Seligor's Castle, fun for all the children of the world. Elfin Magic
Seligor's Castle Presents.
The Elf Singing
An Elf sat on a twig, he was not very big,
He sang a little song, he did not think it wrong;
But he was on a Wizard's ground, who hated all sweet sound.
Elf, Elf,
Take care of yourself,
He's coming behind you,
To seize and to bind you and stifle your song.
The Wizard! the Wizard!
He changes his shape
In crawling along.
An ugly old ape, a poisonous lizard,
a spotted spider, a wormy glider,
The Wizard! the Wizard!
He's up on the bough;
He'll bite through your gizzard.
He's close to you now!
The Elf went on with his song,
It grew more clear and strong,
It lifted him into the air,
He floated singing away,
With rainbows in his hair;
While the Wizard-worm from his creep
Made a sudden leap,
Fell down into a hole,
And, ere his magic word he could say,
Was eaten by a Mole
From the pen of the Wonderful William Allingham. xxx
SELIGOR'S CASTLE
dottido@hotmail.co.uk
But First....... Created on December 18th, 2010 using FlipShare. This is my first attempt at making a video of any sort and It is sort of not bad. There are so many birds and squirrels. Most can be identified if viewed on full screen, including bull finches and the greater spotted woodpecker who gets chased from the fat balls by a squirrel and goes to the peanuts further along. This garden in outside my bedroom window, and all through the year it is full of creatures including foxes, frogs, newts, weasels, owls, buzzards, pheasants etc. I think the count was 48 different species of birds at the last count. ( 50 now on JULY 2012 )
THE LITTLE ELF
I met a little Elf-man once,
Down where the lilies blow.
I asked him why he was so small,
And why he didn't grow.
He slightly frowned, and with his eye
He looked me through and through.
"I'm quite as big for me," said he,
"As you are big for you."
From the pen of John Kendrick Bangs
THE PEACOCK Our peacock loves the country, But every night, I'm told, He journeys to the City To flash his tail of gold.
he spreads there after twilight His fan of greens and blues, And sets the streets a-shimmer with iridescent hues.
In Strand, in Piccadilly, His golden eyes are seen, In Foorest Hill, in Hampstead, And all the miles between.
But always after cock-crow The country calls him hence, And daybreak finds him roosting Upon our garden fence.
Words by Elizabeth Fleming
SELIGOR'S CASTLE
This is a story of a young Elfin Princess who was very lonely. Would she ever meet a young Prince and get married? Why not read on and find out.
ELVES AND ICICLES
In the land of Gily-keha not many miles away, there lived an Elfin Woodland Princess.
Her name was Misti and her home was the Silvan Palace; high in the
Silver mountains where she lived with her parents King Silvan and Queen
Sereni.The Princess was a happy young elf but also a very lonely one for
she didn’t have any brothers or sisters to play with. It
wasn’t so bad when she was young for she would spend hours playing with
all the creatures that lived in and around the palace, but as she had
grown older she found herself wishing for a friend; someone to share
her secrets with and just have fun with I guess.What made it worse was
this winter had been long and cold, it felt like it would never end,
already the snow had been falling for more weeks than normal. Misti sighed, "When
would the cold blanket lift and make way for the spring flowers, in a
few months I'll be thirteen, what then?" she reached down and stroked
her pet cat Petals "I should be getting engaged soon, where on earth are Mummy and Daddy going to find me a husband, Petals?" The cat purred softly under her warm hand and began to wash her face. "He would have to be a prince; and of course come from a good Elfin family and where was he to come from?
Misti didn't really know any other elfin families in the mountains. She did meet the village elves when the summer was upon them and she had been going to school, but none of these were princes.
"Maybe
I shall never marry Petals, you and I will just have each other
forever" Misti smiled at the cat and kissed it's little pink nose.
Yes it was beginning to look like she was doomed to live alone forever.
Misti walked over to the bedroom window and sat down on the ledge, she was immediately aware that there was
something different in the woods. Was she imagining it or were there
huge icicles hanging from the branches of some of the trees, they were
glistening in the pale sunlight that had just appeared from behind
the clouds. She jumped off
the ledge without another thought, ran out of the room, down the
bannisters and in a flash she was all ready to go out into the snow. She
grabbed her mitts and scarf off the hat stand and was out the
front door, through the gates and running down towards the woods.
Misti stood for a while gazing at the huge icicles hanging from the branches, how could she have missed seeing them before. "They definitely weren't here yesterday, that's for certain." Misti mumbled. Two little rabbits ran over to where she stood expecting some tit bits of food, "oh
dear I'm so sorry little ones I didn't stop to get you anything to eat,
I'll bring something down for you later but right now I must have a
closer look at these strange icicles."
As
Misti got closer she noticed that some of the bigger icicles had
started to melt in the warmth of the suns rays, little pools of
silvery water were collecting on the frozen ground. She
picked up a fallen branch off the tree and gentle tapped out a tune on
the frozen shards, but instead of a tinkling noise all that sounded was
a hollow clunk like an old can. She
threw the stick down and walked over to what seemed to be the biggest
of the icicles, underneath it the pool was becoming rather big and
somehow it looked very deep. She took
her mitts off and stooping down so she could get a better look she
began to run her fingers through the ice cold water, her fingers felt
to touch the ice below but there was nothing, just what looked like a
cold, unending darkness. Misti
stared at her reflection in the water, but as she looked the image
began too change and instead of herself there in the water, looking
right back at her was the face of a young Elfin boy.
"This is not possible!" Misti exclaimed, blinking her eyes before looking back into the pool. "Ok, it is possible, but what on Silvan are you doing in there.?" The Elf was maybe a bit older than Misti but he had the same golden hair and blue eyes, he didn't look too unlike Misti. Without giving it another thought Misti took off her cape and knelt down on the snow besides the pool. What happened next really did scare her. The elf in the pool opened his mouth and began talk to her. "Hello my name is Gely I'm so glad you dropped by, I was beginning to get rather lonely in here, not to say fed up!” Misti
didn't say a word , she just knelt there looking at the young elf, she
even turned, then looked over her shoulder to see if he was behind her,
but of course he wasn’t. Staring
back into the water again Misti half smiled. "Right, ok this may seem
like a very daft question, and I do not go around talking to elves
locked in pools every day, but what are you doing in there, you must be
freezing? "I’m not quite sure why I'm in here and I
usually wear my trunks when I go swimming and what's really strange is
no, I am not freezing, not yet anyway.” Gely smiled at her again, "one
minute I was walking through the woods and the next it was all dark
and I seemed to be paralised. I remember watching
the rabbits playing amongst the trees, everything was green and
beautiful then I noticed the big birds down by the pond and as I walked
over to them, everywhere turned to winter again. I
was so surprised that I didn't see the leader of the birds walking up behind me. I felt a sudden pain in my side, turned round and he was
stood there staring at me. Then
everywhere went dark." That's all I remember really." Gely guestured
and Misti then realised that not only was the reflection of his face in
the water but his whole body. Gely smiled, "I
had hoped by now that I would have reached the Silver Palace, the home
of my Aunt Serini, and be out in the gardens I've heard so much about from my mother." He shrugged
his shoulders. "It is nice to hear so much about your family but can
you not reach the bottom and push yourself up a bit so I can pull you
out? Misti's stared into the pool. It looked so very deep and yet it couldn't be because Misti knew there were no deep holes around here. Misti
wasn't sure what to do or say. Gely made it easier by speaking
himself. "I dont seem to be able to actually touch anything and I don't
even know how long I've been in here. By
the way my name is Gely, sorry I can't shake your hand." he grinned and
Misti lost her frown for a second. "What day is it today?" Misti answered."It's Saturday and it's the seventh of March." "You what,
the seventh of March, you must be joking, it was only the second February when I
left home. I should of been here in five days, goodness surely I
haven't been stuck in here for almost a month? Gely
stared past Misti at the icicles that hung all around. "I really don’t
remember all these or anything else until I saw you looking down at me
from up there." Misti
scratched her forhead and sighed. "Well, you are trapped there all
right, and it would seem for at least a month, are you sure you didn't
meet anyone else?” she scratched her forehead again. “I mean you must have upset someone or something you don't end up trapped inside an icicle for no reason now do you? Misti
laughed and splashed the water with her hand, as she did so the sun
went behind a small cloud the image of Gely began to fade. "Oh my goodness," shouted
Misti, "what is happening to you? Oh don't go, please don't go, there
is so much I want to ask you?" She stood up then knelt down again. "Where
have you come from, what do you want with my mother or father and how
do we get you out of there, oh please, please don’t leave me Gely, I
don't know what I'm supposed to do." But it was to late, the image had vanished and the pool was starting to freeze over again and he was gone. Misti
began to cry, her warm teardrops falling onto the wet ice melted small
spots and in one she could just see the corner of Gely's mouth, he was
still smiling. And then he was gone once more. Misti stood for a while wondering if he would come back, but the sky had gone dark once more and it was starting to snow again. She
jumped up, grabbing her cape and gloves and began to run back to the
palace, she must get help and very soon before Gel vanished forever
under the ice. Misti
started to run back to the palace, here she was running to get help to
rescue a cousin, for he must be her cousin if her mum was his aunt. So
how come she didn't know about him? Why had he been kept a secret. An aunt and an uncle that she had never heard of before? She
was hurting inside, her heart pounding. Would she be able to get to her
mother and father, even more desperately would they be able to get back
to Gel in time? Only time would tell.
With the Snow, comes Death;
She
ran inside the gates and began to make it towards the front door when
she caught site of her parents outside by the winter conservertory
in the snow garden. They too were just sitting there looking very worried indeed. She ran up the steps and joined them on the wall, quite out of breath. Her
father was holding something in his hand. "Mum, Dad I have something to
tell you that can't wait a moment." Misti said grabbing hold of her
father's arm. "Careful child," He said gently, "Look!" He
held out his hand towards her. There in the palm of her father's hand
sat a snow Sprite, usually by this time of the year the snow had gone
and the young sprites were safely back in there caves in the Silvan mountain hibernating and getting their strenth back for the next winter. Her white gown would have changed to gold as she and her sisters took out the winter and bought in the Spring. They would be replaced with the Spring Sprites, who would arrive and usher the spring in. King Silvan placed the tiny sprite on a little cushion made from the velvet off the antlers of the forest deer. He sighed
deeply “Its no good, they just don’t seem to have any strength left,
they are growing weaker as each mornings wakes, if only we knew what it
was that was making them so unable to leave, where is all this snow
coming from?" Misti stood by her mother's side as the king gently covered the creature with a piece of warm fur. “Daddy are
they dying because the snow is still here and it's March?” she said
impatiently. “Yes, my dear I do believe they are, for some reason they
have lost the will to live. “Then
will you listen to me please, I think we know the reason why." Misti
could take no more she burst into tears and blurted out all of what had
happen in the woods." Misti sniffed. "Daddy, Mummy I need you to come with me, now, quick if we dont go now he will die, I know he will. The princess followed by her mum and dad went down the steps. "But what I don't understand is how come I have got an Aunt and cousin that I didn't even know about? Queen Sereni sat down in the library, her eyes growing wider and wider as Misti related more of her story. "But
we must hurry Mummy, he's been trapped there for at least a month, and
he is your nephew so come on." Impatiently Misti jumped to her feet. Queen Sereni reached for her heavy boots and began to put them on. "You are certain of all this Misti?" the Queen whispered. “If
he is your Aunt Gildan’s son, he, all of us are in terrible danger.But
she would never have sent him here, not in the winter time." She
looked at the king, "Is it at all possible that she
could have forgotten the curse, Silvan? Surely not, she answered
herself. King Silvan sat down on his chair; his face was ashen and his
hands began to shake. "Now I
don't understand any of this and it is all very intriguing but we
really do have to get over there and help him, curses you'll be talking
about wizards and witches next, but I'll start with do I or don't
I have a cousin called Gely? And could we talk about it on the way to
the woods.” Misti just couldn’t help it, she began to cry
again, everything seemed to be going to slow. Soon it would be dark and then there would be nothing they could do. She felt her mothers arms encircle her waist. “Come,
come little one, don’t cry, wipe away your tears and let's go and get
your cousin out of the ice. I will tell you all there is to know as we
get some warmer clothes on, it has turned very cold again and it's no
good us going over there and freezing to death before we've found him
again."
The
three of them got up and put there warm coats and hats on, they left
the palace and walked quickly out of the gates and towards the woods. "Right
were to start, at the beginning I think. It happened many years ago
when my sister, your Aunt Gildan and I were very young. It
was time for myself and your father to be married and the palace was
becoming very crowded with guests from all over the realms. One of them
a young wizard called Pocca, to this day no one is certain where he
came from but there he was on the Silver Mountain in the palace. Within
days he had he met and fallen in love with Gildan, but she was already
in love with Godron, the crowned prince of the Golden Mountains. Your
aunt did explain to pocca that she was in love with Godron but he
wouldnt listen to her, and so on the night of my wedding to your mum,
Gildan and Godron left for the Golden Mountains.” The King started
to walk quicker , as the snow began to fall heavier. "Sereni, I will
have to go faster dear, this snow is going to cover any trace of the
pool." He began to run towards the woods. Queen Sereni continued to tell Misti the story. "Well
when Pocca found out that Gildan had gone, he flew into a furious rage,
and it was while he was in this rage that he placed a curse on
the Silver Mountains, that should Gildan or any of her family ever
cross over into our border," Queen Sereni stopped to remove some snow off her face, she bent down and kissed Misti on her forhead. "Go on mummy what “Well
this is the strange thing, darling, three weeks after Pocca left to go
back to the mountains, there was a huge avalanche and everyone thought
he had died and his curse had died with him. Yet saying that no one has
been brave enough to venture over the border in the winter time.” She
shook her head. “Obviously we were wrong, we decided never to let
either you or Gely meet till after his thirteeenth birthday.”
Misti just stood there open mouthed, "and it is my birthday in a couple
of weeks and mummy, mummy Gely said when he came into the woods it was
spring and had been for over a month. Could that be when the curse
came about, and if it is then we really must hurry
for winter will stay
forever, Oh Mummy if that happens then we will surely be doomed for we
will all freeze to death, we must try and talk to Gely, find out what
happened in the woods, oh come on mum we must tell dad, we have to
find a way to make spring come and fast, the longer happened to this
wizard, is he still on the mountain?” Misti asked. the curse is on us,
the harder it will be to break it.”
Peacocks and Sprites
The
icicles were still hanging there like glass stalactites frozen solid to
the branches again by the cold air. Furls of ice had built up around
the trees and looked like waves of ice, very beautiful but also
frightening. Misti pointed to the icicle that held the Gely prisoner
and King Silvan wrapped the hot fur around it. Immediatly it began
to thaw, a pool began to form on the ground and it wasn't long before
Prince Gely's image appeared before them.
Misti put her old cape onto the snow and knelt on it staring into the pool as it grew bigger. “Just a little more Daddy and I’ll be able to see all of him." Everyone
held their breath, as the image of the Prince grew stronger. “Whatever
you say Misti, say it fast, we can’t take the chance of the icicle
melting to much in case the prince melts away with it.” King Silvan said quietly as though they were trying to keep his image a secret. Queen
Sereni sat down by her daughter’s side. "Hello Aunt Sereni, my goodness
you look as pretty as your picture.” Prince Gely winked at his
aunt. The queen sat there in utter amazement. Misti put her finger
to her lips. “Gel listen, I want you to think very hard as to what you
were doing in the last few minutes before you were caught in the icicle.
It is very important, we don’t know how much time we have left before
we could all be destroyed. So don't say anything unless it's to
answer a question, please Gel?" A tear fell from Misti's eye and
splashed into the pool. For a moment the image vanished, Misti let out a
short scream. “Oh
don’t go, not again,” she shouted but it was all right; as the ripples
ceased Gely was still there, smiling back at her. “I wont even try to
guess what is going on but I do realise that the sooner we find out what
happened to me the better, so here goes.” Gely closed his eyes. “Right
I had been walking through the woods for about thirty minutes, it was a
beautiful spring day, several white rabbits dashed across my path and I
watched as they ran into their burrows. They seemed a little frightened.
It was then I saw the Peacocks, the white one seemed a lot stronger
than the others. He started pushing the other birds out of the way so
that he could get to me, he was really beautiful with a beautiful white
plume on his head whereas all the others had purple ones." “Are you sure
it was a peacock? I wonder if it could have been Pocca in
disguise, remember he is a wizard. Maybe he wasn’t killed in the avalanche? What if he managed to escape and has been living in our woods all this time in the form of a peacock?” The
Queen put her hands to her mouth to smother a cry. “That means he is
probably still here, right now watching us, oh Silvan what are we going
to do?” “What happened next Gely?” King Silvan asked , all the time he was watching the icicle. "I
was watching the peacocks in front of me I forgot to watch my back, and
as I told Misti, he came up behind me. I felt a sharp pain in my side
and then blackness. I woke up today and there was your beautiful daughter smiling down at me.” he smiled at Misti. Silvan took
his cloak off the icicle and put it round his shoulders. “I have to
leave you for a while, there.” he said putting the cloak around his own
shoulders. “You two stay here with the Prince, try not to let the
water freeze over, I must find this white peacock as soon as possible, I
feel he is around here somewhere.” The King turned and walked towards
the woods, there was a sharp cry and he stood there looking at the
big Oak tree. There, underneath its snow-laden branches was the White Peacock himself. “I suppose you’re feeling very proud of yourself Pocca.” He shouted at the Wizard. The peacock walked slowly towards the King, he looked so grand, yet so very, very evil. “It's
obvious you didn’t die in the avalanche after all then Pocca?" Silvan
said glancing over to where his wife and daughter sat on the ground. Pocca followed
his eyes. “ Oh look who we have here, I see you’ve brought the
family out with you, I would have left my wife and child at home in
these dangerous times." He said moving closer to the where Silvan was
standing. "I really do think they would have been safer in the Palace."
The Wizard said with a sneer in his voice, "I have been waiting for
this moment for many years, and I am not letting it pass..
“Don’t you talk to my father like that?" yelled Misti. “ Why didn’t you
die in the avalanche, just go away and leave us alone and set my cousin
free right away you bully." “Well, well, well little one, you seem
to have the same fiery spirit your Aunt Gildan had when she was your
age.” He started to walked towards Misti, “maybe I should put out your
fire and let you join your cousin in the ice pool?” “Don't you come
another step closer Poccca, you know quite well why Gildan couldn't
marry you, she didn't love you, she was in love with Godron. Just
stay away from my daughter and my family.” The Queen shouted, moving
between the Pocca and Misti. “Don’t you dare come a step closer or I'll
wring your neck yself?” “Do
you mean like this?” Pocca said with a laugh, and in a flash, he had
disappeared only to re-appeared standing besides Misti and the pool. “
Get away from them?” Sereni shouted again. “Why have you come here,
what do you want from us?” she looked towards her husband who seemed
powerless to do anything it was as if he had been frozen to the
spot.....
Nobody had been watching the sky above the palace, quite suddenly the
sky began to get dark as hundreds of the little Snow Sprites had left
the snow garden and were flying directly towards the Wizard. They
hovered just above where he was standing, then the Elder sister of the
Sprites waved her hand, this was the signal they were waiting for. The
Sprites began to wail, it was the most fearful noise that Misti had
ever heard. She put her hands over her ears trying to keep out the
dreadful sound. The sister sprites seemed to fall to the ground like a
giant white cape, but as they did so, they swooped on to one of the
melting icicles.
It
broke with a loud crack, and then with an almighty lunge and the last
of their strength, they hurled the icicle like a dart towards the
gloating Wizard. They moved with such a speed that he didn’t have a
chance to move out of the way, with a sickening thud, the icicle buried
itself deep into the peacocks chest.
As
he fell towards the ground he began to change, instead of the beautiful
white peacock there stood a wizened old elf. He looked up at the
sprites with horror in his eyes then fell forward onto the melting snow
and ice and lay quite still.
They
stood there watching as the Wizard melted into the snow, nobody moved
or said a word, then everything seemed to happen at once. The icicles
began to melt rapidly. The snow was turning into water, which was turning into small streams that began to flow through the woods even the leaves began to open on the trees. Faint rays of sunshine began to spread from the east. “Oh
my goodness.” screamed Sereni. “The Spring is coming all at once, we
must get the snow sprite’s back to the Snow Garden quickly or they will
melt away and die! Oh hurry, hurry.”
The Elder
Sprite smiled at Queen Sereni, she waved her hand again, and once
again the wail began, only this time it sounded joyful not mournful. The white
cape of snow sprites lifted again and they were flying as fast as they
could back to the safety of the Snow Garden. Misti watched as the
sprites flew over the glass fence and into the garden. “I think they
are safe now Mummy,” she said smiling. “will they be alright now
Daddy?” Her father nodded his head, she sat down heavily on the ground
by Gely's pool, her face went completely white. She then screamed
and began to sob loudly.“He’s gone Mummy, he’s not here any more.” She
looked up into her mothers face, they both stared down into the pool,
there was no sign of Gely anywhere. The icicles had melted, only pools of water lay everywhere. “Where
is he, where is he," she cried, "I don’t even remember which one he was
in.” She bent down over the pool she thought Gely had been trapped in,
it was empty. She had only known him for a short time; she had never
touched him or felt the warmth of his hands in hers. The Princess
lay there sobbing her heart felt as if it were breaking in two, her
tears fell into the pool, which formed little ripples on the surface. She was crying so much she didn’t see the image of Gely start to form in the water. As each teardrop fell a little more of Gely appeared above the water, till he was there, standing before her, very wet but very alive and smiling. He reached out and touched her hand. “Don’t cry, Misti” he whispered, “please don’t cry.” Misti looked up into the sparkling blue
eyes of Gely. “Your here," she sighed, "I haven’t lost you afterall." He
looked so wonderful standing there, his hands holding hers and she knew
in her heart that this would be the Elfin Prince that one day she would
marry.
Slowly hand in hand they turned away from the wood and made their way back to the palace. The
birds of spring were singing in the trees keeping in tune with the
singing of Misti's heart for she knew that they would live happily ever
after.
And if you've enjoyed this story please leave feedback , xxxx's and hug's.
I WROTE IT IN 1998 FOR MY DAUGHTER KAYLEIGH'S 13TH BIRTHDAY
SHE IS 26 NOW AND ABLE TO READ IT TO HER THREE CHILDREN
If you have any ideas for a story like this one, do leave a message for me at dottido@hotmail.co.uk This work is about Jack Frost, were given me by a young gentleman, by the name of George E Dolan, age 9.
Firstly here is a Haiku of 17 Syllables.
Lord of the Winter He sits on his Silver Throne Gone in the Morning.
Barbie and her friends are here to entertain you. Don't forget to were your Barbie gown.
A little poem to read now you have met Misti and Gely, just a little
reminder, that when the Winter does arrive, we must all take care to look after the wild life during this harshness of this Season.
When Jack first hangs his icicles upon the leafless trees, and out of mischief causes all the water pipes to freeze.
When old Dame Carey plucks her chicks up in the clouds, and lo! The feathers flying down to earth, are changed to flakes of snow;
When everybody's nose and ears are of a scarlet hue, Robin in Winter and everybody's toes are cold and fingertips are blue.
When everybody gathers round the ever welcome fire, and everyone want's to stay inside, for that is their desire.
When fields and hedges in the sun are glittering with frost In fact, to put your finger on it, the winters come at last.
For inside all is snug and warm, but outside all is cold, and starving birds and creatures small become a little bold.
Please don't forget to scatter crumbs, and peanuts, fruit and bread For all will need a little help, to keep colds from their head.
The Horse That Wore Snow Shoes
Mr. Brown had to go to his camp at Pine Tree Valley, which is in the midst of the mountains in California.
His men were cutting down the giant trees, and piling them in readiness for the Spring freshet, or floods of the river, when the snows melted. Then they would slide them down the mountain sides to the little villages below.
There was a great deal of snow on the mountains, and Mr. Brown knew it would be hard work climbing to the camp, but Lady Gray was strong, and used to it.
Lady Gray was Mr. Brown's pet horse, and carried him everywhere.
She was always happy when her master was in the saddle.
But to-day the snow was very deep and soon Mr. Brown had to get off, throw away the saddle, and lead her. They had to stop very often, and lean against the trees and rocks for support, while they rested and regained their breath.
In places the snow was so deep and soft, that they sank above
their knees. Late in the afternoon they reached the camp nearly exhausted, and it was several days before they were able to return.
The snow was still deep and Mr. Brown knew he must go back on snow-shoes, but he was afraid Lady Gray would have to be left behind.
Finally one of the men suggested making her some snow-shoes.
They cut four round pieces of board, twelve inches across, and fastened them on with rope. Lady Gray seemed to understand what they were for and tried very hard to walk in them.
strong>
She was very awkward at first and could hardly stand up, but by practicing a little every day she was soon able to manage nicely.
So Mr. Brown and Lady Gray both returned on snow-shoes,and how every one did laugh when they saw them.But Lady Gray never could have done it if she HAD NOT TRIED.