NURSERY RHYMES RETOLD.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3264, 6 February 1926, Page 6

NURSERY RHYMES RETOLD.

1 JACK BEANSTLK AND OLD MOTHER HUBBARD. : :A" ,a. ' • ■ In the silence of the night a dog howled agu ; n anad' again, and still again. At last Little Girl stirred in her sleep. Then die sat bolt upright, and, giving her sleepy eyes a puzzled rub, hopped out of bed and ran to the open window. It. wasn’t jier own fox-terrier Pinch —he was gently snoring in his backet beside her bqd. The noise didn’t come from the direction of the stables, either. ( Little Girl leaned out of the window and listened, intently. The mournful sounds came from directly above her head!!! Surely there could not be a lost dOg on the ioof? Again the plaintive long-drawn wail pierced the air. Where could it be coming from? She gazed, more mystified than ever, across the nvoon-llt garden. Suddenly a gleam of light shot across the darkness. ' n ■« n a a tt

"Suddenly a gleam of light shot across the - darkness.” tt n n n tt it "How' beautiful! how beautiful!” said Little Girl to herself. “It must be - a falling star.” "Weil, not exactly a falling star," said a voice down below in the garden •—"A falling, boy, my dear, and most completely at your service.” Little Girl nearly fell out of the window in her surprise. Just below her stood a little lad of about her own ago. Ho was dressed in a shining suit of gold and silver —no wonder she had mistaken him for a star. “Who are you?” said Little Girl excitedly. “And where ever did you come from?" The Gold and Silver Boy drew himself up and saluted smartly. “Jack Beanstalk ’s my name.” he said proudly—“and I came straight from that part of Fairyland where all the Nursery Rhyme folk live in the dearest

litue fairy'village imaginable. But wo arc in dreadful trouble, Little Girl, and wo want you to, come up to Fairyland and see lo things.” “But however’ shall I get there?” said Little Girl, with a worried expression on. her pretty face.. “You just tumbled down like a falling star—but I can’t tumble up, can I Jack? I don’t suppose even you are clever enough to do that.” it- i't i 1 Over his shoulder the Boy was carrying a little sack. He took it in both hands and untied the string, and then, very slowly, ho spilled the contents on the ground at his leet. “My Beans,” said Jack to Little Girl. “Your what?" said Little Girl, entirely forgetting her manners. ’ “Why, my beans, of course,” the boy replied. Whilst I am digging the holes you can fetch the watering pot. I will very soon show you a way to get back to Fairyland.” Little Girl dressed quickly and flew down to Jack, with her little green can full to the brim with water; As she emptied it the second time. Little Girl was surprised to see th° earth move slightly, and then, out popped a tiny green leaf. Quickly it unfolded and shot up into the air, and, hand in hand, the boy and girl stood silently watching, the magic beans grow up and up and up. , Every pair of leaves formed a neat little step on which the children could place their feet. “You go first,” said Jack gallantly; “Then I can catch you if you fall." Little Girl stepped on to the magic ladder and started on her journey to Fairyland. As they proceeded up the beanstalk, the terrible sounds grew louder and louder —more and more heart-break-ing. Little Girl didn’t wonder any more why the Fairy people needed help. , ■:<, ■ . , .. ■ . “It hardly over stops, you know,” Jack explained in a whisper as they neared ’-he end of their journey. "Rover was given to Old Mother Hubbard by a mortal; he isn’t a fairy dog at all. Up here the dogs live on dew biscuits and black berries, but Rover dosen’t seem to understand that sort of feeding. The only time he ever stops howling is when Mother Hubbard goes to her cupboard. "She has a sort of idea that once she had a bone there, and that Rover might be satisfied if she- could only find it. But she never,does find it,,” said Jack “I expect you remember the rhyme, don’t you. Little Girl?” Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard ■ To get her. poor dog a bone, When she got there, the cupboard was bare, And so the poor dog had pone.” Of course, there is never anything in the cupboard, and Rover begins all I over again. | “Oh, Little Girl, unless you can find

a way to help us I don't know what we are going to do," said poor Jack Beanstalk. At that moment they reached their journey's end. "Why, here we are,” cried Little Girl. “Look, Jack, there is Old Mother Hubbard herself. Isn’t she a darling? She is just exactly like her pictures." n « tt n it tt

« U « n tt Mother Hubbard had bobbing grey cuds, snowy cap and apron, and highheeled slices with big steel buckles, just exactly like the pictures in the story books. She was hunting vainly in her cupboard, and poor Rover, crouching at her feet, was howling more dismally .than ever. “What can I do to comfort you, my poor lamb?” said Mother Hubbard, turning round to pat Poy-r. R ’ > -a were streaming down behind her spectacles. ’ “It breaks my heart to see you so unhappy,” she sobbed,, “but It "Brill break it still more if ,1 have to send you back to Earth, and stay In Fairyland without you. I feel sure it-, will come to that, for. the neighbours are complaining of your dismal; howling, and th e disturbance you create." . j Kover took not the slightest notice of what his .mistress was saying—if : anything he howled. louder than before. v ..;; '" . | Little Girl'was nearly deafened—but SHE knew What Rover wanted. As she stood,’ half hidden by the great! shady leaves of the Beanstalk, she felt in her pocket and brought out on e of Pinch’s puppy biscuits.:, “Rover 4„. she called very softly. “Rover, come her!” Rover gobbled up the biscuit joyfully. What a dear Little .Earthly Girl—how pleased he was to meet :her! He stopped howling, finished the biscuits, and layed down and licked Little. Girl’s shoes. " y. e , - At that moment Oid Mother Hubhard took her head but of the cupboard. : A ' . ' Rover had stopped howling!-,*She simply could not believe it! Littlp Girl didn’t wait for! Mother Hubbard, or anyone else. Quick- as ] - " : 'n f-w down the ladder, dragging the astonished Jack. Bean■suP,: r;cr nor. . -- 1 "

When -ithey reached Earth again, still grasping the boy .by the hand she ran with him round to the stables. iTaking the key from its hiding-place under the tiles, she unlocked the door !of fhe store-house. There were bags 1 and bags of puppy biscuits standing in long, neat rows on the shelves. | "We have only just time to get there And back before morning,” she said to Jack. “You take one sock—l’ll an,othcr. They will last Rover for ages." I But when they had clambered up the Beanstalk and reached the cupboard again, there was no sign cither |of Mother Hubbard or Rover; Only ibe dismal sounds of howling came from the distant wood, where the distracted old Fairy was exercising, her Earthly pet. In a moment the biscuits Were piled ncat'y away on the cupboard shelves, and the children ■ crouched behind the beanstalk onlv just in time ;.-': .. When Mother Hubbard and Rover saw the great .bags of biscuits their joy knew no bounds. Little Girl’ shivered with excitement —or perhaps it was cold- —and -.very tenderly Jack Beanstalk wrapped his silver-gold coat around her and then, before- Mother Hubbard or Rover, or even Jack Beanstalk himself, had time to thank her, she fell down to earth like a beautiful falling star.