THE NEWCOMER

The animals came from all over the country to hear what the Lion King had to say :

‘Dear friends of the kingdom, we have a problem. A new creature has appeared in the forest. We need to know what it is. Who knows something ?

A grumpy gorilla raised his hand : ‘I know that it eats bananas, but it can’t climb up trees easily.’

A big brown bear grunted : ‘I know that he has hairs all over its head, but not all over its body.’

A noisy parrot exclaimed : ‘I heard it, it makes strange noises with its mouth, but nobody understands them.’

An old slow snake said : ‘I saw it, it has four legs but only walks on two.’

A lazy leopard added : ‘And it can’t run very fast....’

All the animals had something to say about the creature.

The King finally declared : ‘Let’s catch it !’

‘We’ll do it!’ said the big bears. 

The King asked : ‘What are we going to do with it ?’

There was a long silence.

Everyone started thinking about what to do with the creature.

Suddenly, a clever monkey said in a little voice :

‘I have an idea! Why don’t we put it in a cage, so everyone can come and look at it?’

The baby monkeys were very excited :

‘We could sell tickets to go and see it!’

‘We could feed it nuts, and see if it likes them!’

‘We could make faces at it!’ 

Everyone clapped. It was a great idea.

The Lion King interrupted : ‘What are we going to call it ?’

There was another silence.

Et toi ? As-tu deviné quel nom les animaux vont lui donner ?

The wise owl quietly said : ‘Let’s call it M. A. N., the Most Amazing Newcomer.....’

From CULVERSON Library.

Si tu veux profiter de ta lecture, tu peux faire la fiche de travail qui s’y rapporte et tu peux aller compléter la fiche jeu sur les animaux (Wild Animals).

WORKSHEET ON « THE NEWCOMER »

Objectif : repérage lexical.  

Retrouve le nom des différents animaux. Il y en a 8 . 

Quel adjectif qualifie chacun d’eux ? (N’oublie pas qu’en anglais, l’adjectif qualificatif épithète se place toujours avant le nom). 

Essaie d’en donner une traduction.

Certains mots ressemblent au français. Peux-tu les retrouver et les traduire. 

Observe bien le mot « newcomer » .

Peux-tu y distinguer un verbe ? 

1 adjectif peut-être ?  

et la terminaison : -  ; à quoi sert-elle ? 

« newcomer » est-il un nom ? un adjectif ? un verbe ?

Comment peux-tu le savoir ?

Maintenant essaie de donner une traduction de ce mot ? 

Dans l’histoire, quelle place ce personnage tient-il ? 

Maintenant tu peux établir une fiche de vocabulaire sur les animaux. 

° NOMS °VERBES °ADJECTIFS

RACCOONS OR THE MASKED BANDITS.

(from ENGLISH LIVE )

There is something about raccoons that make you want to smile whenever you see them. These roly-poly little animals look like bandits. Scientists tell us hat raccoons are very intelligent animals. They can easily learn to open doors, turn on faucets and do other tricks. Raccoons like to live alone or in small family groups. They make their homes in hollow logs, trees or near streams.

Raccoons are nocturnal animals. When evening comes, they begin their search for food. Raccoons are not picky eaters. They can eat almost everything.

When raccoons are on land hunting for food, they can become as their nickname implies, bandits. A raccoon family can raid and eat a whole field of corn. They can also rob eggs from hen houses and bird nests.

In Spring, raccoon mothers usually have three or four babies per litter. Baby raccoons are called “cubs”. The newborn cubs have their eyes and ears closed at first. They feed only on their mother’s milk and spend most of their time sleeping. The mother leaves them alone only to go hunting for her food at night. They are ready to leave the den by summertime. They enjoy running and climbing trees and even take short trips without their mother.

But life is full of danger for baby raccoons. They need to be very careful, or they will become preys to their enemies. Adult raccoons can protect themselves against many enemies. If they are attacked, they will fight very hard using their strength, intelligence and sharp teeth. But baby raccoons are not very strong and their teeth are not sharp enough! So, they must be very careful! 

We hope that sometime you will have the opportunity to watch in the wild and enjoy those furry, mischievous, masked bandits.

QUESTIONS

 What is the text about? What is the nickname of these animals?

What do you want to know about raccoons? Think of questions.

1. Read the text and say in which paragraph you can find answers about :

   • their food

   • their babies

   • their homes

2. Where do raccoons make their homes? Find the answer in paragraph 1.

3. What do they eat? Find the answer in paragraph2.

4. Read paragraph 3 and try to answer these questions?

How many babies does a mother raccoon have by litter?

What are baby raccoons called?

What do they look like?

What can they do? Can they hunt? Jump? Swim? .....

What do they eat?

Do they play?

What sorts of games do they play?

How long do they stay with their mothers?

5. What is paragraph 4 about? What is the main “message” of paragraph 4? (essaie de repérer la phrase-clé).

TIPS : pour savoir ce dont un texte parle, apprends à repérer les phrases clés qui renferment l’information principale.

Relis les différents paragraphes et essaie de repérer les phrases clés. Où se trouvent-elles en général ? Sais-tu pourquoi ? Mais où peuvent-elles aussi se trouver ? 

 A Detective Story : At The Mousetrap Hotel.

Are you a good detective? Try to find who is guilty.

Avant de commencer, regarde bien le titre.

Look at the word “mousetrap”. Il est composé de 2 mots; lesquels? Tu en connais forcément un et l’autre, tu peux sans doute le deviner ! Alors tu peux traduire « mousetrap ».

It’s 10 o’clock in the evening. Everything is quiet at the Mousetrap Hotel.

Suddenly, a man comes running out of his room and down the stairs, shouting :

‘Help! Help! Come and help me! My watch! Somebody has stolen it! Help!’

‘What is it, Mr Wealth (= riches)?’ the hotel porter asked. ‘What happened? Can I help you?’

The man repeated ‘My watch! My gold watch! Oh, please, I want my watch!’

The porter called the police. A few minutes later, Police Officer Locumbo arrived. He asked Mr Wealth to give all the possible details.

-‘You see, I was in my room, Room 22, on the second floor. The telephone rang. The person said ‘I’m calling you from the telephone box, in front of the hotel; would you please come down and meet me? I have something important to tell you but I don’t want other people to see me. ‘I was intrigued; I know it was silly, and perhaps dangerous, but I decided to go and see what it was about. I carefully locked my door, took the key with me and went down. I walked down the stairs because there was a note on the lift door “Sorry, the lift is out of order”. I went out of the hotel, I saw the telephone box, but it was empty and there was nobody in the street. I was furious; I thought it was just a joke; but when I went back into my room, my gold watch was no longer on the bedside table! It had disappeared!

-‘What can you tell me about the voice on the phone? Was it a man’s or a woman’s voice? Any particular accent?’

-‘I think it was a man’s voice, but I can’t be sure; the person had a strong foreign accent.’

-‘When you left your room, was the window open?’

-‘Yes, it was. Oh, please, Officer, I want my watch back. It was my grandfather’s watch, you know.....’

Police Officer Locumbo investigated; he asked questions to lots of people and phoned the International Police Services.

Here are his notes :

1. Calamity Mary : she is American; she is a famous thief; she often “works” in hotels, but she is now in prison in Chicago.

2. Paul Casseur : he is French; he is a famous thief; stealing jewels is his favourite “job”; he is now staying at the Mousetrap Hotel; he doesn’t speak English at all.

3. Hans Schuller : he is German; he writes detective stories; he has a room in the Mousetrap Hotel, on the ground floor. He is a handicapped man in a wheelchair.

4. Roger Curtis : he is English, he is an actor; he has a room in the Mousetrap Hotel, on the first floor; he is a member of a mountaineering club.

5. Marcello Bianco : he is Italian; he works as a cook at the Mousetrap Hotel and has a room on the sixth floor; he is deaf and dumb.

Can YOU help the inspector? Who did it? How do you know? What are the clues?

TREASURE ISLAND

« Treasure Island » is a famous pirate story by R.L.Stevenson , a Scottish writer who travelled to France, the USA, and the South Pacific. 

Try to complete this summary using the following words : attack, boy, cook, drink, friend, gentleman, never, night, rich, ship, song, treasure.

Bristol, England 1750.

Jim Hawkins, a poor 12-year-old , finds a pirate’s treasure map at a pirate pub called The Hole in the Wall. He shows it to some gentlemen who decide to buy a ship, the Hispaniola, and go look for the treasure. Long John Silver is the on the . He is Jim’s , but he likes to rum with another sailor, Israel Hands, and to sing a pirate song, “Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest,yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.”

When the group finds the treasure, Long John Silver, Israel Hands and the other sailors Jim and the . They want to keep the treasure and become pirates! Jim escapes, and when the pirates drink too much rum one , he capures the ship and the . Jim and the gentlemen return to England. Jim is now a young man, but he can forget Long John Silver and his . 

-------------------------------------------

Are you a good pirate ? 

Match the following islands to their descriptions.

San Cristobal Island / Crete / Turtle Island / Kangaroo Island / Nosy Be Island / Bears Island.

1. This island is named for the most famous animal in the southern hemisphere : .

2. This island’s name means Saint Christopher in Spanish : .

3. This is the island where Theseus killed the minotaur : ;

4. This name means “big island” in Malagasy : ;

5. Pirates make good soup out of the animal from this island! :

6. This island gets its name from an animal that is white in the Arctic : .

From “Take it Easy” n°1 / 2005

POPULAR FAIRY TALES

• THE BABES IN THE WOOD

• JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

• JACK AND THE GIANT KILLER 

• THE ENCHANTED HORSE

  THE BABES IN THE WOOD

  
  

  There once lived in Norfolk, a gentleman who was very rich indeed, and who was also very good and kind. He had a wife whom he loved dearly; and they had two little children, a boy and a girl.

  You can imagine how happy they were. But, alas! One day the good gentleman and his wife fell ill; and no one could make them better again. When they knew that they were about to die, they thought, not of themselves, but of their two little children.

  ‘What is to become of them ?’ said the dying man. ‘Who will take care of them when we are gone?’

  Then he thought of his brother, the children’s uncle and sent for him.

  ‘Be good to them, dear brother,’ he said; ‘for you are the only friend they have now. Take care of our dear little son and daughter.’

  And the uncle promised that he would be good to them.

  When their parents were dead, he took the little boy and girl away to live with him; and for a while he seemed to love them, and to do all he could to make them happy. But he was really not a good man at all, and was always thinking of the riches that had been left to the children by their father; for he could not forget that those riches would be his if anything happened to the little boy and girl. And at last, when the poor children had not yet been with him a year and a day, he hired two men who were as wicked as himself to take them away to a dark wood and there kill them.

  The pretty babes went gladly enough when the men offered to take them for a ride; and so sweetly did they talk to them that the robbers began to feel sorry they had promised to kill any beings so young and gentle. Indeed, one man declared that he would not kill the children after all. But, the other man was determined to do his cruel deed, that he might get a large sum of money that the uncle had promised him. So the two quarrelled, and at last came the blows.

  Think how frightened the two pretty children were when they saw the fight! They knew of only love and gentleness, and did not understand what all this meant.

  They were still more afraid when one of the robbers lay dead on the ground –not knowing that he had wished to kill them; and what with hunger and fear they began to weep.

  The other robber tried to comfort them, and at last he mounted his horse, and said: ‘I will go and get bread for you, so do not cry. Wait here till I come back.’ And he rode away. But, though he spared their lives, he did not mean to return.

  ‘He will come back soon,’ said the little ones to each other; and they linked hands and wandered up and down, waiting for him. They watched, too, till their eyes were tired, and listened to hear his horse’s feet; but he did not return.

  At last, when they had wandered about till they were tired, the tiny children lay down in each other’s arms, and died.

  And the birds and beasts came from their homes in the wood to look at them.

  ‘Their hair is made of the sun,’ said the little rabbits. ‘And how soundly they sleep!’

  But Robin Redbreast, who loves little children, looked longest of all. ‘Let us cover them over with our prettiest leaves,’ he said, ‘so that nothing may come near to hurt them. We must never play our loudest games here, lest they should awake.’

  So he called to his friends and companions, and they came flying, one by one.

  And each bird brought a leaf, which it laid upon the babes in the wood with gentle, loving touch; and back and forward they flew, till the children were quite covered with beautiful leaves. That was the only grave those children had.

  This is the end of the story, little ones, but you must know that the robber who had left the children to die in the wood lost his own life soon after, having committed another cruel crime; and before he died he confessed this story.

  As for the wicked uncle, he died in prison, and in great poverty; and I do not think we need to be surprised,

  For people who have wicked thoughts and do wicked deeds do not live happily, nor do they die gently.

   

   

  JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK

  

   

  Long, long ago, in a cottage in the country, there lived a poor widow, with her son Jack.

  And Jack was an idle lad, who played all day while his mother worked.

  The widow became poorer and poorer, till at last she had nothing left but a cow. Then with tears, she told Jack to sell the cow, so they might have money to buy bread.

   

  Jack started for market with the cow, and on the way he met a butcher, who had a handful of beans, purple and black and red.

  “What pretty beans!’ cried Jack.

  ‘They are worth a fortune,’ , the butcher told him, ‘but you shall have them in exchange of the cow, if you like.

  ‘Agreed !’ cried Jack.

  So, the butcher took the cow and Jack ran home with the beans.

  But his mother was very angry when she heard the story.

  She threw the handful of beans into the garden, and cried bitterly till night, when both she and her son went supperless to bed.

  Next morning, Jack woke to find his window shaded by the green leaves and scarlet blossoms of a strange plant.

  He ran into the garden, and found that some of the beans had taken root during the night, and had grown into a tall plant, whose top was out of sight in the clouds. The stalk of this plant was formed of many stems, so twisted together that they made a ladder.

  ‘I must go up that ladder,’ said Jack, and he began to climb.

  After several hours had passed, he reached a strange and barren country; and, tired and hungry, he sat down on a stone.

  Suddenly, a woman appeared before him.

  ‘I am a fairy,’ said she. ‘I brought you here. In yonder castle lives a giant, who killed your father and stole his riches.

  ‘You must get back those riches, and repay your mother’s kindness. Go along this straight road; and do not speak of your adventures till all are over. Obey me, or you will perish.’

  The fairy then vanished, and Jack continued his journey.

  At sunset he reached the great castle, in the doorway of which a woman was standing.

  ‘Will you take me in?’ asked Jack.

  ‘You do not know what you ask,’ replied the woman. ‘My husband is a giant, who eats people when he catches them.’

  Jack trembled; but he was afraid to disobey the fairy, so, he again asked the woman to shelter him.

  Then she took him into the kitchen, and gave him food and drink.

  By and by the house shook.

  ‘My husband is coming,’ cried the woman, and she hastily hid Jack in the oven.

  Then, the giant came in, sniffing.

  ‘I smell fresh meat!’ he roared, in a voice that sounded like thunder.

  ‘It is only the calf I killed this morning,’ said his wife, as she put upon the table a pie so big that it would have taken ten men ten days to eat it, though her husband ate it all for supper.

  Then the giant called for his hen; and a wonderful hen, with feathers of crimson and gold, was placed before him.

  And when the giant said : ‘Lay!’ the hen laid a solid golden egg.

  After a time the giant fell asleep. His wife was in the back- kitchen, washing the dishes; so, Jack crept from the oven, tucked the hen under his arm, and ran away to the bean-stalk, down which he climbed to his mother’s garden.

  His mother rejoiced to see him; and as they could now have as many golden eggs as they wished, they were soon very rich.

  Before long, Jack again climbed the bean-stalk, and went to the giant’s castle.

  He had dyed his face brown, so that the giant’s wife should not know him; but it was some time before he persuaded her to take him in, so angry was she with the boy who had stolen the giant’s hen.

  This time, after she had fed him, she hid him in the clothes-press.

  By and by the giant came in, sniffing.

  ‘I smell fresh meat!’, roared him.

  ‘It is only the pig I killed this morning,’ replied his wife.

  After eating an immense supper, the giant called for his money-bags.

  Two bags were then brought, one full of gold, the other full of silver; and the giant counted the coins till he fell asleep.

  Then Jack crept from the clothes-press. But a little dog which was under the giant’s chair barked, and he crept back again.

  Soon, however, the giant’s wife called the dog into the back-kitchen; so, Jack came out once more, seized the money-bags, and took them safely ti his mother.

  But even now he could not rest at home; and very soon he was back at the giant’s castle, this time with his face dyed red.

  It was long before the giant’s wife would let him in, but at last he persuaded her. Then she fed him, and hid him in the copper.

  By and by the giant came in, sniffing.

  ‘I smell fresh meat!’ roared he.

  ‘It is only the kid I killed this morning,’ said his wife.

  But the giant did not believe her, so he searched every corner of the kitchen.

  He even put his hand on the lid of the copper, and Jack trembled.

  The giant, however, did not lift the lid.

  He sat down at last, ate an enormous supper, and called for his harp.

  A wonderful harp was then brought, which played beautiful music when the giant said, ‘Play!’ The women went into the back-kitchen, and the giant listened to his harp till he fell asleep.

  Then Jack crept from the copper, seized the harp, and ran away.

  But the harp was enchanted. It cried ; ‘Master! Master!’ and the giant awoke, and ran after Jack, roaring with anger.

  He had eaten and drunk so much, however, that he coul not run fast.

  So Jack reached the bean-stalk first, and climbed quickly down it.

  When he got to the bottom, he called for a hatchet, and cut through the bean-stalk.

  Then, the giant, who was following, fell along and broke his neck.

  After that, Jack told his mother all his adventures, and asked her to forgive him for having been an undutiful son.

  This she did; and they lived in happiness and comfort ever after.

  
   

   

   

   

  JACK  and the GIANT-KILLER
  
  
   In olden times there lived in Cornwall many wicked giants, who were the terror of the country, being so fierce and cruel that no man dared to face them.
   But there was a bold boy named Jack, who determined to fight and slay (=kill) the giants, especially the great giant Cormoran, who lived in a huge castle by the sea. So, one night he took a horn, a pickaxe, and a shovel; and digging a pit outside the giant’s castle, he covered it with straw and with the boughs of trees. Then, he blew his horn, and the giant, rushing out, fell into the pit and was killed. Jack went down into the pit and cut off the giant’s head; and the people called him “Jack the Giant-Killer”, and gave him a belt on which was engraved :
                    “This is the valiant Cornishman, who killed the Giant Cormoran”.
   
   Now, Cormoran’s brother, finding Jack asleep one day in the wood, seized him and threw him into his castle, and called another giant to a feast. But, as the giant were passing under Jack’s window, he flung out a rope, with a strong noose at each end of it, and catching them by the head, he strangled them.
   And when King Arthur heard of this deed, he made Jack a Knight of the Round Table, and our hero rode through the land with noble knights, killing many giants.
   Once he came to a great house, kept by a giant with two heads. This giant was extremely polite, and after supper gave Jack his own bed to sleep in. But Jack, fearing mischief, crept out of the bed; and it was well that he did so, for in the middle of the night, the giant brought his club and banged at the bed, hoping that he had put an end to Jack. And when he saw the youth next morning, he was greatly surprised and disappointed.
  “How did you sleep ?”, he asked.
  “Pretty well”, said Jack, “except for the rats”.
   The giant filled two bowls with porridge, one for himself and one for Jack; but Jack managed to ladle his share into a leather bag inside his waistcoat, and presently said : “See what I can do!” cutting the bag with his sword, so that the porridge fell out upon the floor.
  “I can do that too!”, roared the giant, and plunging a knife into himself, he fell down dead.
   Now, Jack had an invisible coat and shoes of swiftness, which he had taken from a giant. One day, he came to the castle of a hideous giant with a huge head. A beautiful lady, a knight, and a duke’s daughter were prisoners in the castle; but while the giant was away from home, Jack freed them with one stroke of his sword, and took them back to the knight’s castle, where a great feast was given in his honour.
   In the middle of the feast, a herald announced that a terrible giant, named Thundel, was approaching.
   Now, the castle was surrounded by a moat, across which there ran a drawbridge, so Jack set men to saw through the bridge at one end. Then, putting on the invisible coat and the shoes of swiftness, he went boldly to meet the giant.
   At first, he led Thundel a dance all round the castle; then, suddenly throwing off the invisible coat, he ran over the bridge with great swiftness, and reached the castle savely. When the giant tried to follow, the bridge fell beneath his great weight, and he was drowned. And the land was not plagued with giants any more.
   Jack took the duke’s daughter back to her own home, and her father gave her to him in marriage, as a fitting reward for his great courage.
   He gave him also a beautiful castle in Cornwall, and there Jack and his bride lived happily ever after.
  
  

  THE ENCHANTED HORSE
  
  

   

  Once upon a time, on a certain great feast-day, a King of Persia was admiring the many curious things which it was the custom to bring before the Court at such times, when a Hindoo suddenly appeared with an artificial horse, so good an imitation that at first it was believed to be a live animal.

   Bowing low before the King, the Hindoo declared that the horse would instantly carry through the air any person who mounted it, to whatever place he might name.

   The King asked for a proof of this; and the Hindoo, mounting the horse, turned a peg in its neck, which caused it to rise in the air and vanish out of sight.

   In a few moments it returned; and the Hindoo, alighting, presented the King with a palm branch which he had plucked from a tree on a mountain many miles away.

   The King now wished to have the magic horse for his own; but when he asked the price of it, the Hindoo answered: “The only price I will take for my enchanted horse is your daughter’s hand in marriage”.

   On hearing this, the King’s son, Prince Firouz-Schah, begged his father not to think of giving away the Princess to a mere Hindoo juggler. The King said he hoped to satisfy the man with something else; and, in the meantime, he asked the Prince to try the horse himself.

   Quickly the young Prince mounted, and, without waiting for the Hindoo’s directions, turned the peg; the horse instantly rose into the air, carrying him out of sight in a few moments, to the alarm of the King, who now fell into a rage and ordered the juggler to be kept a prisoner till the Prince returned.

   In the meantime, the enchanted horse was rushing through the air at a great rate, and at first the Prince enjoyed his ride; but when he found that he could not take his steed return to the ground, he was much alarmed. He was just beginning to despair when he felt another peg, behind the horse’s right ear.

   Quickly he turned this peg, and, to his joy, the horse soon reached the earth. It was now night, and the young prince had no idea where he was. He jumped off the horse’s back, and by the light of the moon, saw that he was standing on the marble balcony of a splendid palace. He walked a few steps till he came to an open door; and seeing a light through this, he entered.

   He soon found himself in a great hall, where some slaves lay sleeping before an inner room. The Prince now knew that he was near the sleeping-chamber of some royal maiden; and stepping lightly over the slaves, he softly entered the room beyond, where he beheld the most beautiful princess he had ever seen. He fell in love with her at once, and touching the sleeve of her robe, he gently awoke her.

      The Princess was astonished to find a handsome young stranger beside her; but when the Prince had explained how he came to be there, she received him very kindly, and ordered her ladies to attend to all his wants.

   Next morning, the Princess, who was a daughter of the King of Bengal, asked the young prince to stay and spend some days with her. Prince Firouz-Schah was only too glad to do so; and the Princess at once ordered all kinds of gay amusements to be held in his honour.

   Many happy weeks quickly passed away in a pleasant manner; and the Prince of Persia and the Princess of Bengal soon grew to love each other.

   So, when the Prince at last made up his mind to return to Persia, he soon persuaded the Princess to go with him.

   The enchanted horse was brought out one morning; and having placed the Princess safely on its back, Prince Farouz-Schah sprang up beside her, and turned the peg.

   The young prince guided the horse very carefully, and soon they arrived safely at his father’s palace.

   The King of Persia was delighted to see his son again and gave orders for the Hindoo to be et free. But the Hindoo took a terrible revenge. He quietly mounted the enchanted horse when nobody was looking, and suddenly snatching up the Princess of Bengal, he turned the peg, and quickly vanished out of sight with her.

   The Prince of Persia was full of grief when he saw his beloved Princess borne away on the enchanted horse, and at once began a long, lonely search for her.

   Meanwhile, the Hindoo carried his prize to a great distance; and when evening fell, he guided the enchantd horse to a wood near the chief city of Cashmere.

   Here he made the terrified princess alight, and began to treat her so badly that she cried aloud for help. Her cries were heard by the Sultan of Cashmere, who, riding up, ordered his guards to seize the Hindoo and cut off his head.

   When this was done, he took the Princess of Bengal to his palace; and the poor maiden soon found herself in another fix, for, on coming to see her the next day, the Sultan was so charmed with her beauty that he declared he would make her his bride at once.

   Now, the Princess was determined to marry no one but the Prince of Persia, so, she pretended to go mad suddenly, uttering dreadful shrieks and wild words, and throwing herself about in the strangest way.

   The Sultan ran away in terror, and ordered the wedding to be put off until the Princess got better. But she kept up her pretence of madness so well that though the Sultan sent for all the doctors in the country to cure her, none of them dared go near her.

   One day, however, a poor dervish came to the palace, and declared that he could cure the Princess; so, he was taken to her room at once.

   Now, this dervish was really Prince Farouz-Schah, who had heard people talk of a certain mad princess of Bengal, and felt sure she must be his own lost Princess. And when the Princess saw that the dervish was really her own dear Prince, she fell into his arms and wept for joy.

   After they had rejoiced together for a few minutes, they arranged a plan of escape.

   When the pretended dervish came out of the room, he went straight to the Sultan, and said that as some of the magic from the enchanted horse must have entered into the Princess, the only way to cure her would be to set her on its back again and light fires around it, burning in the flames a certain incense which he alone possessed.

   The Sultan was delighted to hear this, and gave orders that the directions of the dervish should be duly carried out.

   So, next morning, the Princess of Bengal was placed on the magic horse; and when she was seated, fires were lighted all around her.

   The pretended dervish then threw some incense into each of the fires, and ran three times round the horse, muttering strange words.

   The incense caused such a dense cloud of smoke to arise that the Princess was completely hidden by it; then, the Prince of Persia sprang beside her and turned the peg, and the enchanted horse rose into the air and quickly vanished out of sight, the Sultan being left to swallow his disappointment as best he could.

   The enchanted horse soon arrived safely in Persia; and there, in a very short time, Prince Farouz-Schah and the Princess of Bengal were married, and lived happily together for the rest of their lives.

  
  

  The Poet' s Corner