THREE HARD THINGS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 28 July 1928, Page 27

THREE HARD THINGS

Once there was a prince who was ' rude to his godmother; and as she was - a fairy and rather a cross one, she punished him. J He was banished from home and for- 3 bidden to return until he had accom- \ plished three hard things—copied the ; nightingale’s music, seen through a brick wall, and found a needle in a haystack. Well, he walked many miles, asking 1 questions all the way, but nobody could tell him anything till he came to a ; wizard living in a wood who said that if the Prince would work for him he would show him how to do the first . two things. So the Prince worked hard tor a : year, and then the wizard told him that he had borrowed a machine from the lightning fairy, and if he held it against a brick wall he could see through. “And have you a copy of the nightingale’s song for me?” asked, the Prince. “Not yet,” said the wizard. “You must work another year for that.” So the Prince did so, and at the end of the time he was given a small box. When he turned the handle he could hear the nightingale singing as though it were inside the box. Then the Prince went to try to find out about the needle in the haystack. When he left the wood he saw a little girl trying to catch a pig. He caught it for her, so in return she told him how to find a needle in a haystack. “Just tie a long, red silk thread to it,” she said, “and then let one end hang out. Then it is as easy as can be.” And so it was. “I can do the three hard things,” said the Prince to his godmother, when he got home again. “I know you can,” was the reply, “because I was the wizard and the little girl, too.” The Prince was never rude agairj.