THE "UGLY DUCKLING" JIG-SAW PUZZLE "NIGRA" WISH COME TRUE

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 132, 30 November 1935, Page 20

THE "UGLY DUCKLING"

JIG-SAW PUZZLE

"NIGRA"

WISH COME TRUE

"NEW PIXIES ..." Helen Ritzena (10) Silverstream "Rangahinau" (8) Lower Hutt Butty Bullocl (7) City' "Judith" (3) Brooklyn "Lorraine" (:!) Brooklyn

"Teddy's Auit," Mastorton.— A great fire is a fasclnattig yet Icarsome sight. Did they save the In:use? "Bunntkin," Kelburn.—Did you really make it yourself? It is very good work, laddie. "Dumplins," Kolburn.—Did y,ou? I wish 1 had been titero to show you all the strange animals thut are living in the lUne cupboard. ■ "Nimble Thtmbla." Kalwarra.—Did you vaint . last week's! It made the prettiest picture. "Peppery Pat," Petone.—Look up the Christmas competition rules, dear. Are you going to enter? "Puddleduck." Mornington.—How very sad . . . but o£ course you feel lots better now. "Botty B," City.—A very big welcome to you. Are you golDg to be a storymaker'i "Jinny," Karori.—Printer Man never accepts two sides of the paper, elf. Thai's one of the Rules. '.'Wistaria." Morninqton.—l could almost hear the waves' sons when ■ I read it. Good world "Helen R.." Silverstream. —There is sure to be a letter from someone. . . . We all love swiming so. Both pennames belonged, new pixie. "Ranfahinau." Lower Hutt.—A very good poem . . , and about characters we all know. Ma? wo see more verses? "Winter Iris," Johnsonvllle. —A springtime poem, wasn't it ... but not a made-up one. Try? "Malcolm," Ngahau School.—Are you the youngest pixie of all, Malcolm? .. And do you like school? "Dorothy," Nsahau School.—There are lots of playmates waiting there for him . . . jolly ones. "Lorraine," Ngahau School.—Welcome to our Fairy Ring, Lorraine. Is Eleanor your sister? "Brian," Ngahau Softool.—And too small for you? Perhaps it was a hat for beach days. "Peggy." Naahau School. —A surprise visit to Grandma? Of course you love going to see her. g - ■ "Ross," Nflahau School.—l hope you ring it well and hard so that the late ones can hear it. "Bookworm," Karori.—Short verses we like ■best, Dixie. It was a fat envelope. "Polyanthus," Njal».—They must be awfully good at the; "dressing up" Kama. To hear their songs is a pleasure fn store. "Pretty Pansy," Ronijotai.— You did not send complete answers to your puzzles, childie. What was tho original word in the "tub" puzzlo •

ONE OF THE FUNNY FOLKS

Farmer -allows land stretched down to the river, arid a lane led from the farm to a place called Fallow's Pot, a large pothole, or deep, in the river there. The lane ran down the steep bank, where, except for a shallow margin at the river's edge, the bed sank quickly to very deep water. One morning Farmer Fallow sent Jot* and Henry, two village lads, to wash his pony trap at the Pot. The trap was light; so were Josh and Henry's hearts; and in a gush of high spirits they picked up the shafts and ran.the trap along the lane. Arrived at the steep dip with whoops . and leaps John and Henry "let her- go" dovt the bank.

The trap evidently became lightheaded too, for, gaining speed, she Sashed right over the narrow shallows, cocked up her shafts, plunged happily into the deep, and disappeared. Josh and Henry, their arms almost tugged from their sockets by the sudden tilt of the shafts, just gaped at the widening ring of ripples. They waded to the edge of the shallows, but nothing could be seen in the peaty depths, then with long anxious faces they crept back, and eventually broke the news to Farmer Fallow. When that gentleman had said his say, "Away to Jim Harris!" he shouted. "Ask him will he come and give us a hand!" Twenty years before Jim Harris had been a great swimmer and diver. At galas in the nearby towns Jim had carried oft all the prizes for neat or fancy diving. But that was twenty years ago. Now he was "getting on." On this particular day Josh and Henry found him on his allotment, where they told their tale. "Aa'll coom," said Jim. He put away his tools, trudged over the fields to Fallow's, and thence with the farmer and some hands to the Pot, where he saw the ruts that the .trap had made in its last wild frolic into |he deep. Jim flung off most of his clothes, waded to the ledge, took a mighty breath, and dived. Presently his head popped up again. "Aa've found her," said he. They got ropes, and with the hooked end of one Jim dived again, and many times again to make sure. And then"She'll hold!" said Jim. They all heaved, and slowly from the depths came the trap out on to the ledge. "Jim," said Farmer Fallow as they trudged home, "I don't know how to thank 'cc. Thanks baint enough. Jim take this reward." ' And he gave Jim—sixpence. As Jim was digging later to finish his interrupted work, he just kept smiling and muttering: "There's nowt so funny as folks! There's nowt so funny as folks!"

'•I must tell you about our black cat Nigra. He is about a year old, and although he is now a fully-grown cat, | we still have fun with him. When he was a little kitten he was always annoying mother when she was knitting, either by biting the needles or winding the ball of wool round and round the leg of the chair. If we held a paper bag open he would dash into it, body and all, and run round and round the room." . . "THE WOODCUTTER." . Karori.

ELVES OF THE RING: , Storybooks from "Lady Jane" and "Lassie" and a box of the most cuddlesome velvet animal toys jrom "Sunshine Elf" are the latest additions to the gift cupboard. Scrapbooks, 100, are arriving and last week came a giant one, packed ivilh stories for pixies from seven to seventeen and threaded with the colours of pictures and quaint little scraps of black and white. Any who come visiting may see it before it is sent off to a hospital or an orphanage for Christmas. s Did you.notice Summer come peeping this iveek? . . . late

FAIRIEL

MY WISH.' (Original.) I want to bo a fairy And grant a person's wish; Whether it be a puppy. Or a tasty Christmas dish. I'd look after the trees. And forgot not the flowers; I'd read llttlo fairy books In lovely fairy bowers. My house would be of green, Red the chimney pot; A doormouso for a maid. And a baby in a cot. "MAID OF ASTOLOT" (0). liataltal. j

MY GARDEN. (Original.) I h.iTO a little garden With a river flowing by. And in my little garden .There aro hollyhocks so high. And sometimes I see the suu Looking down from the sky, To see my little garden And the river flowing by. There are roses, white and red, And bees fly around too, And visit the gnome that stands, thera Underneath tho sky, so blue. "BOOK-WOHM" (12). Karori.

(Original.) Teddy was a puppy, and a mischievous puppy at that. Why, only yesterday, he was spanked for carrying his master's bedroom slipper into the garden. The day before he had chased Mrs. Briddle's prize cat up a tree, where the poor creature screamed and spat till Mrs. Briddle had rescued her darling from a cruel monster, whereupon that grim individual had reported the matter to Mr. Thomas, -Teddy's master. Poor Teddy, when he was born, was looked down upon by his brothers and sisters, for he was—ugly. He had a small, white-haired body, with scrawly thin paws, a tiny, unintelligent black face, and a long white tail, with a brown spot at the tip. Thus he had earned his title, "Ugly Duckling." "Teddy is nowhere to be seen today; probably plotting new mischief," growled Mr. Thomas, peering over the newspaper at his daughter Kitty. "Teddy isn't at home today, you had better go and look for him, Jack," said Mrs. Thomas anxiously, looking up from her cooking. Poor Teddy! If they could have seen him then. Teddy, the mischievous, was walking primly but sadly along the park. He knew only too well that the other dogs would not play with him because he was ugly. Teddy heaved a deep sigh, and was about to turn back when he was suddenly on the alert. A scream had disturbed the stillness of the park. Following the way the sound had come he saw a little girl struggling to get out of the pond. She was just going under the water when Teddy dashed up. Into the water splashed the dog, and, swimming steadily through, reaqhed the girl as she was about to disappear once more. With all his strength he pulled her to the bank of the pond where an almost frantic nurse was wringing her hands and wailing. The nurse, being too anxious on behalf of the little girl, at once hurried her away without a word to Teddy, who stood by shivering. Then, turning, Teddy ran home as fast as his legs could carry him. The family when they saw him coming in at the gate were astonished, for Teddy had never so much as set a foot in water before (except his bath, which he hated). They were still discussing it that night when there came a knock at the door. It turned out to be a gentleman who knew Teddy by sight and who had told the little girl's parents of the brave dog's rescue. Teddy was awarded a medal by the Tailwaggers' Club, and now all the other dogs'consider it a privilege to play with him. —Unsigned.

Every child knows that if you wish a thing long enough it will come true —at any rate in Fairyland. A wish has just come true in this real world, states the "Children's Newspaper." II was. the wish of a German minister in Copenhagen, Freiherr yon Waldthausen, who had been all over the world except Greenland, which he dearly wished to see before l» ended his journey through this ward. Last July he left Copenhagen and saw Greenland, and there he became ill and went on the last journey from which no man returns. He was 77, and his wish had come true.