Tell Me Another Story | Page 6

"I am taking a journey to find a castle. Can
you tell me how to find one?"
The old man looked surprised. "I've heard about castles around here,"
he said, "but I don't know as you'll find one in a day. You'll know one,

though, by the gold on the roof," he explained.
So the boy went on farther still, and he came to another turn in the road.
A girl with her flock of geese stood there, and the boy spoke to her. "I
am taking a journey to a castle," he said. "Can you tell me how to find
one?"
The girl laughed. "You'll know it by the garden," she said. "All castles
have very pretty gardens."
So the boy went farther still, and where the road curved he met an old
granny walking toward him with her knitting in her hand.
"Please, granny," said the boy. "I am taking a journey to find a castle.
Can you direct me to one?"
The granny looked down through her spectacles at the boy. "Perhaps
you will come to a castle beyond the last turn in the road," she said,
pointing behind her. "They say there are castles hidden hereabouts.
You'll know it by the fine feasts they give every day at sundown, and
the king and queen will be waiting at the door to welcome you."
"How shall I know the king and queen? Do they always wear crowns?"
asked the little boy.
"Not always," said the granny, "but you can tell a true king and queen
because they are so good and wise and kind."
So the boy thanked the granny and went on, but it was growing late in
the day and he was tired. The bend in the road seemed a very long way
off and he had to sit down several times before he reached it. His feet
ached and his back was tired when he came to it, but when he turned
and came out on the other side, he saw something wonderful.
Just a little way ahead lay the castle.
He could be quite sure that it was a castle because the roof shone with
gold in the setting sun and in front lay a pretty garden of flowers of all

kinds; pink roses, and tall white lilies, and purple violets. In the
doorway stood two people waiting; they must be the king and queen,
thought the little boy. As he ran and came nearer, he could smell the
feast--a savoury meat pie, and freshly baked cake, and sweet fruits.
The boy ran faster and came to the gate and went up the walk. At the
doorway he stopped. Why, it was his own house that he had come back
to by way of the turns in the road. This was his own pretty garden that
he saw, and his own fine supper that he smelled. His own dear father
and mother waited in the door, with their arms outstretched to greet
him.
"You are the king and queen," shouted the boy, "always good and
kind!"
"And this is our castle," laughed his mother. "Come in, my little Prince.
The feast is waiting for you."

THE CHILDREN
THE PLAYMATES
There was once a Prince and he was very lonely, because he had no
sisters or brothers in the palace with whom to play. And one day his
father and mother, the King and Queen, decided that they would send
to some neighboring Kingdoms to borrow a little Princess, who should
come and live at the palace, and be the sister and the playmate of the
Prince.
So they sent for one of the Court Messengers, and then they called the
Prince to tell him that he was going to have a little Princess to be his
playmate.
They talked the matter over with the Court Wise-Man that the
Messenger might understand just what sort of little Princess he should
bring, and make no mistake about it.

"She must be sweet tempered," said the King.
"And I should like her to have blue eyes and yellow hair and curls,"
said the Queen.
"And if I may be so bold as to make a suggestion," said the Court
Wise-Man, "she should be rich, for she and the Prince will need a great
many new toys."
They never thought to ask the Prince what his choice of a little Princess
would be. But the Prince did not wait to be asked.
"I want only a little Princess who can make molasses pop-corn balls,"
he said.
The King and the Queen and the Court Wise-Man were aghast at this.
They knew that the Prince was very fond of molasses pop-corn balls,
but the palace Cook always made him some every Saturday morning,
enough to last a whole week. But