Snow White with Dwarfs and Fairies

The Good Finger Fairies: One day Mama was very tired. She had been working hard all the week, so when Daddy went to work this morning she lay down on the sofa to take a little nap.

"I have so much work to do straightening up," she said. "I will rest a little bit and then I will get up and tidy things. I do hope you children will play quietly and will not disturb me."—A I.

Sue,/who was eight years old, Timmy, who was six, and Mary /jjane four, said "All right, Mama, we will play very quietly and we won't disturb you." So they all sat down on the floor, and as soon as Mama was asleep, Sue got out her book of fairy stories and began reading about little Snow White and the Seven Little Dwarfs.

"and so little Snow White lived happily ever

afterward," read Sue, "in the beautiful castle with Prince Charming, and all of the people loved Snow White very much, for she was as good as she was beautiful, and the little Gnomes came and lived at the Castle with Snow White and the Prince and they were all very happy."

"There!" said Sue, as she closed the book. "That was a nice story. I wish I were a Princess like Snow White!"

"I'd rather be Jack the Giant Killer!" said Timmy, "and rescue the Princesses from the Giant's castles! I'd have a fiery horse and a sword."

"Wish there were fairies now!" dreamed Sue aloud.

"So do I!" exclaimed Timmy.

Little Mary Jane had been sitting there quietly while Sue read about Snow White and the Dwarfs, and now she sat twisting her chubby little fingers and wiggling her tiny little thumbs. There was sort of a puzzled look on her cunning little face, and she would look at the fingers of first one hand and then the other, not saying a word. But you could see she was thinking. Sue and Timmy watched her for a while wondering what she was doing.

Finally they said, "Mary Jane, what are you looking at your fingers like that for?"

"I was watching the fairies," Mary Jane said.

"Fairies! Why, there aren't any fairies—on your fingers!"

"Yes, there are!" Mary Jane replied. "I have been seeing them for the longest time. Just look!"

This Image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1923 are copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1923 in this case 1907, are now in the public domain.

This file is also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris) in this case Johnny Gruelle (December 24, 1880 - January 9, 1938) and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from December 31 of that year.

TEXT and IMAGE CREDIT: My very own fairy stories Illustrated by: Johnny Gruelle (December 24, 1880 - January 9, 1938). Publisher: Published by P.F. Volland Company, 1917. Original from: the New York Public Library. Digitized: Jul 3, 2007. Length: 94 pages. Subjects: Children's stories, Fairy tales, Illustrated children's books.