Little princess

Little Princess
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A LITTLE PRINCESS
Summary: Sara Crewe, a pupil at Miss Minchin's London school, is left in poverty when her father dies, but is
later rescued by a mysterious benefactor.
CONTENTS
1. Sara 2. A French Lesson 3. Ermengarde 4. Lottie 5. Becky 6. The Diamond Mines 7. The Diamond Mines
Again 8. In the Attic 9. Melchisedec 10. The Indian Gentleman 11.Ram Dass 12. The Other Side of the Wall
13. One of the Populace 14. What Melchisedec Heard and Saw 15. The Magic 16. The Visitor 17. "It Is the
Child" 18. "I Tried Not to Be" 19. Anne
A Little Princess
1
Sara
Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the
lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, anodd- looking little girl sat in
a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the big thoroughfares.
She sat with her feet tucked under her, and leaned against her father, who held her in his arm, as she stared out
of the window at the passing people with a queer old-fashioned thoughtfulness in her big eyes.
She was such a little girl that one did not expect to see such a look onher small face. It would have been an
old look for a child of twelve, and Sara Crewe was only seven. The fact was, however, that she was always
dreaming and thinking odd things and could not herself remember any time when she had not been thinking
things about grown-up people and the world they belonged to. She felt as if she had lived a long, long time.
At this moment she was remembering thevoyage she had just made from Bombay with her father, Captain
Crewe. She was thinking of the big ship, of the Lascars passing silently to and fro on it, of the children
playing about on the hot deck, and of some young officers' wives who used to try to make her talk to them and
laugh at the things she said.

Principally, she was thinking of what a queer thing it was that at one time one wasin India in the blazing sun,
and then in the middle of the ocean, and then driving in a strange vehicle through strange streets where the
day was as dark as the night. She found this so puzzling that she moved closer to her father.
"Papa," she said in a low, mysterious little voice which was almost a whisper, "papa."
"What is it, darling?" Captain Crewe answered, holding her closer and lookingdown into her face. "What is
Sara thinking of?"
"Is this the place?" Sara whispered, cuddling still closer to him. "Is it, papa?"
"Yes, little Sara, it is. We have reached it at last." And though she was only seven years old, she knew that he
felt sad when he said it.
It seemed to her many years since he had begun to prepare her mind for "the place," as she always called it.
Her mother haddied when she was born, so she had never known or missed her. Her young, handsome, rich,
petting father seemed to be the only relation she had in the world. They had always played together and been
fond of each other. She only knew he was rich because she had heard people say so when they thought she
was not listening, and she had also heard them say that when she grew up she would be rich,too. She did not
know all that being rich meant. She had always lived in a beautiful bungalow, and had been used to seeing
many servants who made salaams to her and called her "Missee Sahib," and gave her her own way in
everything. She had had toys and pets and an ayah who worshipped her, and she had gradually learned that
people who were rich had these things. That, however, was all she knewabout it.

During her short life only one thing had troubled her, and that thing was "the place" she was to be taken to
some day. The climate of India was very bad for children, and as soon as possible they were sent away from
it--generally to England and to school. She had seen other children go away, and had heard their fathers and
mothers talk about the letters they received from them. She...