a china doll—the sixpenny kind; she had a white face, and long yellow hair, done up very tight in two pigtails; her forehead was very big and lumpy, and her cheeks came high up, like little shelves under her eyes. Her eyes were small and blue. She had on a funny black frock, with curly braid on it, and button boots that went almost up to her knees. Her legs were very thin. She was sitting in a hammock chair nursing a blue kitten—not a sky‐blue one, of course, but the colour of a new slate pencil. As we came up we heard her say to No?l—
“Who are you?”
No?l had forgotten about the bear, and he was taking his favourite part, so he said—
“I’m Prince Camaralzaman.”
The funny little girl looked pleased—
“I thought at first you were a common boy,” she said. Then she saw the rest of us and said—
“Are you all Princesses and Princes too?”
Of course we said “Yes,” and she said—
“I am a Princess also.” She said it very well too, exactly as if it were true. We were page: 85 very glad, because it is so seldom you meet any children who can begin to play right off without having everything explained to them. And even then they will say they are going to “pretend to be” a lion, or a witch, or a king. Now this little girl just said “I am a Princess.” Then she looked at Oswald and said, “I fancy I’ve seen you at Baden.”
Sun Nov 13, 2011 7:59 pm by xiaowanzi
