went and searched and searched —but it was nbwhere to be found. Surely this was where the shining rainbow had met the earth? Blue was the sky above now, with never a ti'ace of tha golden glorious colouring that had been there before. "Del, Del, we can't find it," said Bobbie, great tears wellirfg up into hi 3 big eyes of beauty. Misty and shining, with their deep blue beneath they were very much like the "sky after showers, 'Delicia thought. "No, Bobsy, it's not here," she replied very slowly. "I thought wa had found it this time—come on, we'd best be going hotne." "Why—you're crying. What's the matter, Del ? Don't worry about a silly old pot of gold —daddie has heaps of money." "I'm all —all right," _ and sha laughed through a thin veil of tears. "Never mind, darling, I'm just silly. But pots of gold are like the end of the rainbow —always elusive." • She picked Bobbie up and hugged him tight. "You're a dear," she said, as she set him down again on his two sturdy legs. And then she was back on her knees, in the wet for her eyes had caught a glimpse of gold. Slowly, carefully, she lifted her treasure, and held it in her hand. "What is it?" came the excited query. And the girl stooped down with her living treasure of a bird. "Singing gold," she said simply. Then, "Let's take it home quickly. Poor wee birdie is tired and frightened. Come on Bobbie." Back through the fields they went, back through the shining summer glory with their treasure from the rainbow's end. In the days that followed the throat of singing gold in the littlf» gilt cage set high in the sunshine, sang as though his little heart would surely burst. The rainbow's gold had proved a richer find than any pot of gold, for his was the joy of living. . . t Through every dawn and every twilight the rich notes of Singing Gold, and the deep happiness of his song was reflected in the joyous heart of the girl . Surely . . . this was treasure from the rainbow's end?