The Lady of Shalott

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 36, 29 December 1944, Page 7

The Lady of Shalott

From a resident of Ohope comes grim and morbid tale. } yet one which has a humourous side apparent to everyone .(including the victim). It. "appeais tliat one of the ■beach mansions has a balcony. This in itself is not peculiar, but wait! Read on —It also appears that the lady of the house (the. one with the happened to decide the other day that the balcony needed cleaning ? and arming herself with the necessary utensils .strode forth to perform the (Herculean) task. Now the balcony in -question is a proper Juliet one s jutting out from the second storey and

having entrance from the inside only. Engrossed in her cleaning (or whatever it was) she,. totally omitted to block the door open and at that moment a pull of wind happened to come along. It played round the door gently and set it swinging—and swinging—and swinging—till finally with an ironic click the board swung into place and the.-lady was a prisoner. The afternoon dragged by ? and still no method of release of presented itself to her. Then hove on to the horizon an angel in the. form of the next door neighbour. Immediately taking command of the situation ? the neighbour fetched a ladder and

within minutes, the prisoner was back on terra lirma. This should be the end the story, but read further —To add insult to it was found that the same pull of wind (at least we .suppose so) had also locked the back door. All the windows were hard shut, and so in the late afternoon, residents of the beach were privileged to witness, when the remaining members, of the household returned home, a famity break- ; ing and entering its own home!