THE MILKY WAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 857, 28 December 1929, Page 27

THE MILKY WAY

AND WHY IT THUNDERS High up in the starry heavens there once stood an enormous palace inhabited by a» great giantess who, in spite of her size, was very beautiful and graceful. Nevertheless she was as wicked as she was beautiful, having for servants all the fairies who lived in the realms of Fairyland. These fairies she had captured and forced to do her will. They were cruelly beaten like wretched slaves for the least little mistake they might make in carrying out their tyrant mistress's orders. Frequently this cruel giantess attended balls which were held on a great, starry expanse of sky at night. For these occasions she dressed herself in her finest array so that her beauty might be seen and admired at its best, for she was an exceedingly vain creature. One night, while she was dressing to go to one of these balls the giantess found fault with everything every laxry did, and threw herself into a passion, raging and storming till from sheer exhaustion she was forced to silence. Thus calmed down, she proceeded with her dressing, but on looking in her mirror she discovered that her cheeks, instead of being the dainty pink they usually were, had become Hushed a deep crimson because of her raging. Angrily she ordered her fairy waiting-maids to procure some powder with which she intended to tone her complexion down. Hundreds of fairies at once flew off to the huge chest in which the powder was kept. They were very weak, for in her passion the giantess had had them whipped cruelly. Therefore they found it a difficult task to lift this enormous chest, but fearing the giantess’s anger they collected their few remaining ounces of strength and slowly, painfully flew with it to the giantess.

Alas! just as they reached her when she was about to take it in her great hands the strength of the fairies failed them, and the dainty little creatures fell to the floor in a swoon. Th© powder chest had been opened and the lid hung loose on its hinges, so that when the chest was dropped the contents were spilt across the purple heavens, forming a long milky - white trail.

On recovering the fairies at once trooped down the trail to see if thev could retrieve any powder. Finding this impossible they stayed there and after some time, the giantess, seeming to have forgotten them, the fairies made it their new fairyland, where to this day they laugh and play in the magic star-light of the milky way a’ night.

Meanwhile the giantess was striding across the sky in uncontrollable anger. To this day she is still at but now she is no longer beautiful, wearing dismal robes of rain having lightning-flashing eyes and a complexion of inky blackness, her forehead ever wearing a threatening frown. She stamps across the sky unceasingly, and you may sometimes see her dismal robes. her flashing eyes, and hear in the distance the mighty rumbling of her thunderous voice.

—Bulcie Rigden, aged 15.