Now, this is a
true story.
* * * * *
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
Once upon a time long ago--so long, indeed, that even the very oldest
people now alive could not remember it--there lived a King and Queen
in a beautiful palace, a great white marble palace, with wide halls
and high towers, and a golden roof that flashed in the sun.
And all round the palace, for miles and miles, there were lovely
gardens and pleasure-grounds, with terraces and green lawns, and
ancient trees where the birds would sit and sing all day and all night
long, and more flowers than you could ever think of if you were
to think a whole summer through. There were peacocks and birds of
paradise on the broad lawns, and pretty slender brown deer in the
shady glades, and gold and silver fishes in the ponds and fountains,
and great red and yellow fruits ripened in the orchards.
There was everything there that heart could wish--except just one,
and that was the one thing in all the world that this King and Queen
wanted to make them perfectly happy. For there was no little child to
run and play about the sunny gardens and pick the flowers, and pet the
birds and beasts that wandered there.
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