Down in the kitchen they were hurrying with the
dinner, and in a moment nurse would come in to take the boy to bed.
But all this made him want to stay. He was very comfortable in his
mamma's lap, and he was in no haste to go upstairs to Maggie and the
nursery.
Then his mamma kissed him right on the tip of his little nose, and she
said:
"But you must go to bed sometime."
"Please, mamma dear," he said, pushing his curly head almost under her
arm, "just one little story."
[Illustration: A SCENE IN THE STORY THAT WOULDN'T BE TOLD.]
"Just one! You can choose it, but mind, a little one!"
"You know what one I want. Of course about the giant Tancankeroareous,
and how he stole the slipper of the princess for a snuff-box, and how
the Prince Limberlocks climbed up a cherry-tree into the giant's room.
That is the story _I_ like!"
"And it must be the 'amen story' to-night. Well: Once upon a time the
Princess Thistleblossom stood on one foot, while--"
"No, no," interrupted The Story, "you need not tell _me_! Tell some
other story.
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