PRINCESS ROSEBUD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 526, 1 December 1928, Page 31

PRINCESS ROSEBUD

Far out in the wide sea. where the j water is as blue as the loveliest corn- ! flower, and as clear as the purest cry- j stal, there dwelt, in a palace of coral I a mermaid called Princess Rosebud. She was the youngest of the family, and the most beautiful. Pier skin was as soft as a roseleaf and her eyes as deep a ' Vue as the sea, but, like all other mermaids, she had no feet —her body ended in a long tail like that of a fish. One day, when Princess Rosebud was playing alone in lier garden, she heard cries for help coming from behind a large clump of seaweed. Swiftly and gracefully she swam toward the spot to find that a young seahorse had become entangled there. “Thank you, beautiful Rosebud.” he cried when she had freed him. “How can I ever repay you?” “I shall make you-my pet,” said the princess, “for I am very lonely, and I have no playfellows.” So the seahorse became Rosebud’s pet, and she christened him Peter. On calm evenings, with her sisters, Rosebud would rise to the surface and comb her long, golden locks, the while she sang in a clear sweet voice. Sometimes, she would take Peter, and he would sit at the end of her scaly tail. One day, after the princess had kept her pet for a year and a-half, she discovered instead, a handsome merprince, who had eight oyster shells on his tail —a sure sign of rank. “Dear Princess Rosebud,” he said, “I was the seahorse you so fondly looked after, for I was enchanted by a wicked magician, but your kindness has given mo # back my liberty.” Later Princess Rosebud married the mer-prince, and they lived happily ever after. —lrene Retter (aged 12).