Peter Clenott

ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 310 In this 310thÿÿissue of the Baba Indaba?s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the Fairy Tale "THE WHITE FAWN". ONCE upon a time, long, long ago and far, far away, there was a King and Queen who were perfectly happy, with one exception, and that was that they had no child. One day when the Queen was staying in a watering-place, some distance from home, she was sitting by a fountain alone, sadly thinking of the daughter she longed to have, when she perceived a crab coming in her direction, who, to the Queen's surprise, addressed her thus: "Great Queen, if you will condescend to be conducted by a humble crab, I will lead you to a Fairies' palace and your wish shall be fulfilled." "I would certainly come with you," replied the Queen, "but I am afraid that I cannot walk backwards." The crab smiled, and transforming herself into a beautiful little old woman, said: "Now, madam, it is not necessary to go backwards. Come with me, and I beg of you to look upon me as your friend." She then escorted the Queen to the most magnificent palace that could possibly be imagined, it was built entirely of diamonds. In this superb place dwelt six Fairies who received the Queen with the greatest respect, and each one presented her with a flower made of precious stones?a rose, tulip, an anemone, a columbine, a violet, and a carnation. "Madam," they said, "we have pleasure in telling you that soon you will have a daughter whom you will name Desir‚e. Directly she arrives, do not fail to call upon us, for we will bestow all sorts of good gifts upon her. You have only to hold this bouquet, and mention each flower, thinking of us, and be assured that we shall at once appear in your chamber." Well, the Queen did have a child and named her Desiree. But did the Queen use the magic flower to call on the fairies? If she forgot, which is easy when you?ve just given birth, would the fairies take retribution, and what form would the retribution take? Well to find the answers to these questions, you will have to download and read this story to find out! ÿ BUY ANY 4 BABA INDABA CHILDREN?S STORIES FOR ONLY $1 33% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities. INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES ÿ Each issue also has a "WHERE IN THE WORLD - LOOK IT UP" section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT - use Google maps. Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories". ÿ