Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-01-01
The Giving Story

There was once little prince who
had everything In the world to make
him happy. He had q kind father and
mother who were King and Queen; ne
had a velvet suit for every day in the
week and two for Sunday; he had
little white pony and a great white dog.
and so many toys that they filled sew
eral playrooms. There were ladies' In
waiting to tell him stories, and gentle
men-in- waiting to teach him to hunt
and to ride, and many little pages to
teach him new games and take care OF
his toys and find them when he lost
them.
Yet the little Prince was not happy.
Sometimes he sat at his window for n
hour at time looking down at the
brown, winding path in the forest that
lay just below the palace. Here the lit :
tie children from the village played and
the prince liked to watch them.
THE Prince must be Ill, said the
King. "He plays very seldom now"
"He never SMILES" said the Queen.
eve must call the court DOCTOR
So the court doctor. looking very inn.
portant, came and looked at the
Princes tongue, but all the time the
little Prince was looking out Of the
window.
See that boy down in the forest; he
is giving little girl ride on his sled,
and they are carrying home green
hemlock tree that he cut with his
Ratchet. 1t will be their Christmas tree
won't it? wish / could go and see|
their gifts when the tree is trimmed, j
he said.
The court doctor shook his head !
"The little Prince is not in need Of
medicine" he said. What he needs Isl
gift that will give him more pleasure
than any gift ever gave him before.
That will make him quite well again.
It was very near the joyous Christ
mas time, so every one in the whole
court put on his thinking cap and tried
to think of more beautiful gift than
any other, which he could give to the
little Prince to make him happy on
Christmas day.
The King bought a train of toy cars
that could run. quite alone, on set e
toy tracks. and whenever they passed
the little signal-statiOns, red or Bile
or green lights flashed.
The Queen bought wonderful toy
circus in which there was almost every
kind of a toy animal and clowns that
would jump and doll trapeZe.perform-
ers and dolls that would walk upon
tight rope There were other gifts tco:
ball that had a covering woven OF
golden thread and a white fur CLOAK,
and gold watch with shining Jewels
set in it, and silver trumpet, and a
box Of hundred TOW soldiers with the
officers in uniform like the uniform OF
the court, and fairy book with gilded
covers and colored pitcures.
All these most beautiful gifts the lit
tie Prince found when Christmas dawn.
ed all white and green in the castle.
He started his cars. but when the
little signal lights flashed he did not
see them, for he was looking out of the
window and down at the evergreen
trees in the forest so white with snow.
He set up his circus. but when the toy
clowns t,mbled merrily over each 9th
them. - had seen some small foot IS
prints the snow path of the forest.
and he was watching them from his
window. Suddenly the little Prince
called for his own sleigh. He carried
all his gifts down to 1T and packed
them inside It; the train of cars that
would run alone. and the circus that
had jumping clowns, the golden ball.
the fur cloak, the watch. the silver
| trumphet, the box of soldiers. and tins.
book Of fairy TALES with gilded covers
and colored pictures.
No one saw the little Prince, wrap
ped in his old fur cloak, drive away;
everyone else in the palace was enjoy
ing his own Christmas gifts. Presently
no one could have seen him If he had
| tried. for he took the road that went
| through the forest, and followed the
| footsteps that he had seen from the
castle window in the snow M
He knew whose footsteps they We're.
On and on they led until they stopped
at the dor of a very small house at
the edge of the village The little Prince
| thought that he had never seen SO
small house in all his life before, but
he thought too that he had never heard
such happy laughter as came out
through the cracks in the wall and>the
keyhole.
When they opened at his knocking.
! theelittle Prince saw the same little BOY
and girl that he had seen In the forest.
and there was the same little green
henlock tree that the boy had cut
down. It was trimmed with few gid
ed nuts and string or two of popcorn
and an apnle.
| There were no toys, but the children
| were dancing about the tree as II It
shone with a hundred candles and were
hung with hundred toys.
When they saw the little Prince ana
watched him bring in from his sleigh
all his wonderful toys, they could not
saw a word for their surprise.
| 1T is the Prince!' they said They
began bowling to him, but he motioned
them to stop.
II am only little boy" he said.
"and I have brought you some Christ
| mas toys. I will stay and play with
| YOU awhile if you would like to have
me-
The Prince had never had so splen.
did time in all his life as he had thea
playing with the boy and girl IN the
house that was smaller than any he
had ever seen in all his life before. The
how could tell him about tiny animals
that lived in the woods and were more
wonderful than those in the toy circus.
and the little girl told him fairy tales
that were not in any book The chill
dren themselves were happier, too,
than they had ever been before playing
with their news toys, and as the little
Prince watched them he suddenly felt
as warm and well and merry as If no
were out in tho sunshine Of summer
day.
He still felt happy when he told the
children goodby and went home. It was
| 49, 4ox,o,,s laurhter Of the little Prince