Page:Old time stories (Perrault, Robinson).djvu/227

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Princess Rosette

When night fell Rosette was filled with terror. 'Bark, Frillikin,' she said to her dog; 'keep on barking, or the soles will come and eat us!' So Frillikin barked all night.

When morning came the bed was not far off the shore. Hereabouts there lived, all alone, a kindly old man. His home was a little hut where no one ever came, and as he had no desire for worldly goods he was very poor. He was astonished when he heard the barking of Frillikin, for no dogs ever came that way; and supposing that some travellers

'A kindly old man'

must have missed their road, he went out with the goodnatured intention of putting them right. Suddenly he saw the princess and Frillikin floating out at sea. The princess caught sight of him, and stretching out her arms to him, cried:

'Save me, kind old man, or I shall perish; two whole days have I been floating thus.'

He was filled with pity when he heard her speak thus dolefully, and went to his house to fetch a big crook. He waded out till the water was up to his neck, and after being

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