The Parkerstown Delegate by Grace Livingston Hill Read Free Book Online Page A

if we may— bend low as ye pray!
    What does it mean?
    Listen! God fashioned a house. He said:
    “Build it with care.”
    Then softly laid the soul…
    To dwell in there.
     
    And always he watched it— guarded it so,
    Both day and night;
    The wee soul grew as your lilies do,
    Splendid and white.
     
    It grew, I say, as your lilies grow,
    Tender and tall;
    Till God smiled, “Now the house is too low
    For the child, and small.”
     
    And gently he shut the shutters one night,
    And closed the door;
    “More room and more light to walk upright
    On a Father’s floor ”

Fairy Tales Redux

Foreword
    I was asked to write a short story based on the following chapter titles. I attempted to be clever with them.

Chapter 1: Early Snow
    Philip buckled his sword belt, donned his cape, jumped onto his horse – Chester – and kicked him into a gallop as they left the castle gate. It was time to go rescue a princess.
    Philip was not at all happy about this. In his not so humble opinion, rescuing princesses was not at all what it was cracked up to be. He didn’t even like princesses. Far too prissy and needy, the lot of them. They were always getting kidnapped by dragons, and instead of doing something useful – like maybe escaping – they sat around bemoaning the hand fate dealt them and waiting for a prince to do all the hard work. Philip just didn’t see the appeal.
    It was no wonder there was a princess shortage these days; half of them got eaten by dragons who got bored waiting. Philip had even heard of an insomniac princess once – couldn’t sleep because there was a pea under her mattress or something. Sounded like a horrible person to be stuck with. But princess-searching he was to go on.
    Philip pulled his horse up short as he reached the edge of the Mysterious Forest. It looked, well – let’s be obvious here. It looked rather mysterious . Light fog, strange noises, all that jazz. There was even a strange plodding noise, possibly a giant walking towards them inside the shadows and fog of the forest. No – wait. That was just Chester, chewing loudly. Let’s proceed.
    After a brief tug-of-war with the reigns, Philip got Chester away from his snack and to a slow trot into the forest. Only minutes had passed before he noticed something unusually mysterious. There seemed to be a woman lying in the middle of a clearing.
    “Here we go” Philip muttered under his breath.
    Philip dismounted and walked carefully over to the woman. She seemed to be awake and breathing, judging by the rise and fall of her chest. Philip noticed the many small footprints around her and the apple clenched in her hand, with only a single bite taken out of it.
    Philip sighed. He had heard about her.
    “Miss White?” he asked resignedly.
    The woman’s eyelashes fluttered, and then she cracked an eye open.
    “You’re not my true love, are you? Because if you are, you really should be kissing me by now.”
    “No. I’m definitely not.” Philip wasn’t positive if this was true, but he certainly hoped he was not her true love. She was quite beautiful, perhaps even the fairest of them all, but Snow White seemed like such a drama queen.
    Snow sniffed loudly, and snapped her eye shut.
    “Then I’ll keep sleeping here until he comes.”
    You do that , Philip thought to himself. He mounted his horse again, and rode off further into the forest. I’ve already met Snow, and so early in my journey too. Who knows what I’ll find next?

Chapter 2: The Visitor
    Philip did not have to wait long. He hadn’t even traveled for twenty minutes before he met his next mysterious figure.
    In front of Philip walked a small imp-like figure, not unlike something from the Dwarfian species. He was pacing in front of an old oak tree, muttering things that sounded suspiciously like “blood of a firstborn.” When he noticed Philip, he stood straighter and cackled.
    “A human, eh? Here to play a little game with me, young man? You may refer to me as ‘The