lst November

The Dear Little SunnYRaY

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stormsnow rulethe sea, November rave, blasts The cold north-wind's long, rulesnow all daY Darkness the wind whiPsuPthewaves. As LittleTinastaysinside, And with hertoYsshePlaYs, face, our Where's littlesmiling Our happysunnyraY?

2nd November
PrincessMouseskin There was once a King who had three daughters,and he wantedto know which one loved him best.So he brought them before him and asked them. The oldest one said she loved him mor e than the whole Kingdom ,the secondone saidshe
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lov e d h i m m o re th a n a l l th e p re ci ous s t o n e si n t h e w o rl d , b u t th e th i rd o n e sa id s h e l o v e d h i m mo re th a n sa l t.T h e K i ng wa s a n g r y w i t h h i s yo u n g e st d a u g h ter t hat sh e s h o u l dco mp a reh i m w i th su cha worthless thing. He gave her one se.rvant a n d th e n t u r n e d h e r o u t i n to th e w o od wh e r e t h e s e r v a n t w a s to ki l l h e r. B ut when they were in the wood, the Princess askedthe servantfor mercy.He remained faithful to her and wanted to stay and serve her, but the Princessonly asked h im f o r a d r e s sma d e o f mo u se -ski na nd , wh e n h e h a d m ad e h e r o n e ,sh e w e n t on h e r w a y a l o n e .Sh e w e n t to a n o th e rK i ng pret e n d i n gs h e wa s a b o y a n d a ske dh i m t o e m p l o y h e r ,a n d h e d i d . On e d a y h is s e rv a n t b r o u gh t h i m a ri n g th at Mouse s k i n h a d l o st, a n d th e K i ng t h o u g h t i t m u s t be sto l e n , e n th e K i ng Wh asked Mouseskinwhere he had got the ring, s h e k n e w sh e co u l d n 't h i d e a ny longe r , s o s h e wri g g l e d o u t o f th e skin a n d l e t h e r g o l de n h a i r fl o w d o w n h er back. The King was so overcomeby her beauty that he took the crown from his head , p l a c e d i t o n h e r a n d a ske dh e r to m a rry h i m . M o u se ski n 's th e rw a s a l so fa inv it e d t o t h e we d d i n g , b u t h e d i d n' t re c o g n i s e h i s d a u g h te r.A l l th e d i sh es presentedto him were unsalted,and he c ried o u t a n g r i l y," l 'd ra th e rd i e th a n e at a n y t h i n g w i t h o ut sa l t!" T h e n th e n e w O uee n l e a n e d o ve r to h i m a n d sa i d, "Now you say you'd rather not live without salt, but once you wanted to kill me becauseI said I loved you more than s alt ! " T h e n t h e K i n g re co g n i se d h is daug h t e r a n d a ske dh e r fo r fo rg i ve n e ss. I t was w o r t h m ore th a n h i s K i n g d o mor all t h e p r e c i o u ssto n e si n th e w o rl d th at he hadfound heraqajn.

The Little Chimney-sweep(11

At first there were seven cfrimne,/sweeps,and all sevenhad fine blackhats. Every day they cleaned the many chim neys in the town, until one day the smallestone -yes, but that'sa long story. So, the sm allest one clim bed onto the r oof of a r atherold houseand pushedhis br oom down into the chim ney, pullingit out after the normal time. But what was that! He had pulled out a sm ashing yellow hat! He just couldn' t under stan d it. This was a nor mal housewith nor m al people, or was it? He didn't know that a wizard had once livedthere,and that one day, when he wasn't concentrating,he

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h a d p u t h i s h at i n to th e ch i mn e y ra ther t ha n i n t h e c u p b o a rd .B e ca u se e l ittle th chimney-sweepdidn't know that it was a m a g i c h a t , h e pu t i t o n . S u d d e n l yh e felt very tired, so he went straighthome and we n t t o s l e e p .Bu t th e h a t h a d th e p o wer t o g r a n t a n y w i sh th a t th e w e a re r mi ght make. The little sweep had always wanted to travel out into the wide world, but h a d n e ve r h a d e n o u g h mo ney. Howeveri he always dreamed about it. "How l'd love to be in New York ." Wh a m ! T h e r eh e i s. B u t a l l th i s tra ffi cand nois e ! N o , i t ' s n o t so n i ce h e re , S p ain must be nicer.Wham!He'salreadythere. Ped r o a n d D o l o re sg re e t th e l i ttl e man. Ped r o h a s s u ch l o ve l y b l a ck cu rl y h air , almost like a negro - but they live rn Africa. Wham There he is in Africa! How s t ro n g R a n i t h e e l e p h a n ti s, h o w fu nny

Bum the monkey is, and how astonish ed the little colour ed childr en ar e at thei r strangeguest.Now he's hungry."How l'd love one of m y Aunty Nellie' s appl e pies," he thinks.W ham s alr eadyin hi s !lt' hand at the tableat his aunt' shouse.

4th November
The Little Chimney-sweep(2) Now l've almost seen the whole world, thought the little chimney sweep,except for China - W ham !Ther e he is. A fi ne Chineselady is dr iving in a car r iage, and she invites the little sweep onto her house- boat, which is calleda junk. He r e

becauseit had fallen from his head.The little sweep quickly got up, he had to get back to work. When he met his six friends, he proudly told them of his adventures and of all the placeshe had been. The other sweePs listened spellbound, until one of them saw the yellow hat. "That belongsto the wizard, it's a magic hat!" he cried.That explained everything, and all six went to the flat where the wizard lived. The wizard had alr eadym issed his hat, and how glad he was to have it back. In his gratitude,he wished a huge cake onto the table and what a feast it made. I wish I'd been ther e!

he eats lovely food, but not with a knife and fork, with chopsticks. Afterwards, fine tea is passedaround in little cups.In Chin a ,d a y i s d a wn i n g ,a n d w h e n th e sun and tickles him on the nose he sneezes, off comes the hat, almost falting into the water. So that was the end of the sweep's world t r a v e l s . T h e su n w a s sh i n i n g in through his window and a little bird was twittering a happy song. The magic powers of the hat had been broken

Shoe-shiner The Hard-working up morning, at eight, Every cornes, Peterthe shoe-boy And sittingon his door-steP, Heworksandgailyhums. Everybrushis in its place, bY, The clothsarestanding for reach them, His handsso skilfully As over the shoesthey fly.
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Brow n p o l i s h ,b l u e p o l i sh ,ye l l o wto o , He h a s n ' tt i m e t o ta l k, 'T il a l l t h e s h o e sa re sh i n i n gb ri g h t, Readyto go for a walk.

The Three Lazy People A King had three sons whom he loved equally,so he didn' t know which one t o leave his Kingdom to when he died. W hen he got ill and knew his end was neaDhe had his sonsbr oughtbefor ehim and said,"l havecome to the conclusi on that whichever one of you is the laziest shall inher itthe Kingdom ."So the elde s t son said,"then you shouldgive it to me, for when I want to go to sleep and a fly lands on my face, l'm too lazyto swot it away." But the second son said, "You should give it to ffi, for when l'm warming myself by the fire, I let my heels to burn before lcan be bothered draw my legs away." But the thir d one said,"The Kingdomi s definitely mine, for if I was about to be hanged and alr eady had the noos e around my neck, if someone then gave. me a sharp knife to cut myself free, I would rather hang than go the effort of r aising my hand!" W hen the King hear d that he said,"You shallbe King!"

6th November
The wind-maker

8th November
Home(1) HeidiGoes

When lwas with my crew in Egypt,sucha strong storm blew up that lwas afraidof being torn down into the waves with all my p e o p l ea n d an i ma l s. O n o n e s i d e o f us sto o dse ve nw i n d mi lls, and not far away was a fat man holding down his right nostril.As soon as he saw h o u r p r e d i c a m en t, e b l e w th ro u g hh i s l eft n o s t r i l i n t o o u r sa i l s a n d b l e w u s a w ay from the storm.

In r eality,Heidi wanted for nothing i n Fr ankfur t. She had nice clothes, sh e always had the best food to eat. Clara
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Bravelythey lookedout into the corridor; openand,what and the door was alr eady was worse, there stood a white figure, W and a shiver r an down their backs. hen Miss Rottenmyerwas told, she wrote a long letter to Clara's father. Two days later he was r inging loudlY at the doorbell, and the servantsfeared it was the ghost playing his tr icksbefor enigh t tim e! Sebastian took cour age and opened the door; and there stood Clara's no ghost. He gr eeted him father to abr uptlyand went str aightupstair s hi s daughter ' s r oom. Clar a gr eeted her father with tears of joy and relief,for she was terrified at the thought of the ghost. "W e' ll soon catch this ghost!" he pr omised.

was always good to her and Sebastian wa s a t r u s t e d fri e n d . S h e h a d a l so le a rn e d t o r e a d , a n d h a d l e a rn e da l ot more t h a n t h a t .Bu t h e rfa ceg o t p al e ra nd pale r , a n d h e r l e g s th i n n e r. Wh en gran d m o t h e r we n t a w a y a g a i n , she bec a m e e v e n q u i e te r a n d to sse d a nd t u rn e d i n h e r b e d . Mi ss R o tte n myer noticed how she wandered round the hous e ,a n d M i s sT i n n e th a d b e co mea l ot si more g e n t l ew i t h H e i d i , n ceh e r ma n n er had often made life difficult for Heidi. Then something very strangestartedto : happ e ni n t h e h ou se h o l d e ve rymo rn i ng when the servantscame down, the front door was always wide open, but no one was to be seen, and nothing was ever s t ole n .So , i n t h e e n d ,th e ca rri a g e -d river to d and Se b a s t i a n e ci d e d sp e n dth e n i g ht in the room nearthe front door. t Unf o r t u n a t e l y he y fe l l a sl e e pa n d d i d n' t wa k e u p u n t i l th e cl o ck stru ck o n e. 202

HeidiGoesHome(2)

fo Cla r b ' sf a t h e r s en t S e b a sti a n r h i s o ld who had caredfor friend Doctor Collins, Clara for many years.That eveningthey both sat in the room where Sebastian and the carriage driver had sat before, and they were more successful'They took hold of the white figure who had been o p e n i n g th e d o o r e ve ry n i g h t' lt turned around and let out a soft cry. There, in her bare feet and white n igh t d r e s s s t o od H e i d i . , Looking at them with a confused o e x p r e s s i o n n h e rfa cesh e w a ssh i ve ring from head to foot. "What on earth are y o u d o i n g , c h i l d ? Wh y d i d Y o u co me down?" asked Clara's father' Pale as d e a t h H e i d i s ai d i n a n e xp re ssi o nless v o ice , "l d o n ' t kn o w !" T h e n D r. C o l l ins said, "You haven'tdone a n y t h i n gw r o n g . N o w j u st te l l me w h er e y ou w e r e g o i n g ." " l w a sn 't g o i ng

anywher e," said Heidi."And I didn' t go down by myself, I just suddenlyfoun d myself ther e." "W er e you dr eam i ng "Oh, about anything?"askedDr .Collins. only what I always dr eam about," sai d Heidi, "l always dr eam l' m at gr andad's and I open the backdoor to r un out to th e fir tr ees,but when I openthe door l' m sti l l in Fr ankfur t." Then Heidi bur st ou t cr ying.The good Doctorgot up and said, "Cr v it all out for a littlewhile,it' ll do yo u good. Ever ythingwill be alr ight in th e mor ning." And he went backto Clar a's father. "Your little visitor has been sleepwalking,"said Dr . Collins, "she's become ill with homesickness. You can see how much weight she's lost. The best thing you can do is let her g o back to the mountains fir st thing tomorrow. That is my only remedy." Clara'sfather was deeply shocked."ls it r eallythat bad?" he said."then it must be dealt with imm ediately!" He went room and straight to Miss Flottenmyer's "Hur r y up!" he banged on the door . called. "A jour ney must be pr epared now!" W hile M iss Rottenmyer wa s franticallygetting dressed, Clara'sfather rang every bell in the house to get the ser vantsup. One by one they stumbled down and wer e given their or der s.Cla r a had been woken up by the noise an d wanted to know what was going on. W hen her father explained who the r e al ghost was and that Heidi was ver y i l l , Clar a sadly had to agr ee to what was

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u n a v o i d a b l e . Me a n w h i l e d a y h a d b ro k e n , a n d H e i d i sto o d th e re i n h er Sunday clothes not knowing what was happ e n i n g .Sh e w o n d e re dw h a t w a s i n t h e b i g c h e s t t ha t w a s sta n d i n g i n th e room. "Heidi, aren'tyou pleased?" asked Seba s t i a n .H e i d i l o o ke d a t h i m b l a n kly. "Don't you know!" exclaimedSebastian, "You're going home, today, now!" " Home ? " r e p e ate dH e i d i , a n d sh e j u s t c o u ld n o t g r a s pit.

10th November
Heidi Goes Home (3) At first Heidi couldn't believeit, but when s s he s a w t h e f r e s hb re a d -ro l l fo r g ra n ,th e the tobacco for sausages for Peter and g ra n d a d ,s h e g o t mo re a n d mo re e xci ted' Pac ki n gw a s s u ch fu n th a t C l a raa l mo st forgot how sad she was that Heidi was is g o ing , a n d w h e n th e cry " T h e ca rri a g e ready!" came, there was not time to cry' Sebastianwent with her to the station in t he lit t l ev i l l a g e .H e co u l d n 'tma n a g ethe c limb a l l t h e w a y u p th e mo u n ta i n ,so He id i w e n t u p o n h e r o w n . A l l th e w a Y along people flocked r ound her asking questions, but she pushed on thr ough the crowds until she reached Peter's cottage.She spr angin thr oughthe door and stood there, completely out of br eath. "Good gr acious!" said gr an. "That' s just how Heidiusedto bur st in. lf only it was her ." "it is me, gr an!" cr ie d Heidi and she r ushed over to gr andmother and thr ew her self at he r feet. For a while she was so overwhelmed she couldn't say a word, but then she opened up her bag an d pulled out all the fr esh br ead r olls ont o gr an' s lap, for Clar ahad given her fr es h ones for the others she had collected over that long time. "Now l've got to run and see gr andfather ;"said Heidi. "l' l l com e backsoonl" Heidi r an the r est of the way up the m ountain,and befor elong she couldsee the fir-trees hovering over the roof and
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t h e l i t t l e h o u s e, i n fro n t o f w h i ch s at gran d f a t h e r n a b e n ch .H e i d id a sh e dup o t o h i m , t h r e w h e r b a ske t n th e fl o o r a nd o t hrew h e r a r m s aro u n dh i m, a n d th ro u gh s h e e r e x c i t e m e n tsh e w a s sp e e ch l ess. G ra n d a d d i d n ' t sa y a n yth i n ge i th e rib ut f or t h e f i r s t t i m e i n ma n y, ma n y ye a rs, t ears c a m e t o h i s e ye s.T h a t n i g h t H e idi s le p t t h e w h o l e n i g h t th ro u g h .S h e w as h o m e a g a i n ,i n t h e mo u n ta i n s.

God, for Clar a' s gr andmother was a r eligiouslady.Now ever yday Heidicoul d read to gran out of the old song-book, and she even m anagedto per suade r he grandad to have faith in God and people. Next Sunday he went to Churchwith her, and he was amazed how everyonewas so pleasedto see him, and the Priestwas m ost pleasedof all. He shookgr andad 's hand again and againand didn' t want to let it go. Then winter came, and Olaf wanted to spend winter down in the

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He idi i s H a p p y( 1 1 So now l-leidiwas home again, but she h a d l e a r n e d a l o t d u ri n g h e r sta y i n Frankfurt.She had learnedhow to read, and also she had learnedto have faith in villagewith Heidiand the goats.Hefoun d room for his goats in someone's stall, and for him and Heidi he had r ente d some of the many winter r ooms in the village.W hat Heidi liked best of all was the living room with the tiled stove, behind which she made her bed. She cer tainlywouldn' t get cold her e!

12th November
Heidi is Happy (2)

Peterwas glad that Heidiwas spendin g winter in the village, it got har derand for har derto get up the mountainto visither . But he wasn' t pleased that Heidiwent to

school now, for now she always knew wh e n P e t e r p l a ye dtru a n t"On e d a y sh e s aid t o h i m , "A re n 't yo u a sh a me dth at you still can't read?" "lt's too hard," s ighe d P e t e r ."No i t's n o t," sa i d H e i di,

But Clara playing with the goatstogether. was getting stronger from day to day, and soon her cheeks were as rosy as and Heidi' s. She got a good aPPetite, gr andad looked with pleasur e at his young guest. Every morning when shewould dr inkingthe healthygoatm ilk, "May I have a drop more, Please?" ask,

" A n d i f y o u d o n 't sta rt l e a rn i n g the a lpha b e t l ' l l t e l l g ra n d a d yo u 've b e en pla y i n g t r u a n t . " Pe te rd i d n 't w a n t th a t to for happen,for he had great respect Olaf. S o f r o m t h e n on th e ch i l d re n stu d i ed every day, and in fact, before long Peter co c o u ld r e a d .T h e sch o o l -te a ch e r u l d n' t believe itl Petercould read! At lastwinter wa s o v e r , a n d He i d i a n d g ra n d a dw e nt b a c k u p t h e m o u n ta i n .On e d a y h e i d ig ot a letterfrom Clara,who saidthat shewas coming to visit Heidi for a few days,and one d a y H e i d i sa w a stra n g e ca rri a ge c omin g u p t h e mo u n ta i n . h I t wa s C l a r a i n a ca rryi n g -ch a i r; er grand m o t h e r l a ndp e o p l eca rryi n gb a g s . " lt 's th e m , i t ' s t h e m!" cri e d H e i d i , a nd s oon s h e h a d h e r a rmsa ro u n dh e rfri e n d. Grandmother went back to the town in t he e v e n i n g f o r sh e h a d fri e n d s th e re. Pet e rw a s t e r r i b l yj e a l o u s, r n o w H e i di fo d idn' t h a v et i m e fo r h i m, fo r th e tw o g i rls were always either writing letters or

Heidi is Happy (31 fo Clar ahad now beenon the mountains r two weeks, and one evening grandad said, "Tomorrow we'll all go with the goats onto the meadow." Heidi was so overjoyed that she went and called to Peter; "Peter, tomorrow we're coming with you onto the m eadow all day!" But Peter wasn't so pleased,for Heidi still

wouldn' t haveany time for him .The nex t day when he got to Olaf's cottage and saw Clar a' s wheelchairbefor e him, h e gave it an almighty kick which sent it flying down the slope. as Then he disappear ed thoughhe hadn't it. Now he thought that Clar a done wouldn' t be able to stay any longenbu t carriedClara he was wrong. Grandfather up onto the meadow, and he informed
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n t he P o l i c e - l n s p e ctoir F ra n kfu rta b o u t th e wh e e l c h a i r a n d a ske d h i m to i nv es t i g a t e i t . Pe te r w a s fri g h te n e d . W hen O l a f h a d g o n e a g a i n ,H e i d i w a n te d to s h o w C l a r a so me th i n g , b u t sh e co uld n ' t w a l k . "J ust h a n g o n to me a n d H P e t e r, "e n c o u r a g ed e i d i ." l t mu st q u i te eas y . " C l a r a w a l ke d ra th e r sl o w l y a n d clumsily,but she walked.With everystep Clara g o t m o r e c on fi d e n t,P e te r h a d a lo ng f a c e , b u t w h at co u l d h e d o ? Wh e n Clara's father paid an unexpectedvisit and asked Peterthe way, Peterflew off in fe ar do w n t h e m o u n ta i n ,fo r h e th o u g h t he was the Police Inspector from Frankfurt.What a surpriseher father got when he came to Olaf's cottage. This he a lt hy g i r l w a l k i n gw i th H e i d i 'sa i d w a s h is da u g h t e r ? T h e n h e r g ra n d mo th e r came, and her eyes sparkled with th h appin e s s .N o o n e h a d e xp e cte d i s. In th e e v e n i n g t h e y a l l sa t d o w n to g e th e r t an d c el e b r a t e dh i s n e a r-mi ra cl e .

14th November
The FrightenedHare

Ther ewas once a har ewho sleptundera palm - tr ee. Suddenly he woke up and thought,what would happenif the wor ld fell down? At this m oment a monkey dropped a coconut from a tree. Shocked, the hare sprang away, "Save your self while you can!" he cr ied, "the wor ld has fallen down!" Another har e saw him bolting away and called,"W hy ar e you r unning so fast?" "Don' t you know! The wor ld' s fallendown!" fhis went on until ther e wer e a hundr ed har es r unning along tr ying to save their lives. Soon all the animals in the wood had found out and star ted r unning with them . W hen the King of the wood saw them , he Put himself in their way and stoppedthem. "Why are you running away?" he asked. "the wor ld' s fallen down!" they cr ied. "Who's seen it?" asked the King. "l haven' t," said the elephant."Ask the fox." And all the way down the line the W anim als askedeachother . hen it at last r eachedthe har e,he told them what had happenedto him , so the lion went to the palm- tr eewith the har e, and ther e they foundthecoconut. which isjustaswell, as otherwise they would have been r unningto this day.
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16th November
Himp l e b u ma n d P i mp l e b u m The Carnation Ther ewas oncea Kingwho never wanted to get m ar r ied. But once he saw a gi r l going into Chur chwho was so beautiful that he married her.After a year she gave bir th to a son, and the King said, "The fir st per son I meet on the str eetshall be his godfather ."He went out, and the fir s t per sonhe m et was a poor old man.W hen the King asked him if he would be the godfatherof his child,the m an said ye s , o as long as he couldtakehim to Chur ch n his own. But the King had a wick ed gar dener , who hid himselfin the Churc h between the pews, The gar denerhear d the old m an take him to the AltaL bles s him and give him the gift of havingall h i s wishes com e tr ue. Now the wick ed gar dener wanted to have the child, so one day while the Oueenwas walking i n the chi l d the gar denwith it, he snatched away and sm ear edthe Oueen' smou th with blood. Then he went to the King and told hi m how he had seenthe Oueenkill the chi l d and eat it. The Kingthr ew the Oueenin to pr ison, but the gar denersent the child a long way away to live with a forester. Now the for ester had a beauti ful daughter calledColleen, and they fell i n love. The Pr incetold her wher e he came fr om, and that all his wishes cam e tr ue. Soon afterwardsthe gardenercame, but the Pr incetur ned him into a poodle.H e tur ned Colleen into a car nation, an d pr esented him selfto the Kingas a hunter . He dem andedno wages,but just a r oo m of his own which he could lock.Oneof hi s fr iends thought this was r atherstr ange, so he followed him and peepedthr ou gh the keyhole. Ther e he saw the hunter sitting at a finely-deckedtable with a beautiful lady by his side. The m an thought he m ust be a ver y r ich man, s o while they wer e hunting together he attackedthe Pr ince,but all he found o n

Himp l e b u ma n d P i mp l e b u m Clim b p a n t i n gup th e h i l l , T h e y h a v et o s t op a n d re sta w h i l e O r t h e a i r w i l l ma keth e m i l l . But th i s t h e y ' v ed o n e fo r e i g h tyye a rs, And w i l l f o r m a ny mo re , Fo r t h e o n l y p a sti meo f th e i r l i fe ls t o c l i m b u p t h e rea n d sn o re !

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h is p e r s o n w a s a ca rn a ti o n .T h i s th e y to o k to t h e Ki n g. Wh e n th e h u n te r g o t b a c k , h e d e m a n d e d to g e t b a ck h i s c a rn a t i o n . W h e n th e K i n g re fu se d ,th e Prin c e r e v e a l e dhi mse l f a s h i s so n a n d th e C a r n a t i o n as C o l l e e n , th e g i rl h e lo v e d . W h e n t h e K i n g h e a rdth i s h e w a s overjoyed and he releasedthe Oueen fro m p r i s o n .C o l l e e nma rri e dth e P ri n ce, but t h e g a r d e n e r a s se n te n ce d b e i n g w to a p o o d l ef o r t h e r e sto f h i s l i fe .

18th November
The LaughingGnom e

The Ride on the Gannon-ball Once,when we wantedto occupya town, t h e F i e l d M a r s h al lw a n te d to kn o w w h a t th e s it u a t i o n a s l i kei n th e to w n . S o I sa t w o n a c a n n o n b a l l a n d w a s fi re d ri g h t i n to th e f o r t e s s .Bu t a s I w a s fl yi n g th ro u g h

T h e r eis a la u g h in g n o m e - m a n , Who comesroundin our crowd, "Threetimessevenis21l" Healways criedout loud. With his nonsense-words haveour we f iil, And so we cry "Gnome! Please still!" be

The Little Locomotive (1) The little locomotive is at home at the station.She pushesthe waggonsto and fr o, and only hasa br eakwhen she needs to eat coaland dr inkwaterThisis her life, . and she's very happy becauseshe's so useful.One day threeworkerscame.The fir st one knocked ar oundher and said, all

th e a in I b e g a n t o w o n d e r i f th e e n e my w o u ld b e w i l l i n g to fi re me b a ck, so I h o p p e d o n t o a b al l th a t th e e n e my h a d ju s t f ir e d a n d p l o pp e dri g h t b a cki n to o u r o wn c a m p .

"lt rattles." And the second one ex a m i n e d h e r b o i l e r sa yi n g ," S h e 's too old , w e ' l l h a ve to tu rn h e r i n to scrap metal." The third one said, "We'll do it first thing tomorrow." "Scrap-metal,"thought the e n g i n e s a d l y ," th a t w i l l me a n th e e n d of

hor se was also ver y sur pr ised, b ut afterwards she was pleased to have a visitor ,for she had a big secr etto tell. " l was once a cir cus hor se," she said. " l don't like farm work, I want to go backto the cir cusApollo." "Oh, but I thinkyou 'r e better off her e," said the engi ne anxiously.But the next m or ning Nor een The far m peoplewe r e had disappear ed. very sad, for now without a horse they can' t ploughthe field,"Excusem e," s ai d I the engine,"but supposing ploughyo ur field. I' m even str ongerthan a hor s e." The farmers, of course,agreed at once, fr and ploughinga field is no differ ent om r unning along a tr ain linefor the engi ne, So she helpedthe far mer sfor m anyda y s , and as payment she got two tons of coal, then she puffed off towardsthe town. me . " A n d s o a t n i g h t sh e se cre tl yro lled over the lines into the wood. She'sfree! Un d e r a t r e e sh e d re a ms o f h e r fu tur e adventures.

20th November
The Little Locomotive (21 I n t h e m o r n i ng w h e n th e l i ttl e e n gine woke up in the wood, she saw a PrettY f a rm h o u s e o n th e w o o d 's e d g e . The f a rm e r a n d h i s w i fe w e re j u st h a ving breakfast.They were amazed when an eng i n e l o o k e d i n th ro u g h th e w i n dow and s a i d ,"Ex c u seme , d o yo u h a veroom for me?" They were very surprised,but bec a u s es h e wa s a p o l i te e n g i n e ,they s aid , "T h e r e sh o u l d b e so me ro o m for y ou i n t h e s t a b l eo ve r th e re ."N o re e nthe 210

(31 The Little Locomotive

handball with the boys and kept coughing when the water went down her funnel. No one had ever hadso muchfun W at the seaside. hen the enginegot out , she shook herself like a dog to get dry. Then back she went into the water and scor ed a goal with her nose, 1:0 to the engine.Then she dived down underthe By waves like a subm ar ine. this time the had had enough and said , beachguar ds "That's enough now, you're spotlessly clean." W hen the enginehear dthat, she was very glad and swam out of the water. Yes,she was spar kling clean,she hadn't been so clean sincethe day she' d been m ade.After a happywhistleshetr undled off.

This is the firsttime the engine hadever beento a town,andthereshemeta tram. Because was dirtyfrom herwork on she the farm, the conductor laughed, "You've come straight from the coalcellarinto town, aren'tyou ashamed of yourself?" thenthe tram brokedown But andthe conductor couldn't whatwas find wrong with it. But of course the engine to the rescue, attached herself came and to the tram, taking the work-people wherever they want to go. Then the was conductor apoligised, theengine but very hurt and wonderedhow she could get clean. Thesea,of course, wouldbe a wonderfulway of gettingclean!So off she puffedto the sea.Shetriedthe water at firstto makesureit wasn'ttoo cold,but it was alright, sherolled deeper in so and deeper.How pleased the other bathers were.Whatfun it wasto splash in around the water and giggle because tickled it y ou' The fish were too afraidto come out, especially when the engine was playing

22nd November
The Little Locomotive (4) The little engine went off to the other town on the other side of the coast. But som ething happened her e that the As engine did not expect. shewas going
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driven roundthe corner, carappeared, a the by two men from herold station, two men who had wanted to turn her into scrap-metal! And they had recognised her.Fullof fearsheturnedon full steam and ran away,but the men chasedher; it andwhat a wild chase was!Theengine startedbillowingout the blackest smoke to give herself shield, a andthe men got

NibblingHelen On thewall hunga cupboard wastoo that high for Helen reach. parents to Her had put it up therefor a reason, it wasthe for medicinecupboard. But because there was no onearound gota chair that she so she could open it. She openedall the bottlesand started nibbling the pills. on Her littlesisterAlex said,"l don't think you should be eating those, they're medicine!"But Helenkept on nibbling and told herto be quiet. Later shehad on terriblestomach-ache was sick all and day,for medicine a goodthingwhen is you take it in the right doses,but don't ever take it yourself,children,because lookwhat happened Helen to !

Pennies from Heaven Therewas once a littleorphangirl who was so poor that she didn'tevenhavea room or a bed,andsoonall shehadwas the clothes woreanda piece bread she of that a kind neighbour givenher.But had she was a very good and holychild;and because she was deserted the whole by put herfaith in Godandwent world, she out into the fields.Thereshe met a poor give "Oh,please old manwho saidto her, me something eat, I'm so hungry!" to The good-hearted littlegirl gavehim her only piece of bread, said "God bless you," and went on, shewas so gladthat she had beenableto helpthe man.Then she met a childwho saidto her,"l'm so give me something verv cold, please to

completelylost, and they went huffing not and puffingup and down the street, catchinga glimpseof the engine. The little enginehardlydaredto puff as she hi'd between the houses.One of her wheelshadbecome looseand her piston huft, since, after all, shewasnospring chicken. Eventually, howeveI she cheered andwhistled happy up a songas she movedon to find newadventures.
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c ov e r m y h e a d!" T h e l i ttl e g i rl fe l t so s orry f o r t h e c h i l dth a t sh eg a vei t h e r h at. L a t e ro n s h e m e t tw o o th e rch i l d re n ho w we re c o l d , a n d sh e g a ve o n e h e r b o d i c e and t h e o t h e r h e r ski rt.B y n i g h t ti me the girl h a d r e a c h eda w o o d , a n d th e re she met a n o t h e rc h i l d w h o a ske dh e r fo r h er blo u s e ,a n d b e ca u se t w a s n i g h t a n d no i one w o u l d s e e he r; sh e g l a d l y g a ve the c hild h e r b l o u s e .S o th e re sh e sto o d in t h e d a r k w o o d w i th n o th i n gi n th e w o rld ex c e p t h e r u n d e rski rt. h e n , a l l a t o n c e, T gold e n s t a r s f e l l fro m th e sky, b u t the s t arsw e r e b i g g o l d co i n s.H e r u n d e rskir t t u rn e d i n t o a b e a u ti fu l re sso f th e fi n e st d

linen,and in this dr essthe childgathered the coins and was r ich for the r est of her life.

The Horse on the Church-tower I r ode to Russiain the m iddle of winter . This seasonis the bestfor tr avelling, but unfoftunatelyI was too lightlycladto be comfortable. Towards evening I looked for somewhereto stay,but therewere no
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One day,when he's riding in a forbidden area, he crashesinto a woman beforehe He the can put on his br akes. knocks lad y down as well as himself and tear s he r new dr ess, and sends all her shoppin g Now he hast o r olling over the pavement. pay for a new dress and all the lady's spoilt shopping. His piggy- bank i s completely empty and that hurts more than his cut knee. That' sthe lasttim ehe'l l way. ever ride on the pedestrian

The Poster man On the big advertisement boards are hung m any poster s.Fr om time to tim e the poster-mancomes and takesthem all down to stick new ones there, for he dr ivesar oundall daywith hisglue- br us h. Fast as lightninghe tear sone down and wipes his glue br ush over the new one. The biggest postersare in two parts and have to be stuck together. Today the poster-man has brought his son with him. Ther e' sgoing to be a pantom imei n the theatre and he's got to stick up four big postersadvertisingthis. His son says that he can do it on his own. Now he can manage the small postersvery well, but he makes a mess of the big one which is in two parts. He has stuckthem together wrongly, and now LittleRedRidingHood has thq legs of Puss in Boots. The childr enwill be ver y sur pr ised when they see that!

house s f o r m i l e s a ro u n d ,a n d th e re w as n o t h i n g b u t s n o w a s fa r a s th e e ye co u ld s e e .S o l t i e d m y h o rseto a tre e -tru n k nd a la y d o w n t o s l ee p . T h e n e xt mo rn i n g I t houg h t l w a s d r e a mi n g !l w a s l yi n g n e ar a Chu r c h a n d m y h o rsew a s w h i n n e yi ng above me. The snow had melted o v e rn i g h t a n d I ha d su n k d o w n w i th i t. I had tied my horseto a Churchtowen so I had to shoot my horse free before we c o u ld c o n t i n u e .

26th November
Harry Sizzlewind

28th November
Snow-White (11

Harry S i z z l e w i nds a w i l d , n a u g h tych i l d. i ju s t z o o m s al o n g o n h i s sco o te rall He day and doesn't have any respect for any o n e . H e eve n ri d e s a l o n g o n pedestrian areas where he's not s u p p o s e dt o . 214

There was once a Oueenwho gave birth to a daughterwhose skinwas as white as snow, whose lips were as red as blood and whose hairwas as blackas coal,an d so they called her Snow-White. The

O u e e n d i e d , a n d w i th i n a ye a r th e K i ng had m a r r i e d a g a i n .T h e n e w Ou e e nw as v e ry b e a u t i f u l ,b u t p ro u d a n d va i n . S he h a d a m a g i c m i rro l a n d w h e n e ve rshe looked into it she askedit, "MirroL mirror o n t h e w a l l , w ho i s th e fa i re sto f th e m all?" and the mirror would answer,"you are th e f a i r e s t of th e m a l l ." B u t S n o wWh ite g r e w u p , a n d o n e d a y w h e n the O uee na s k e dt h e mi rro r h e r q u e sti o nthe , mirror replied,"Snow-Whiteis the fairest of t h e m a l l . " T he Ou e e n w a s sh o cked, and c o u l d n ' t be a r th e th o u g h t th at a n y o n e s h o u l d b e mo re b e a u ti fu lth an she. From that moment on she hated Snow-White, and was determinedto get rid of her. So one day she ordered a hunter to takeSnow-Whitein to the wood and ki l l h e r ,a n d to b ri n g b a ckh e r h e a rt. But t h e h u n t e r l et h e r g o .

Snow-White (21 Snow-White wandered around in the wood for a long time, until she came to a little house. In the house she found a table set with seven plates,seven knives and forks and seven cups, and along the wall stood seven little beds.Because she was so hungry she ate a little from each plate and drank a little from each cup, then lay down on one of the beds and went to sleep. Soon afterwardsttie seven dwarfs who owned the house came home. They were angry that someone had eaten their food, but when they saw the beautiful sleeping princess, their hearts melted, and they watched her peaceful sleep.The next morning, when Snow-White woke up, she told them what had happenedto her. They felt so sorry for her that they said, ,,lf you cook for us and look after the house,you can stay with us!" And so she did, and how happy they were! Now the wicked Queen, all the time thinkingthat Snow _ White was dead, went to her mirror and asked her question, but the mirror replied, "With the seven dwarfs by the seven mountains tall, Snow_White the is fair est of them all!' , The Oueenwas so furious that she decided to kill Snow_ White herself,so she disguisedherselfas an old woman and went to her. Snow_ White didn't recognise the wicked Oueen,so she let her into the house. She bought a belt from her, but when the Oueen tied it on for her;she tied it so tight that Snow-White couldn't breathe and she fell down as if dead.When the dwarfs came backthey undidthe beltso that she could br eatheagain.But the Oueensoon discovered from her mirror that the girl was still alive,so she disguised self her in a different way and took with her a basket of wares. She offered Snow-White a comb that was so beautiful that she couldn't resist it, but the comb was
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poisoned,and as the wicked stepmother dug it into her hair Snow-Whitesank to The dwarfswere the floor in a dead-faint. horrif i e da n d t o r e th e co mb fro m h e r h a ir so that she recovered, and they forbade h e r t o l e t a n y on e i n a g a i n . Wh e n th e O uee n f o u n d o u t sh e d e ci d e d to u se more c u n n i n g ,a n d sh e d i sg u i se d e rself h again ,t h i s t i m e a s a n o l d ma rke tw o ma n who c a r r i e da n a p p l e ,h a l f o f w h i ch w a s poisoned. Snow-White refused to buy any of her wares, but the Oueen said, " L e t m e a t l e a s tg i ve yo u a n a p p l e a s a pres e n t .S e e ,i t ' s a l ri g h t!" a n d sh eto o k a bit e fr o m t h e u n p o i so n e dsi d e . B u t a s soon as Snow-Whitetook a bite from the other side,she fell deadto floor. "Let's seethe dwarfs The Oueencackled, h e lp y o u t h i s t i me !" a n d fl e w o ff. Wh e n the dwarfs ca.me back, they tried evefihing to bring Snow-Whitebackto lif e ,b u t i t w a s a l l i n va i n .

30th November
Snow-White (3) The dwarfs now lived in deep sorrow, and they built Snow-Whitea glasscoffin so that they could always see her. One

dwar f alwayskeptguar dwhilethe other s were at work. Then one day a Princerode thr ough the wood, and when he saw th e beautiful girl he was so overcome with her charm that he beggedthe dwarfs to let him have the coffin.The dwarfs didn't want to part with hel but becausethe Pr incewas so ear nestand pr om isedto guar d her with his life,the dwar fsagr ee d. But while they wer e tr ying to load the coffinonto his hor se, one of them slippe d and Snow- W hite banged her head against the edge of the coffin.The knock caused the piece of poisonedapple to dislodgeitselffr om her thr oatand SnowW hite lived again! The beautiful gir l openedher eyesand said,' tVher eam l?" The dwarfs told her everything,took her out of the coffin and criedfor joy that she was alive again.Fr omthen on the Pr ince visited her every day, until one day he went down on his kneesand beggedhe r to mar r y him , for he couldn' tlivewithout her. Snow-White agreed gladly, but the wicked Oueen died of shock when her mirror told her that Snow-White was again the most beautiful the land. in

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