The Washington times., 1902-01-05

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doors. so that none of them could get out.
| He hired a great dragon that breathed
| fire and smoke te stand in front of the
castle and drive away anyone who should
| try to rescue the Princess. He told her
| that as soon as she would let him take
picture of her to put On his baking pow
| der box he would let her go home, and
she could just stay there until she made
up her mind to do it. The Princess said
she never would consent, and she really
didn't mind much, for there were plenty
of looking glasses in the castle, SO she
i could see how beautiful she was, and that
| was very great comfort.
The King, the Princess father, was in
fearful state of mind when his daughter
was carried off by this black cloud, and,
of course, no one could see where it went
He sent out all his armies to find the
| Princess and bring her back. They started
| out in all directions. with their flags fly
| ing and drums beating, but it was very
long distance and very bad walking to the
| edge Of the world, where Skeezicks cas-
| tie stood, and so the army that started in
| that direction changed their minds and
marched somewhere else OF course, none
of the armies found the Princess, and they
all went back and told the King SO. He
| felt very bad about it, and he issued
proclamation that anyone who should find
the Princess and bring her safely back
could marry her and have half of the
kingdom. great many young men who
thought they would like beautiful prin-
cess and half kingdom started out to
find the lovely lost Princess Alice, but
only three of them were in the right di-
rection.
One day the dragon was sitting In front
Of the castle playing solitaire. when up
came a young fellow all dressed in armor
from head to foot and carrying a great
sword. Now, this dragon was a very nice
dragon and fond of company, and he was
| more tender-hearted than you could i'm
agine a dragon could possibly be. The
young man seemed to be nice, quiet
young man. SO the dragon was quite glad
to see him. Good morning." he said
Have you time enough to stop and play
a game or pinochle?" and he smiled just
as nicely as he could and showed all his
1900 teeth. The young man stopped when
he saw all those teeth and stood still, as
| If he did not know what to do next. The
dragon was SO tender-hearted that he
hated to embarrass anyone, and, as he
saw the young man was shy and not used
| to talking to strangers he went up to in
| troduce himself. The young man did not
wait for that. but he dropped his sword
| and climbed to the top of a tree that stood
near. The dragon was so tender-hearted
| that he could not bear to see that young
| man away up there, where he might
fall down and hurt himself, and so he
just sat up on his tail and picked that
young man off the tree and swallowed him
whole. Then he went back to his game
Of solitaire.
The next morning the dragon was sit
ting out in his accustomed place picking
pieces OF armor out OF his teeth when
another young man rode up. Good morn
ing" said the dragon. Nice day, isn't
it? That's fine horse you have there.
Is he afraid of the cars?' Then he blew
a great cloud of fire and smoke out Of his
nostrls just to see IL the horse was afraid
OF the cars. l guess the horse must have
been just little bit afraid of the cars,
for he threw the young man over his head
and galloped off at a great rate. The
young man got up and ran to a little river
near by and jumped in to get away from
all that fire and smoke. The dragon was
SO tender hearted that he was dreadfully
afraid the young man would get drowned.
so he just fished him out and swallowed
him whole to keep him out of mischief
The morning after that the dragon was
sitting under tree reading fairy story
when up came another young man. Good
morning" said the dragon Isn't this
beautiful weather We are having? How
are things in your part cf the country?"
Pretty well, said the young man. I'm !
glad to see you enjoying such good health
I've come to see the Princess How is
she? Just take her my card, like a good
fellow, will you?"
She's not at home" said the dragon. !
know she's not at home" said the |
young man. but I've come to get her and
take her home" Then he started 10 walk !
around the dragon SO as to get to the |
'front.' door of the castle The dragon |
knew that the door was locked and ne |
was such tender hearted dragon that he |
Just could not bear to see that Young /
man disappointed. SO he opened his laws
TO swallow him whole but the Young
man caught the dragons great scaly tail
ana showed ii in his great open Jaws. and
before the dragon knew 1t he had swal-
lowed himself whole. and there he was,
Inen the young man tried the doors OF
the castle, and when he found that they
were locked he climbed up lightning
rod and got in one of the upper windows.
Then he lowered the Princess down in n
clothes basket and took her home. The