Dee and Dot
DR DO-DIDDILY
AND THE DEE - DOT'S
FAIRY TALES FOR YOU Not the little wooden box from the story. This is a special one. read all about it at end of story
The Little Wooden Box
Brownilocks ran through the wood, sobbing as if her heart would break.
"What is the matter?" asked a kindly oak-tree.
" The old witch set me a task, and I fell asleep in the hayfield before it was done," she answered, "and she'll beat me, and beat me, and beat me !"
"Stop your crying," said the oak , "and put your hand in the hollow of my trunk, and see what you can find."
This is what an Oak tree looks like in the Autumn (Fall)Brownilocks slipped her hand in the old oak, and pulled out a little wooden box.
"Now inside that box is a magic powder," said the oak. "If you throw it into the witch's supper she will fall asleep the instant she tastes it, but you must run away and hide till she has eaten it, so that she cannot question you."
"Yes, I will," said Brownilocks, "and then I can get up early in the morning and finish the task before she wakes. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you !"
She left the oak tree and started to walk back to her home. When she got to the brook she came across the ugliest hunchback dwarf she had ever seen, he was sitting huddled up by the water, holding his foot and moaning.
"Oh dear !" cried Brownilocks. "I am afraid you are hurt !" And though the sight of his misshapen body and his twisted face, his long, cruel looking fingers made her shudder, she stooped down, filled her hands with water and held them to his lips.
The dwarf drank greedily and then looked down at his foot.
It was torn and bleeding, and the dwarf told her that he had had an accident and was in great distress. He was a long way from home , and was faint for the want of food, but what made him feel worse was the fact that he hadn't slept for nights.
"Oh, dear !" said Brownilocks again. "I do wish I could help you. I can bathe your foot and bind it up for you, but I'm afraid I cannot give you neither food nor sleep."Now this isn't even a dwarf, can't find one ugly enough, this is a trow from the Shetland Isles
Then she stopped, for she suddenly remembered the sleeping potion she carried in her pocket. "Yes I can help you," said Brownilocks, pulling the little box out of her pocket. "Take it at once, and you can sleep till I wake you."
The dwarf asked no question; he tipped the powder on to his tongue and swallowed it, then he lay back down on the earth and closed his eyes.
That night, poor Brownilocks cried herself to sleep, for the cruel witch had beaten her till she had begged for mercy. But she was up with the sun early in the morning, and, though her bruises were so painful that she could scarce walk, she went as quickly as she could to the brook . In her basket she carried a crust of bread and a bottle of milk..
"The poor man will need food when he awakes," she had thought, "for he must have a long way to go." She didn't dare take anything else from the house so she had saved her own breakfast for him.
The little man was still fast asleep when she reached the brook, it looked like he had hardly moved at all. She went softly forward and bent over him.
"Wake up !" she cried, "It is morning and I have brought you food and drink.
Can you imagine the amazement on Brownilocks face when the figure rose to face her, for the figure who rose from the shabby, old cloak was not the hunchback that she had nursed the night before. But a handsome young man, he was dressed in blue and silver that glistened in the morning sun.
Oh my goodness! Brownilocks exclaimed. "You are a Prince!" And she was right.
He smiled at her "Yes, I am the Prince Merryheart," He said kneeling by Brownilocks side. "And you must be my princess, for you have not only saved my life and my reason as well, but you have broken a spell that I began to fear would never be broken."
Brownilocks was astonished"A spell !" cried Brownilocks.
The prince nodded. "The witch who stole you from your cradle when you were a baby turned me into an ugly hunchback for trying to rescue you. And the spell was that I remain like that until I found a princess who would tend me with her own hands, and not be frightened by my ugliness."
"But I am not a princess," said Brownilocks. "Indeed I am not !"
"Oh yes you are," laughed the Prince, "and I am going to take you home. The King has been grieving for his lost daughter since you were taken, and the Queen cries for you all day."
\and then, to Brownilock's amazement, he blew a silver whistle, and up came a magnificent white horse.the prince took her away on his beautiful white horse
The Prince set Brownilocks on to his back and sprang up behind her, and in a twinkling they were off.
And the wicked witch, what became of her.? The story says that she died on the morning that the Prince Merryheart awoke. All that was left in her horrible dark hut was her black cat, who was also set free from the witches wicked spells and he went to live near the old oak tree that gave Brownilocks the magic powder in the Little Wooden Box. ....
I found this in a blog
"This is my little wooden Totoro music box.
When you turn the crank, it plays;
Kaze no Torimichi (The Path of the Wind)Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbour Totoro).
A small treasure that warms my heart. from the film "My Neighbour Totoro."
Here below is a wonderful video list of Totoro and some of the Studio Ghibli Friends
http://www.youtube.com/cp/vjVQa1PpcFNTKiF4lXqb_B-eLEat7RUyA2kt9d3gQog=
