PRINCESS THISTLEDOWN

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 246, 7 January 1928, Page 25

PRINCESS THISTLEDOWN

Once upon a time there lived a king? and queen and they were very sad because they had no children. So you can imagine how pleased they were when one day a lovely little daughter was born to them. The only thing that worried them was this; both the king and queen themselves were very, very fat and they were so afraid that the little princess would take after them. It was the custom in their country for the queen to be allowed one wish when she had a child, so when the time came for the queen to wish she said: “I wish that the princess will never get fat; I want her always to be as light as a feather.’* Well, that wish was quite all right when the princess was a tiny baby and could always be kept in her cradle or in her nurse’s arms, but you can guess how awkward it was when she began to walk. Someone always had to keep hold of her hand in case a gust of wind should blow her away, and she had to wear specially made clothes with weights in them to keep her feet on the ground at all. It was worse still when she grew up, for the king and queen felt quite sure that they’d never be able to find her a husband. They were in despair until at last they heard of a prince who had been promised one wish when he married. “Let us send for him,” they said, “The princess is so lovely that he’s sure to fall in love with her and then he can wish that she shan’t be as light as a feather any more.” They sent for the prince and as soon as he saw the princess he fell deeply in love. But alas! when he came to wish he worded it badly. He said: “I don’t want Princess Thistledown to be as light as a feather any more, I want her to weigh what she would have weighed if her mother had never wished the wish she did.” And even as he spoke the princess began to get larger and larger until she was every bit as fat as the queen, her mother. The prince looked at her and said: “I'm very sorry, but I’ve just remembered that I’ve got some very important business to attend to, so I think I’d better go and see to that before the wedding.” Of course, he never came back and the king and queen were getting very worried about their daughter’s marriage when Thistledown came into their room. “Oh, parents,” she said, “please don’t worry. I’m so happy now I’m fat. I don’t want to marry. I want to stay here with you.”

THE SCHOOL UNDER THE SEA It was kept by the oldest merman of all and every little merchild had to go to it every day, except Saturday. The merchildren loved going to school, and for every lesson they said properly, they got a lump of sea-rock. Such jolly stuff! The lessons they learned were every sort of swimming and diving; reading, and writing, and doing sums. And they learned dancing and singing, but not cooking, for the sea people never have fires or gas, and eat all their food uncooked. The mergirls learned to dress prettily in seaweeds, and the boys learned to make thing out of coral, and to build houses of coral rock. And the lessons were very short, so no one ever got tired. And every term, the Sea King and Sea Queen, and the little Princes and Princesses, came and gave away the prizes. So the school under the sea was really awfully like schools above the sea. There was one thing different, though; none of the merchildren ever quarrelled. Somehow, they all got on together quite well, and so the headmaster had no cane, and there were no punishments. How did they get their books? Quite easily; they had printers who printed them on great smooth sheets of seaweed. And the cuttlefish gave them all the ink they wanted, ever such black ink it was. And sharp bits of coral made pencils for writing with on shells or pieces of slate. NOT THE SAME THING Tou poor little boy! Have you lost yourself Mo, boo-hoo, I haven’t! I’ve found a street I don’t know! Borrowed garments never keep us warm.