Loretta had spent the holidays with her school friend, Fanny. Fanny had no parents and lived on a farm with her Aunt Winnie and Uncle Hugh. They had a son, Tom, who had finished school and helped his father on the farm.
Loretta was the King’s daughter and she had grown up in the luxury of the palace, without having to do any work at all. When she came to the farm with Fanny, she saw that everyone on the farm worked very hard.
They woke up very early every morning and began to do their share of the work. There were the hens, ducks, goat, the pigs and several other animals to be fed, the cows to be milked, the horse had to be groomed. Uncle Hugh and Tom then went off to the fields and Fanny helped Aunt in the kitchen.
Loretta wanted to help too but had never done any work at all. She stood around watching for one or two days. Then she asked Fanny to give her some work too. Fanny took her along to collect eggs. It turned out to be great fun. The hens squawked and flapped while the girls took the eggs without breaking them.
Feeding the animals was an adventure because they would come and jostle the girls for their food. Loretta had never been so close to an animal.
“Riding a horse is different!” she told Fanny, “The horse is held by a groom and, after riding, it is taken back to the stable. I have no idea as to what it eats and how it is groomed and taken care of.”
At the farm, she enjoyed playing with the animals and learning to wash or groom them. Each one had a name and each one was a character! By the time the holidays were over, Loretta felt she knew each one of them even better than she knew all the attendants in the palace!
Jessie, the lovely rust-coloured spaniel in the farmhouse, had a litter and Loretta had loved to watch the little puppies tumble around as they played. They were now three weeks old and ran around getting into all kinds of trouble.
Loretta was going to spend two weeks at the palace before returning to school. She had invited Fanny to come with her. They were packing their stuff as they were to leave in an hour’s time, when Tom came with a basket in his right hand.
“For you,” he said, grinning shyly. He held out the basket to Loretta. Inside was a silky russet coloured puppy! Loretta was so thrilled that she gave Tom a hug and ran to thank Uncle and Aunt too.
“May I come again, please?” she begged.
“Of course, my dear!” said Aunt Winnie and Uncle Hugh nodded.
It was the best holiday Loretta had ever had and as she knew she could return, she didn’t feel so bad either.
Princess Loretta and her friend Fanny and the puppy, now named Toby, waved goodbye as the car drove them to the palace.
