The Enchanted Wreath

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 115, 17 May 1941, Page 15

The Enchanted Wreath

SLOW PROGRESS. Two women had been having a long talk In the street, but at last one of them bro'ce off the fiir.versn.Uofi with a jerk. Well, Mrs Brown, I must be getting along now to the plumber," she said. "My fcushand's at home with Ills thumb on a burst pipe waiting till he comes." ♦ THE GARDEN. (Orleimil.) I passed thimich the cute »f the garden. Vtiri iltiwri the bordered tvnlk. Where thd lilies .strew us mil us myself And Iteps hummed on the •milk. Hoses piinsles. peonies, stvvi'ft pens I'opplcs mill ilnlns crew there a stone-dniniud path, in ihe cracks 'if whlrh Were phiK daisies nnd maidenhair. And ever anger. I wnniH'i'pd on, Till I '•nine to the end of it all, Kor nil this beauty wns enclosed Within ii garden wall. "LADY OF TUB ClifitlhS" (IS). Kelhitrn .♦ SOMETHING 1 WRONG. Arithmetic. we nfP told, ,Is the science if truth, hut -flßmw leiirf us to rurifiii? rpsuMo sometimes Foi itiKtiiiice it 'me man can hulM v -iHerl In ten flays, 'en men ran huiii) It Ifi une 'lay Then 2'1I) nii^n Will nnlld it In «n hour H. 400 n one niimiu .inrl SIH IHHI in one urconfi As * matter of fact, 'hey oould not drive one nail in that time. Then airaiu. if one ship can cross the AlIsintlr 10 SpVen rin.vs, seven ships ciin cross It in one day 1 It Is difficult to believe that.

ONCE upon a time there lived near a forest a man and his wife and two daughters. One daughter was good and beautiful and the other was cross and ugly, though her mother thought her the most bewitching maiden that was ever seen. One day the man said to his beautiful daughter. "I have dropped my axe in the forest please go and get it for me." The walk took some time, for it was very dark, and her shoes often stuck in the mud; but she was brave as well as beautiful, and never thought of turning back. At last. With her dress torn by brambles that she could not see, and her face scratched by the twigs on the trees, she reached the spot where she and her father had been cutting the wood in the morning, and found the axe in the place where her father had dropped it. To her surprise, three little doves were sitting on the handle, looking very sad. "You poor little things," said the girl, stroking them, "Why do you sit here and gel wet? Go and Sy home to your nest, it will be much warmer than this, But first eat this bread, which I saved from my dinner, and perhaps you will feel happier. It is my father's axe you are sitting on, and I musi take it back as fast as I can or 1 shall get a terrible scolding from my stepmother." She then crumbled the bread on the ground, and was pleased to see the doves flutter quite cheerfully towards it. "Goodbye.1' she said, picking up the axe, and went Her way homeward. By the time they had finished all the bread crumbs the doves felt much better and were quite able to fly to their nest in the top of the trees. "That is a good girl," said one, "I was really too wosk to stretch out'a wing before she came. I should like to do something to show how grateful 1 am." Well, let us give her a wreath of flowers that will never fade as long as she wears it on her head," cried the

Sent by "Peg o' my Heart," 12, Ngaio)

second. "And let the tiniest singing birds in the world sit among the flowers," rejoined the other. "Yes, that will do beautifully," said the first. And when the girl stepped into the cottage a wreath of rosebuds was on her head and a crowd of little birds was singing unseen. The father, who was sitting by the fire, thought that in spite of her muddy j clothes lie had never seen his daughter i looking so lovely; while the stepmother and the other daughter grew wild with envy and hate, "How absurd to walk about on such a pouring night dressed up like that," she remarked crossly and roughly pulled off the wreath as she spoke. As she did so the roses became wither ed and brown and the birds flew out of the window. "See what a trumpety thing it is," cried the stepmother, Now it happen ed that the second night, the father came home without his axe again. "Why, you have forgotten your axe again, you careless man," cried j-his wife. "But this time my daughter shall fetch it." With a, very ill grace, the damsel set forth/ grumbling to herself as she went, for, although she wanted a wreath, she did not care for the trouble of getting it. By the time she reached the spot where her father had left his axe, she was very cross indeed, and when she caught sight of the three little doves sitting on her father's axe, WELL!! "Dirty creatures!" cried she. "Go away at once or I'll throw stones at you." And the doves spread their wings in flight and flew to the very top of the tree, their little bodies shaking with anger. "What shall we do to revenge ourselves on her?" asked the smallest of the doves, "we have never been treated like that before." Never," said the biggest dove. "We must find some way of paying her back in her own coin!"

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i "I know," said the third. "She shall never be able to say anything but Dirty Creatures to the end of her life." "O! how clever of you! That will do beautifully," clapped the other two. Meanwhile the girl had reached home crosser than ever, but as her mother heard her lift the latch, she ran out to hear her adventures. "Well, did you get the wreath?" she cried. "Dirty creatures," answered her daughter, "Don't speak to me like that,'* said her mother* "Dirty creatures." repeated her daughter. Then the woman saw that evil had befallen her daughter and she turned to her stepdaughter angrily. "You are at the bottom of this, I know!" she cried. And she took a stick and began to beat her unmercifully till the girl screamed with pain and went to bed sobbing. • : One day, as the girl was in the wood chopping, a neighbouring prince happened to be riding by. He heard the sound of singing birds. Tying his horse to a post, he followed where the sound led him, and, to his surprise, he saw a beautiful girl chopping wood, with a wreath of pink rosebuds, out of which the singing came. Standing in the shelter of a tree he watched her for a long while, and then, hat in hand, he went up and spoke to her. "Fair maiden, who are you,and who gave you that wreath of singing, roses?" asked he. "I live in a hut on the edge of the forest," she answered, blushing, for she had never spoken to a prince before. "And as to the wreath, 1 do not know how it came to be there, unless it. may be a gift of some doves whom tfed when they were starving." The prince was delighted with this answer, which showed the goodness of the girl's heart, and besides he had fallen in love with her beauty, and would not be content until she consented to be his bride. The girl therefore consented. A splendid wedding feast was prepared, and the.1 couple lived happily ever after. ' «

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BEYOND. (Original.) I wandered far Beyond the sunset*! glow, In hope that I might find A land I know Beyond a western star Beyond, beyond. . . . PAT DOBSON (16) Dannevlrke. ♦ AUTUMN LEAVES. (Original.) As ' the leaves come fluttering down. They make a pretty ' sight, With colours red. trreen, and brown, Tn the clear daylight. The wind loves t« rustle them, And scatter them about,Then he goes away again With a "merry shout. "TTLO" (10). Wadestown. WEATHER WISDOM. When the weather Is wet We must not fret; . When the weather id dry tVe must not cry: When the weather Is cold, We must not scold; When the weather U warm JVc must, not storm; But be thankful together, Whatever the weather. ♦ WHICH SEASON? My first Is In read but not in snell, My second Is in buy but not in sell. My third Is in country but not in beach. My fourth is in pluni but not in peach, My fifth is in man* but not in few, —""t. My sixth is in nail bu^,not in screw, My whole ia one" seat son in the year Which is now vary neaSj "STARLIGHT." Island Bay. .