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Shofar FTP Archive File: people/f/frank.anne//diary/guardian-angel



Title   : The Guardian Angel
Author  : Anne Frank
Date    : February 22, 1944
English Translation by: Michel Mok
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             The Guardian Angel

  Once upon a time, an old lady and her young grand-daughter lived
for many years on the very edge of a large forest. The girl's
parents had died when she was still quite small, and the grandmother
had always taken good care of her. The little house in which they
lived was a lonesome place, but they didn't seem to realize it and
were happy together.
  One morning the old lady couldn't get up, because she was in great
pain. Her granddaughter was now fourteen years old, and she looked
after her grandma as well as she could. It lasted five days; then
the grandmother died and the girl was all alone in that lonesome
cottage. As she knew hardly anyone and did not want to call in
strangers to bury her grandmother, she dug a grave under an old
tree in the woods, and there laid her grandma to rest.
  When the poor girl came back to the house, she felt utterly forsaken
and very sad. She lay down on her bed and cried her heart out. She lay
there all day and didn't get up until evening, to get a bite to eat.
So it went, day after day. The poor child no longer took pleasure in any-
thing and only mourned and mourned for her dear old granny.
  Then something happened that changed her entirely in just one day. It
was night, and the girl was asleep when, suddenly, her grandmother stood
before her. She was dressed in white from head to foot; her white hair
hung down her shoulders, and she carried a small lamp.
  From her bed, the girl watched her and waited for the grandmother to
speak. "My dear little girl," the grandma began, "I have been watching
you now every day for four weeks, and you never do anything but weep and
sleep.  That is not good, and I have come to tell you that you must
work and spin; that you must take care of our little house and also
dress prettily again.
  "You mustn't think that, now I am dead, I no longer look after you; I
am in heaven and always watch you from above. I have become your guardian
angel, and I am always with you, just as before. Take up your work again,
darling, and never forget that your granny is with you!"
  Then Granny disappeared, and the girl slept on.
  Next morning when she awoke, she remembered what her grandmother had
said, and she was filled with joy and no longer felt forsaken. She started
working again, sold her spinning in the market, and followed her granny's
advice at all times.
  Later, much later, she also wasn't alone in the outside world. She was
married to a fine man, a miller. She thanked her granny for not having left
her alone, and she well knew that, though she now always had good company,
her guardian angel would not leave her until the end of her days.


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