Hans Christian Andersen

" THE MAGIC OF THE UMBRELLA"

Once upon a time there lived a sweet and precious girl, named Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had a very hard time finding happiness. She longed for friends to play with. She often looked forward to days when it would rain. Today was such a day.

Elizabeth watched as the skies began to grow dark the puffy, angry looking clouds were moving directly over her little house with the green shutters. She was sure of the rain coming when she heard the distant thunder.

It was happening once again. Her heart pounded with excitement, as she anticipated getting ready for the adventure she would have in just a few short moments.

She called out to her mother, who sat in silence in the front room of their tiny home. " Mama, may I get the umbrella? " Elizabeth begged anxiously. " Yes, but make sure you get your raincoat, " Mama cautioned, " a cold would not be a welcome guest. "

Elizabeth did as Mama said. The rain began to patter on the back door and Elizabeth raised her large umbrella. The bright colored flower pattern of the umbrella seemed as if it were a garden filled with beautiful plants, ready for the watering of the rain outside.

Elizabeth quickly opened the door, to the small back porch of her little house, and stepped out, holding the umbrella carefully over her head, so as not to get a single drop on her long, sandy blond hair.

Here she was, just as in days before, entering the world of moments of happiness and the ability to imagine that all was at peace and full of joy and surprises for young Elizabeth's childhood. For inside her home was a mother, who through no fault of her own, was haunted by terrors of voices that kept her miserably ailing in her mental spirit.

As Elizabeth quietly stood, hearing the soft drops of the rain, tapping the bright colored flower patterns of the umbrella above her, she thought of three special friends, that came to visit her there.

The first of these special friends was " Bob the Robin, " as she called him. Bob would perch near her under a ledge nearby. She would imagine that he was a prince from a far off land that had come to find her, his lost princess.

Elizabeth's second friend, " Molly the Squirrel, " would peek out of the hole in the tree trunk just across the yard, near the back gate. Elizabeth planned that Molly would be her seamstress and would make a beautiful dress for her to marry the prince in a royal wedding.

And then finally, there was, " Oscar the Rabbit, " who would hop in and out of the rain puddles, very unsure of where he might land next. He was to perform the royal wedding ceremony, but who was to know when he would jump in or out for the occasion?

Elizabeth loved her three special friends and many others who greeted her under her shelter. In this safe place, on a cloudy day, was a time of special moments, away from a troubled childhood. Elizabeth's time there was short, but it was a time for her to dream and a time for her to always find the " magic of the umbrella".

Hans Christian Andersen

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