A
LITTLE PRINCESS
BEING THE WHOLE STORY OF SARA CREWE
NOW TOLD FOR THE FIRST TIME
BY
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLORS BY
ETHEL FRANKLIN BETTS
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
NEW YORK . . . . . 1937
Copyright, 1888 and 1905, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
Copyright, 1916, by
FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form without
the permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons
THE WHOLE OF THE STORY
I do not know whether many people realize how muchmore than is ever written there really is in a story—howmany parts of it are never told—how much more reallyhappened than there is in the book one holds in one’s handand pores over. Stories are something like letters. Whena letter is written, how often one remembers things omittedand says, “Ah, why did I not tell them that?” In writinga book one relates all that one remembers at the time, and ifone told all that really happened perhaps the book wouldnever end. Between the lines of every story there is anotherstory, and that is one that is never heard and can onlybe guessed at by the people who are good at guessing. Theperson who writes the story may never know all of it, butsometimes he does and wishes he had the chance to beginagain.
When I wrote the story of “Sara Crewe” I guessed thata great deal more had happened at Miss Minchin’s than Ihad had time to find out just then. I knew, of course, thatthere must have been chapters full of things going on all[vi]the time; and when I began to make a play out of the bookand called it “A Little Princess,” I discovered three actsfull of things. What interested me most was that I foundthat there had been girls at the school whose names I hadnot even known before. There was a little girl whose namewas Lottie, who was an amusing little person; there was ahungry scullery-maid who was Sara’s adoring friend; Ermengardewas much more entertaining than she hadseemed at first; things happened in the garret which hadnever been hinted at in the book; and a certain gentlemanwhose name was Melchisedec was an intimate friend ofSara’s who should never have been left out of the story ifhe had only walked into it in time. He and Becky andLottie lived at Miss Minchin’s, and I cannot understandwhy they did not mention themselves to me at first. Theywere as real as Sara, and it was careless of them not to comeout of the story sh