A Little Princess

[original and reconstructed titles]

1
Bombay -- the city of 
temples where dreams
are magically woven into
the fabric of real life.

2
Captain Richard Crewe

    Norman Kerry

3
  "My daddy - I don't want
to go away from here."

4
So they travelled across
the jeweled seas - from India's
flaming skies of cobalt
and crimson to the grey
masked streets of London.

5
Miss Minchin's school 
  for select young
      ladies.

6
Sophronia Minchin 
    and her 
 Sister Amelia

7
  "It's the rich girl Miss
Minchin says is provided
for like 'a Little Princess'."

8
  "Such a happy little crea-
ture will be a treasure in
our establishment."

9
  "I don't like it here, but I
dare say soldiers - even
brave ones - don't really
like going into battle!"

10
  "Are you learning me by 
heart, little Sara?"

11
  "I know you by heart, my
daddy. You are inside my 
heart."

12
  "I have just told Emily  
this is only a 'make-believe' 
prison - and if we study 
hard we will soon be 
allowed to escape from it."

13
  "Undoubtedly our food
isn't good enough for 'a 
little Princess'!"

14
But time is a healing 
balm to the heart.
Scars of little children.

15
  "My dear friend - the
reason why I have 
invested so heavily in
your diamond mine is
for Sara's future."

16
  "I begs your pardon,
Miss - - - but you
dropped somethin'."

17
 The drudge of the 
school is the slavey
Becky-of-All-Work.

    Zasu Pitts

18
  "I haven't any c-cake ...
and I haven't any m - m -
mother."

19
  "I haven't any mother
either - but I believe they
are watching over us
all the time, even if we
cannot see them."

20
  "T'warn't me touched a
crumb, 'onest, Miss."

21
  "I'm only a little girl like
you, Becky, and it's just an
accident that I'm not you
and you're not me."

22
  "All my life I've dreamed
of ownin' beads, Miss."

23
  "That's why you got them, 
Becky. It's because you
'dreamed true' - and true
dreams are always answered."

24
  "Them's funny words, them 
is - 'dream true' - says she."

25
At midnight there comes a
twinkling of tiptoes into
the palace of the Little
Princess to hear her
wonderous fairy stories.

26
  "If you close your eyes
you can see fairy stories so
much better in the dark!"

27
  "Once upon a time a
beautiful slave girl named
Morgiana fell in love with 
her master's poor brother,
Ali Baba -"

28
  "Go, brother! Thou art
too poor to buy my slave 
girl, Morgiana."

29
"Open, Sesame!"

30
"Close, Sesame!"

31
"Open, Sesame!"

32
  "Here comes thy honorable 
wife - Mrs. Cassin!"

33
  "Ali Baba borrows a
measuring cup to weigh 
the jewels taken from
the cave of the Forty 
Thieves."

34
  "A few drops of honey
- and what he measures
will stick to the bottom
of the flagon!"

35
  "Go thou! Follow him!
He has discovered a
world of riches!"

36
"Cassin, following Ali Baba
to the cave, overheard the 
magic pass-words - 'Open, 
Sesame!' and 'Close, Sesame'!"

37
"Open - Hay!"

38
"Open - Barley!"

39
  "Ah-ha! I smell a 
stranger!"

40
"Out - Ostrich!"

41
  "As he is a married
man, he is undoubtedly
a gossip! And our secret
is betrayed to Mrs. Cassin!"

42
  "The morning after the
new moon we enter the
house of Cassin and 
provide mourning biers
for - ALL HIS RELATIONS!"

43
  "My 'ead bumps into the
slats, Miss - w'en you speaks
of murderin' the whole
fambly!"

44
  "By the morning after 
the new moon Ali Baba
has gone to live with 
Cassin's widow - while
he courts Morgiana."

45
  "I am an oil merchant
travelling to Bagdad. Weary,
I beg your hospitality for 
the night."

46
  "One moment more -
and the Captain of the 
Forty Thieves would have 
stabbed you!"

47
  "Our slaves have poured 
boiling oil into the jars
where the Thieves were 
hidden."

48
  "I will give you your
freedom - and then -"

49
"- wot then -- Miss?"

50
  "You shall not be punished, 
Sara. It is a promise I made
to your father."

51
The first crimson and
gold of Autumn marks a
birthday at Miss Minchin's
         school.

   Sara Crewe is ten.

52
  "I am Mr. Barrows -- Capt.
Crewe's solicitor."

53
  "I have come to speak 
to you about the affairs
of the late Capt. Crewe."

54
  "The late Capt. Crewe! You
don't mean to tell me that
Capt. Crewe is - - - !"

55
  "This letter says that Capt.
Crewe put his entire fortune
into a diamond mine con-
trolled by a friend. When
this friend betrayed him,
the shock - was fatal!"

56
  "Do you mean to tell me
that Sara has nothing! That
she is left on my hands a
little pauper, instead of an
heiress?"

57
  "It is monstrous! At this
very moment, dressed in
silk gauze and lace petti-
coats, she is giving a party
- - at my expense!"

58
  "Has Sara Crewe a black 
frock in her sumptuous
wardrobe - a black one?"

59
  "I know what you have 
for me! - - a letter from
my Daddy!"

60
  "Your Father -- is
dead!"

61
  "Dear God - why did
you take my Daddy
away from me?"

62
  Dusk - afterglow
    - and night.
Eternal night in the
     heart of 
    Sara Crewe

63
  "Instead of turning you 
into the streets as I should
do - you will be kept here
to work like - - like Becky."

64
  "Don't you intend to thank 
me for my kindness in giving 
you a home?"

65
  "You are not kind -
and this is not a home."

66
  "Becky! Do you hear! My
papa is dead - - he is dead
in India - thousands of miles
away!"

67
  "Papa! Papa dear -
I - want - you!

68
To Sara the terrible
months that passed were
as Januarys -- bleak
and without hope.

69
  "It's so long since we have 
eaten well - - I guess we're
full of hollows."

70
To the house adjoining
Miss Minchin's school
comes John Garrisford.

71
  "Just try to remember that
after all, Becky, we are both
Princesses - inside!"

72
  "The thought ain't very 
fillin', Miss."

73
  "Never open a door too 
quickly, Becky. We might
surprise the dolls at play."

74
  "Why, don't you know,
Becky - when we're not
around the dolls all come
to life?"

75
  "Why don't they move 
when we're lookin', Miss?"

76
  "Because - they're
afraid if we caught them
we might put them to 
work."

77
  "Pardon me, Miss, but
was you ever dropped 
on your 'ead w'en you 
was little?"

78
With the Christmas
 holidays merrily
close, come echoes
  of the joyous
  preparations.

79
  "And how do you 
enjoy rags, Your Royal
Highness?"

80
  "If I could just slap 
you once - but only 
gutter children fight."

81
  "Ram Dass - ask your
pardon, Missee Sahib, but
the Evil One - he escape 
me!"

82
  "Thinking so many stories, 
Becky, is making me see
fearfully queer things!"

83
  "You ain't gettin' balmy, 
Miss?"

84
  "Many days have I 
watched her from my 
window. A friend of 
all little things - and
she is cold - hungry."

85
A week before
the shadow of old
Santa speeds across
the house tops.

86
  "I can see a big, fat,
steaming turkey bulging
with dressing and oozing
with gravy."

87
  "I can smell a Christmas
pudding bursting with raisins
an' spices an' citron."

88
  "I can hear the mealy 
chestnuts a'poppin' in the
fireplace."

89
  "Please don't go on, 
Miss, your words is too 
weakenin'."

90
  "Come and watch from my 
attic window, Sahib. Indian
believe that only great hap-
piness can come through 
the happiness of others."

91
  "Becky! I've got 'em 
again!"

92
  "Tell me the truth,
Becky, do you see 
what I see?"

93
  "I not only sees but
I smells it, says I."

94
"Eat - Becky - EAT!"

95
  "Please, musahib - tell
her I am not a thief!"

96
  "Who are you, and where 
did you come from?"

97
  "And I - I am Capt. 
Crewe's best friend!"

98
  "After Capt. Crewe's death,
all his papers were destroyed.
For two years we have 
searched for his daughter."

99
  "Capt. Crewe died of a 
broken heart, believing that 
I, his best friend, had lured
him into an enterprise which
stripped him of his entire 
fortune - -"

100
  "Stricken with fever in 
the desert, I returned to 
Bombay - but I arrived 
there too late."

101
  "The diamond mines are 
fabulously rich - - and Sara 
Crewe is heiress to a million 
pounds!"

102
"So friends in parting, just
    a word:
Keep faith and aye 'dream 
    true':
Your prayers will never go 
    unheard
You'll be - like Sara Crewe."


THE END


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