THE KETTLE GNOME

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 218, 3 December 1927, Page 27 (Supplement)

THE KETTLE GNOME

Once upon a time there lived in a kettle a queer little gnome. When the kettle was empty, or full of cold water, he felt weak and ill, and kept very quiet; but when the kettle was put on the fire and the water boiled, he was as jolly as a sandboy. One day someone put the kettle on the fire and forgot to take it off again. The gnome had a splendid time! He jumped and danced so hard that he splashed the water out of the kettle and bumped his head on the lid, making it dance, too! Faster and faster he danced, splashing more and more water out, until at last there was none left. Then he stopped dancing, because he began to feel very hot and uncomfortable, and just a little bit afraid. Bang! The kettle burst. The gnome was shot into tile air. Head over heels he went! Then—thump! down he came in the middle of the floor. —“Oh, dear, I’m killed, I’m sure I am!” moaned the poor little man. “You’re not killed!” said a voice from somewhere. “I am killed!” squealed the gnome. “You’re not!” “I am! ” “You couldn’t make such a noise if you were!” said the voice. “Oh!” said the gnome; and he stopped screaming to think about that. “I don’t believe you are hurt in the least,” continued the voice. “No, I don’t believe I am,” said he, very much surprised. “Where are you ?” “I’m up here on the mantelpiece.” The gnome looked up, and saw a little china shepherdess high above his head. “I’m an ornament,” the shepherdess went on, “and I have to live here. A little shepherd used to live here, too, but he fell down and broke.” The little shepherdess burst into tears. “I’m very lonely now, all by myself,” she sobbed. “I’ll come and live up there, too,” he said. “My kettle is broken, and I have nowhere to go.” “That will be lovely!” said the shepherdess, cheering up immediately Bo the gnome went to live on the mantelpiece beside the shepherdess. Although he missed liis cosy kettle, and felt rather cold and ill, he was happy, as the shepherdess was kind to him for a while. But I’m sorry to say the shepherdess soon grew tired of him. The poor gnome tried his best, but he was not feeling well. One day a man and a woman came into the kitchen. They had been shopping. “What did you buy?” said the man. “I bought a new kettle,” answered the woman, “to replace the one that burst.” “I got a little china shepherd to , match the shepherdess. See, it is : just like the one that was broken.” The woman filled the kettle and set it one the fire, and the man put the little shepherd on the mantelpiece close to the shepherdess. The gnome’s heart leapt with joy! “I shall go and live in that kettle,” he thought. “The shepherdess won’t want me, now. Good-bye,” he said, politely. “I expect you will be quite happy without me now.” But nie shepherdess did not answer. She was much too busy talking to the new sli 2pherd. So the little gnome went back to the kettle, and lived there very happily for many years. PEBBLES This game has to be played very quickly, and can be played on the beach when you are tired of building sand castles. The players must stand in two rows facing each other. The top one in each row holds five pebbles or marbles in his hand. The game is to see which row can most quickly pass all the pebbles down to the bottom of the row and up again. Each player must take each pebble first in one hand, then in the other, and then pass it on to the next player, and never have two which are travelling in the same direction in one hand at the same time.