OCR Text |
Show 'I THE SANDMAN I ; STORIES 1 Princess Alice's Escape ; Part III The witch's son told Alice they would be married that night when the clock struck 12, for he began to think that she might escape him. That night the Princess asked that no nrf come to her room until it waa time for the wedding to take place, and when i he was sure the witch and her son were , in another part of the palace she slid I over the balcony and hid In the garden where the bushes were thickest. 1 When It was nearly 12 o'clock the , witch snd her son began to hunt for the I'rincess, for they had found that she was not In her room. To find out what ' she wanted to know, the old witch had to boll her magic pot snd look Into the steam, and this she was doing when the r'rincens, who was sure she was lost, raw the good Utile Gnomes popping up through the rosea. "W muat be careful." she heard the Fairy tell he Gnomes "for the witch I boiling her pot and will soon see in the stream just what Is happening. She cannot harm us. but the poor, imprisoned impris-oned maidens will be lost forever if she finds out what we wish to do." Princess Alice felt thst this wss the time for her to show heraelf, and quietly slipping from her hiding place, she ran to the Gnomes, whe were standing around the bush where the little Fairy wns sitting "Oh!" exclaimed the Rose Fairy, when she saw princess Alice, "a mortal J here! Now we can outwit the old witch and h-r son in spite of her magic pot! Come, brother (Jnomes, we muni get to our work! There is no time to loae"' The Onomea ran along before them, while Princess Alice, with the Rose Fairy leading ahead of her, followed. At each bush where the finomea stopped the Fairy with her wand would touch a rose and hold It there until the Princess had picked it, and instantly the buxh would lecome a maiden. JuFt as the last rose was picked they heard a cry of rage, and down the pmrh (from the palace came the old witch and her son, and then for the first time Prin. cea Alice'saw his ugliness. Hut it wi too late. The spell waa broken, and Just as they reached the. ro- buhes a btg black rain cloud floated over their heads and ooened. When the downpour stopped a silver Iske wain wherf the palace had been, and when Princess Alice looked about for the Gnomes and the Fain.- they had disappeared, disap-peared, for it was daylight. As the Princess was leading the maid-ena maid-ena out of the woods one of them pointed to what locked like a huaw bird far away In 'he aky. It waa the old witch on hmr broomstick with her son before her, flying fly-ing to a land where she could never harm anv mortal again. That night at the King's palace a great fat waa field, and the pa rent a of the maidens wre Invited to claim their daughters thev thought were lost. (Copyright, br the McClure News paper Syndicate ) |