THE BOOKWORM’S STORY

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23053, 22 June 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BOOKWORM’S STORY

A bookworm had just .come back ■from a trip through a book of fairy tales. And to celebrate .his return from such a long journey, Mr and ■ Its Doll invited him: to dine at their house. So he came, dressed dn his best, and -enjoyed himself And by the time they (had finished dessert—a delicious Lpink plaster pudding . with hard f sauce—he was feeling Very gay and I talkative.

. Aunty: Will you have another jam tart, dear? Bobby: I’d love to, but only my eyes are hungry. —JEANNE - LEE, Papanui,

“I say,” he asked, “would you i like to hear a story.” i “Oh, yes!” said all the Doll family. a And Minnie the maid opened the kitchen door a crack, so that she -could hear, too. . “Once upon a time,” began the putting on his spectacles ' (somehow, he never, could tell a story without them), "there was a little girl who had a pretty red cloak which her grandmother had , made for her. “One day her mother, put some ■ cakes into a basket and. said, ‘Now, , dear, take these cakes to your grandmother.’ ' “So the little girl set out for her- ; grandmother’s house. But" it was ; not long before She met a little old ; man who said, ‘What have you there in your basket?’ , ■ “‘Cakes for. ihy grandmother,’ • Baid the little girl. V ■ t “ ‘l’ll give you all these for your cakes,’ said the little old man. And he held out his hand full of brightly coloured beans. ‘ ■ V’Cji. ' - . ; “ ‘Very well,’, said the little girl, for she thought that her grandmother would far rather have beans th “SQ C the 3 little old man took the cakes, and the little girl went on, with the beans in the pocket of her pretty red cloak. “But when she got to her grandmother’s house and had told her what happened, , her grandmother said, ‘Child, you have made a bad bargain!’ And-she-threw the beans out' of the window. “It was not long before the house seemed rather dark. And the grandmother said, ‘Child, go out and see why it is so dark.; Perhaps we are going to have a storm.’ _ “So the little girl went out. And what did she see but a tall* tree growing where, no tree had . ever grown before. But no! When she came close to it. she saw thatwas not really a. tree. It was a" beanstalk so' tall 'that its top was out of sight. ‘ It‘Was just the right sort of beanstalk for climbing. “So the little girl began to climb. She climbed and she climbed until she came to the very top. of the beanstalk. , ' . ' . “And there, she’ saw a handsome prince who j was holding a glass slipper. He "said«th&t-,be- would marry the maiden Who could wear the slipper. - “‘May I try it on?’.asked the;little girl. . “ ‘Certainly,’ said the prince. And it was just her sizer.' ='''- • “So the prince took the little girl with him to*the.;-palace.-- - And ..as soon as she "“whs'old '-enough;’ they were married and lived happily ever after.*’ - The Bookworm . his spectacles. ■ ;

“.Well,” said Mr Doll, after a while. “How .strange! You told us only one story, my dear Bookworm, but I , feel as if I heard several!” _ ~ “Why, so do I!” added Mrs Doll. "And 1!” said each little Doll. Minnie the maid closed the kitchen door. . “Well,” said she to herself, ‘I must say that Mr Bookworm had quite a meandering journey when he chewed his way through that book. That little girl was Little Red Riding Hood. But it was somebody else who climbed the beanstalk. And: it Was • somebody else who tried on the glass slipper and married the prince. Little Red Riding Hood netfer even dreamed Of such a thing. I happen to know!”