THE FAIRIES’ FRIEND

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 59, 2 December 1933, Page 23

THE FAIRIES’ FRIEND

STORY OF A KIND LITTLE BOY . Once there was a little boy called Geoffrey who was so gentle and kind to animals that he had got into the way of playing with his dog rather than playing games with his playmates. Even so he was not lonely because he had a cat and some birds besides his dog. One day as he was playing with his pets he saw a beautiful humming bird coming to him. On its back sat the prettiest little fairy you ever saw. She was dressed in pink velvet with pale blue stockings. "Oh, here you are, Geoffrey,” she exclaimed. “The Queen has sent me to ask you to come and rid fairyland of ah ogre. Although he is but two feet high he is a monster to us. He defies our magic and there is only one place to kill him, which is the top of his head.” Geoffrey stood up ready to help. On the fairy’s command j he shut his eyes and at once he thought I he felt the rushing of wind past him. On opening them he realised that what had really happened was that he had been carried by the fairies to fairyland. In a few minutes he climbed the hill to the ogre’s lair with a sword given him by the Queen. The ogre, an ugly, fat, dark-skiniied, fearsome monster, fumed with rage at seeing him, and he seemed to swell to twice his normal size. He rushed at t Geoffrey, who warded off the blow and dealt in return a mighty stroke on his head. And as he fell dead the fire that was in him burnt his body to cinders. When the fairies heard that the ogre was dead they rushed from their hiding places and gave three hearty cheers for Geoffrey. The Queen made him a fairy prince as a reward. So although everyone thinks that Geoffrey is only a mortal he is really a fairy prince. —Original, by Anthony Treadwell, Wellington.