Tatian Adaptation of "The Little Princess in the Wood"

One lovely summer morning the little Tatian Princess Rosie woke up early, jumped out of bed, put on her crown, and popped her head out of the castle window. There she saw, through the branches of the Queen’s best rose tree, a merry band of Tatian Children, sparkling through the castle park as lightly as if blown on the morning wind.

The Tatian Princess laughed for joy and the Tatian Children heard her. They came running over the grass and called to her to come down and play with them.

Quick as a bird, Tatian Princess Rosie slipped down the stairs and out into the fresh, sunny summer morning.

When the six little Tatian Children—their names Reggie, Gerold, Dilly, Chickenpox, Spanky, and Percy—heard that she had not washed and brushed and dressed, they hurried her away to a clear little brook that flowed through the meadow nearby. Two of them washed her face and hands in clear, sparkling water and another dried her gently. One brushed her sunny hair while another fitted on her little golden slippers and a third tied on her crimson robe.

When the sun grew warm the Tatian Children vanished away, and five little Moss-boys scampered up and begged the Tatian Princess to share their breakfast. The Moss-boys’ names were Evergreen, Moss-cap, Velvet, Soft-step and Green Jacket.

They led her to a little table spread on the roots of a tree in the castle garden, and made her a seat on a low branch. One brought her toast and warm milk, another moss-jelly, another honey and other sweet wild strawberries, gathered in the wood.

Green Jacket has some cakes to offer but he sees that the bold red squirrel has spied them from the treetop, and so he comes down to try one.

After breakfast, Crow flew down with specs on his beak and a book under his wing. He gave the little Tatian Princess a pencil, and a slate with a golden rim, and told her to sit on the grassy bank under a tree. Then Crow perched on a stump and opened his book with a “Caw, caw, caw!” He taught the little Tatian Princess to spell such words as DRELU, TATIAN, BOGROLLS, and EGGS. It was the nicest school she had ever heard of.

Whisk, the squirrel, watched from a nearby tree and was glad that HE did not have to go to school too.

When school was out, the little Tatian Princess wandered happily through the wood. A gentle fawn came springing over the lawn and walked beside her for a while. Seven frolicsome hares hopped and nibbled and played about the path. Whisk, the squirrel, and his mate followed too and stopped sometimes to eat a juicy blackberry. The birds flew and sang above them.

Late in the afternoon, the little Tatian Princess came to a mossy glade at the edge of the wood where the silly little mushrooms lived, who grew up in a single night—red-caps, brown-caps, and white-caps. They begged her to stop and tell them a story, so being a most obliging little Tatian Princess, she sat on the grass among them and told them tales of the great oak tree beside her father’s castle gate, which had taken hundreds of years to grow and had seen many storms and the coming and going of brave knights and fair ladies.

At last, darkness fell and many bright little Star Children came with their star lanterns to light the little Tatian Princess home through the deep wood. She was sleepy, for she had laughed and worked and played all day, and was glad to see the towers of her father’s castle through the trees when the friendly Star Children had led her safely home.

The little Tatian Princess slipped through the castle gate and in the great doors and upstairs to her white bed. She was soon fast asleep, like the little animals and birds and nature children she had played with all day.

The night wind rustled softly through the trees, and one little Star Child watched over the castle all night, till dawn began to show in the sky.