A Christmas Tale

from The Queen of Romania's Fairy BookQueen Marie of Romania was born in Kent in 1875 & later married to Prince Ferdinand of Romania in 1893. They later were made King & Queen of Romania. Queen Marie is considered directly responsible for Romania's military, well, not getting totally creamed, in WWI & subsequently making substantial territorial gains after the war. Later she took to writing & in 1923 published 'The Queen of Romania's Fairy Book'.
Chapter 4 was titled A Christmas Tale.

This is a very strange tale I have got to tell you today. It is about a mysterious well - a deep, deep well which lay in the centre of a dark forest. It is also a Christmas tale. No one knew why that well was there, nor who had dug it, nor how old it was.
The peasants from the villages around stood in great awe of this well, because from its depth a weird sound could be heard, a sort of moan, half sob, half gurgle, and sometimes a sound as though someone were knocking against its sides, which made you think of a lost soul in distress, perhaps held captive down there and unable to get out.

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