THE HOUSE IN THE WOOD

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 50, 21 May 1927, Page 25 (Supplement)

THE HOUSE IN THE WOOD

Once upon a time there was a little fairy called Pretty Precious, who had a wandering disposition and a way of flying from one forest of the world to another. She came one day all the way from the Forest of Fontainebleau- to the Forest of Savernake, where her brother Cheeryup lived, and when she had flown all these miles she flung herself down on a bed of heather and fell asleep from sheer tiredness. At sunrise she woke up, and speedily discovered that she had landed, without knowing it, by a most interesting little house. It was round, and the bottom of it was made of wood-painted sun-colour, and the top part consisted of windows, and there was a dear little door. The fairy whisked through a letterbox in the door, and when she got inside she was so pleased with the little empty place that she thought to herself, “Why, this will do very nicely for a palace. How enormous it is! 1 should like to have a home near my brother.” (The fairy was about the size of your little finger, so that to her the round house was like a palace.) “I shall furnish it beautifully,” she decided. So she went out and gave orders. She ordered from the spiders of Savernake Wood twelve pairs of silver curtains, and one spider arrived to take exact measurements and said it was rather a big job, but that luckily they had some spare ones put away ready for the first good buyer. The fairy Pretty Precious then went to some fairy carpet stores and ordered a perfectly round carpet of the brightest green moss. A businesslike goblin arrived to take measurements, and quite agreed that it should be the brightest shade. Pretty Precious then ordered some acorn furniture and some chestnut furniture from the very best furniture shop in the Forest of Savernake, and arranged that she should have harebell cups. “It will be home at last!” said the fairy to herself, as she flew about picking dog-rose petals to make her fairy couch. Then she settled in. The spiders brought the silver-grey, thin, gleaming curtains the fairies brought the green moss carpet; the harebell cups and the chairs made of acorns arrived; and her brother Cheeryup helped her to arrange it all. “There is no place like home,” sighed the fairy, bursting with joy as she surveyed it all with pride one hot afternoon. But just then somebody echoed the very words she said. It was a little girl called Prudence. She came running into the house, and because she was not a fairy she did not see any of the charming fairy furnishings. Prudence had a suit-case in her hand, and her mother, a smiling lady, carried a whole lot of parcels. “What will these giants do to my very own house?” sighed the fairy Pretty Precious. “I do hope they’ll leave soon. This is my house; I took it first,” she shouted, but they did not hear. And she crouched beside her chestnut table and watched. “I’m so glad I passed that exam., Motherkin!” cried the little girl. “Well, if you hadn’t Daddy would never have thought of getting this surprise ready,” was the mother’s answer. ’T am glad too!”

“To think it’s to be my very own,” sighed Prudence. “Her very own?” worried the fairy. “Oh, dear, supposing I have to move!” And then, lo and behold, all sorts of dreadful things happened. Prudence arid her mother hung up big, thick curtains of rosebud chintz on the top of the silver web-curtains the fairy had chosen. Over the carpet of green moss, which they, with their dull eyes, never seemed to see, they laid two big pale-blue rugs, and they put a giant round table among the acorn and chestnut furniture of the fairy, even knocking some over and trampling on it. “Don’t cry, darling,” whispered her brother, coming in to find Pretty Precious sobbing as if her heart would break. “What you think a dreadful pity may turn out to be the best possible thing. I think you’ll probably find a less stuffy house iq the forest, far prettier than this. Come on! Let’s go and see.” And the kind brother fairy threw the silver curtains over his arm and pulled up the green mossy carpet, and Pretty Precious removed the other things,- quite unseen by the human invaders. “One must never give up hope,” said Cheeryup resolutely. And, SLire enough, only about a mile away they discovered the very place, a beautiful airy cave under a chalky bank, with real heather growing near the door, and the only difficulty about it was that there wasn’t a single window at which to hang the curtains. But Cheeryup thought of everything, so he arranged that they should make each pair of silver curtains into a tent and pitch one in twelve different forests of Europe which his wandering sister loved and often visited.