*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 62877 ***

                    THE LITTLE PRINCESS IN THE WOOD


                          _A Picture Book by_
                           SIBYLLE v. OLFERS
           _Illustrator of “When the Root Children Wake Up”_

                             _With Text by_
                            HELEN DEAN FISH

[Illustration]

                      FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
                      NEW YORK            MCMXXXI




One lovely summer morning the little Princess Rosemary woke up early,
jumped out of bed, put on her crown and popped her head out of the
castle window. There she saw, through the branches of the Queen’s best
rose-tree, a merry band of Dew Children, sparkling through the castle
park as lightly as if blown on the morning wind.

The Princess laughed for joy and the Dew Children heard her. They came
running over the grass and called to her to come down and play with
them.

[Illustration]

Quick as a bird, Princess Rosemary slipped downstairs and out into the
fresh, sunny summer morning.

When the six little Dew Children—their names were Rainbow, Glisten and
Diamond, Dewdrop, Sparkle and Pearl—heard that she had not washed and
brushed and dressed, they hurried her away to a clear little brook that
flowed through the meadow near by. Two of them washed her face and hands
in clear, sparkling water and another dried her gently. One brushed her
sunny hair; another fitted on her little golden slippers and a third
tied on her crimson robe.

[Illustration]

When the sun grew warm the Dew Children vanished away, and five little
Moss-boys scampered up and begged the Princess to share their breakfast.
The Moss-boys’ names were Evergreen, Moss-cap, Velvet, Soft-step and
Green Jacket.

They led her to a little table spread on the roots of a tree in the
castle garden, and made her a seat on a low branch. One brought her
toast and warm milk, another moss-jelly, another honey and another sweet
wild strawberries, gathered in the wood.

Green Jacket has some cakes to offer but he sees that the bold red
squirrel has spied them from the treetop and come down to try one.

[Illustration]

After breakfast Master Crow flew down with specs on beak and book under
wing. He gave the little Princess a pencil, and a slate with a golden
rim, and told her to sit on the grassy bank under a tree. Then Master
Crow perched on a stump and opened his book with a “Caw, caw, caw!” He
taught the little Princess to spell such words as SPRING and BIRDS and
NESTS and EGGS. It was the nicest school she had ever heard of.

Whisk, the squirrel, watched from a nearby tree and was glad HE did not
have to go to school.

[Illustration]

When school was out, the little Princess wandered happily through the
wood. A gentle fawn came springing over the lawn and walked beside her
for a while. Seven frolicsome hares hopped and nibbled and played about
the path. Whisk, the squirrel, and his mate followed too and stopped
sometimes to eat a juicy blackberry. The birds flew and sang above them.

[Illustration]

Late in the afternoon, the little Princess came to a mossy glade at the
edge of the wood where the silly little mushrooms live, who grow up in a
single night—red-caps, brown-caps and white-caps. They begged her to
stop and tell them a story, so being a most obliging little Princess,
she sat on the grass among them and told them tales of the great oak
tree beside her father’s castle gate, which had taken hundreds of years
to grow and had seen many storms and the coming and going of brave
knights and fair ladies.

[Illustration]

At last darkness fell and many bright little Star Children came with
their star lanterns to light the little Princess home through the deep
wood. She was sleepy, for she had laughed and worked and played all day,
and was glad to see the towers of her father’s castle through the trees
when the friendly Star Children had led her safely home.

[Illustration]

The little Princess slipped through the castle gate and in the great
doors and upstairs to her white bed. She was soon fast asleep, like the
little animals and birds and nature children she had played with all
day.

The night wind rustled softly through the trees, and one little Star
Child watched over the castle all night, till dawn began to show in the
sky.

[Illustration]


                           Printed in Germany

[Illustration]

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                          TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES


 1. The colophon “Printed in Germany” was moved to the end.
 2. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
 3. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.





End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Princess in the Wood, by Helen Dean Fish

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 62877 ***