Chapter IV: Preparation

The cook sends servants to find the two girls, but they are not successful. Children imagine where the servants will search for Lena and Birdie.

Narration.

THE SEARCH.

The cook sent the servants to look for Birdie and Lena. They went into the woods looking everywhere, behind trees and among the bushes. Lena saw them coming towards the place where she and Birdie were hiding. “Birdie,” she said, “will you do just as I say?” “Yes, Lena,” said Birdie, “I will.” “Then,” said Lena, “we must change quickly so that the servants will not find us. You must be a rosebush, Birdie, and I will be a red rose growing upon it.” As she spoke they were changed. Birdie became a rosebush and Lena a sweet red rose growing upon it.

The servants came and looked all around for the children; but, as they could not find them anywhere, they went back to the house. The old cook was at the window watching anxiously for them. “Where are the children?” she cried. “We could not find them,” answered the servants. “We thought once that we saw them, but when we reached the place they were nowhere to be seen. There was nothing there but a rosebush with a rose upon it.”

“O you stupid things,” cried the cook; “why did you not bring me the rose? Go back and get it.”

V.

Preparation.

The servants try to find the rosebush and the rose. The children escape again. Children imagine how they escape.

Narration.

THE SERVANTS GO AGAIN TO THE FOREST.

When the old cook said, “Go back to the forest and bring me the rose,” the servants went back. As they came near the place where they had seen the rosebush and rose, Lena saw them coming. “We must change again, dear Birdie,” she said. “You must be a church and I will be the steeple.”

When the servants came to the place the rosebush and the rose were gone. And there stood a tiny church with a tall steeple! The servants were astonished. They said to one another, “I did not see that church here before. Did you? Well, we can not find the rosebush and rose, so we may as well go back. My! but won’t the old cook be cross?”