The Mysterious

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23169, 15 October 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

The Mysterious

yf AY I wash up the breakfast things again this ]llo rning, Grannie?" asked the eight-year-old Linda, as she helped to clear the table. "It is your holiday," replied Grannie, lifting the hissing kettle off the stove. "You can play in the garden if you like." "Yes, I know, but I would rather wash up every day I am staying with you, please," persisted Linda, reaching for the dish-mop. "Very well, dear, you may please yourself," answered Grannie, with a smile. It was the china cup that was the secret. A mysterious cup that sang! There was nothing to distinguish it from the other white and gold cups that hung on the kitchen dresser, but to the little girl it was a magic cup. and Linda was quite convinced it held a fairy. When the hot water was poured on to the crockery in the sink, the cup

began to sing in a high, clear note, so high and fine that Grannie could not hear it at all. Up and down the scale the thin flute-like sound wavered, and then grew fainter and fainter until it finally ceased. By that time

Linda's curls were very nearly into the hot water. One night Linda had been asleep for some time when something woke her. She' sat up and listened, but apart from the rustling of the wisteria on the outside wall, and the rattle of the casement window, there was nothing unusual to be heard. It was light enough to see everything in the room, for a silvery gleam from a waning moon shone through the muslin curtains. Suddenly Linda discovered she was thirsty. Should slio call for a drink,

By D. E. Ty«

☆ she wondered? The sound of soft breathing from the bedroom opposite her open doorway gave her a sense or independence. She would get up and creep quietly into the kitchen and get herself a drink at the sink. What lun to tell Grannie in the morning! Linda pulled on her red felt slipper* and tiptoed out of her room. It was as light as day in the kitchen I lie moonlight shone on to the dresser making the cups shine like silver, while the old-fashioned coffee pot looked like an enchanted castle in the middle of a magic lake. Now "' as the time to see a fairy, thought Linda. Then she heard the tiny sigh, wonder when I shall bo free to go home?" came a wistful voice. Linda

quivered with excitement, for the I voice came from the magic cup! "What d'> you mean, 'go homer came another voice. There was something familiar in the shrill tones. Surelv that was not Grannie's Budgie asking questions? Grannie always insisted that Budgie could talk, but Linda could make nothing intelligible from his squawks and twitterings. "Well, can't you answer a civil question?" came sharply from the covered cage on the wall. "This is not my home," went on the tiny flute-like voice from the cup. "My country is far away, the other side of the world." "How did you get here thenP Did you fly?" "No. I came in a ship. You see, we were having a great party one night. The Elves of the Woods were giving the Tor Fairies a return feast. It was Cornish pasties we were to have. Before supper we had games, and wo were

Sinking, Cup

—Original, drawn by Peggy Wallace (13) playing hide and seek. 1 found a lovely hiding place in a crack of china clay, hut 1 forgot it had been raining, and 1 had on my best gossamer frock with the flared hip-line and fluted . . "Tut." broke in the budgie rudely. "Stick to the subject." "That is just what 1 did," protested the fairy plaintively. "1 tried to get my gossamer away without tearing it. but the horrid wet clay stuck my wings together, and although I crioJ nobody heard me." "Well, that does not explain how you got here, does it?" "The next day a dreadful thing happened. Some men dug up my Erison and the crack closed over my ead. Terrible things began to happen. I was battered and crushed and squeezed, and afterwards put into *in oven that got hotter and hotter until I didn't remember any more. When I woke up I found myself imprisoned in this horrible common breakfast cup.. . . not even a dainty afternoon teacup. . . and here I must stay until . . . until . . the voice grew fainter, and somehow Linda found herself in bed with the sun shining in the window. "We must hurry if we are to catch the early bus .to town," said Grannie, after breakfast. Linda was ready at the sink when her grandmother brought the steaming kettle, but before the magic cup had a chance to sing. Grannie had whisked it out of the water on to the bench.. "I will wipe up," she said, but as she grasped the cup again, it slipped through her wet fingers and fell to the floor where it broke into fragments by the hearth. "Dear me. that was careless of me," murmured Grannie, as she groped for the dustpan. At the same time there was a flash of light as if a bird had flown swiftly past the window. "Good-bye," whistled Budgie. "It is 'good-bye' to the cup. right enough, Budgie, " said Grannie grimly. "However, it is just as well, as it was cracked." But Linda, who had been staring dumbfounded at the shattered remains of the magic cup on the floor, suddenly realised what really had happened. "I am SO glad too." she cried. Grannie wondered why the little §irl looked so pleased, but grown-ups on't know everything, do tlieyP