RUN-AWAY CHILDREN AND A MAGIC TENNIS COURT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 18 (Supplement)

RUN-AWAY CHILDREN AND A MAGIC TENNIS COURT.

The day was warm and sultry and the children were so very trying. The old school mistress found them all very naughty and disobedient. And when she went out of the room they put their heads together and decided that they would run away to the woods and play!

So off they all scampered. Such naughty little boys and girls! They went into the wood and suddenly came to a beautiful glade where they saw a house and a lovely tennis court, so they stopped to have a game. But what a strange court! It was all marked out like the squares of a chess board and each square was a different colour. Now the children did not know that a witch lived in that house and that she kept that beautiful court to tempt naughty children on to; and what do you think happened to them as soon as they put their little feet on it?

Those who trod on the green squares turned into grasshoppers, those on the pink squares into shrimps, those on the blue ones into blue butterflies, those on the black ones into black cats, those on the white squares into fox-terriers, on the grey squares into mice and on the brown squares into spiders and flies.

Now what a confusion there was! The dogs chased the cats! The cats chased the mice! The mice chased the spiders! The spiders chased the flies! The poor shrimps were so unhappy out of the water and made a dash for the lily pond near by, but when they found it was fresh water they wept so many salty tears that the water in the pond became salty and then in they hopped. The grasshoppers and butterflies were the only ones who were more or

less happy, but they did not know what to do with their long green legs and large blue wings; and, oh, how they all wished they had stayed in school! Then the flies flew into the treea, the spiders spun webs and hid themselves, the mice ran into holes, the cats fled up the trees and the dogs lay down under the trees and watched the cats. They were all so unhappy and lay panting after the chasing they had had. All except one black kitty, who soon fell asleep. Suddenly the clouds came up and the sky got dark and stormy, and down came the rain and washed away all the beautiful colours on the court. Now, during the storm the sleeping kitty had a dream, and in her dream the good King of Kindness came to her and told her that if they all went back on to the court after the rain was over they would turnr back into little children again, and they must then hurry away before the witch thought of some other way of enchanting them The kitty wakened up, yawned and stretched herself, and to her surprise she found the beautiful squares all gone. “ Come all of you,” she called. " Stand on the court and you will turn back into children again.” One foxterrier ventured on, then a black cat followed and, as the others thought a black cat was lucky they all came out, and soon were children again. “ Now let us run back to school as fast as we can,” said the child who had been the kitty; and off they all hurried. The poor old school mistress was very glad to see them back, and they told her all about their strange experiences and promised never to run away again. E®®E®®®B®®E®®®oßffi®fflffl®E