Margaret Pollock Sherwood

The Princess Pourquoi Margaret Pollock Sherwood

Once upon a time, in a country very far away, a new princess was born. As is usual in such cases, the King, her father, and the Queen, her mother, held a great christening feast, to which were invited all the crowned heads for miles around, all the nobility of their own kingdom, and the fairies whose good wishes were considered desirable. In the middle of the ceremony, as is also customary, a very angry little old lady, with a nose like a beak, burst into the room. "May I ask why I was not invited?" she demanded. "These are here," and she pointed to the fairy who rules the hearts of men, and to the fairy who rules circumstance. She herself was the fairy who rules men's minds. "You!" stammered his Majesty. "Why, it is only a girl. We-we thought you would be offended. Later, if a son should be born"- "You thought!" shrieked the enraged little creature, gathering her shoulder-shawl about her. "You thought nothing whatever about it. I am insulted, and I shall be revenged. Before anything yet has been given to this child I shall curse her"- "Oh!" begged the crowned heads and the nobility. "Yes," said the fairy, stamping and growing angrier, "I shall curse her with a mind." "Anything but that," groaned his Majesty.