PDF Origami Activities For Kids Discover The Magic of Japanese Paper Folding Learn To Fold Your Own Origami Models Includes 8 Folding Papers Michael G Lafosse Ebook Full Chapter

Origami Activities for Kids: Discover
the Magic of Japanese Paper Folding,

Learn to Fold Your Own Origami
Models (Includes 8 Folding Papers)
Michael G. Lafosse
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L EAR N T O FOLD YO U R O W N OR I G A M I M O D E L S
Easy Step-by-Step Instructions for 19 Simple

le Projects
Origami
Activities
FO R K I D S
F
D
Discover
Di the Magic of
Japanese
Ja
ap Paper Folding
M ICH A E L G. L A F O S S E
T UT T L E Publishing
Tokyo Rutland, Vermont Singapore
Origami Activities_48pp.indd 1 23/3/18 10:28 AM

X
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Paper Used for Origami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Key to Origami Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Origami Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Practice Neat Folding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Learning the Inside-Reverse Fold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Making Paper Squares from Rectangles to Rolls . .9

Projects
P j t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
A Chopsticks Wrapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Fishing Boat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Pinwheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Lily Blossom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
A Good Luck Triangle Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
A Chinese Good Luck Bat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Lotus Blossom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Masu Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Shuttle Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Lotus Box Lid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Japanese Carp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Daruma Doll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Frog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Crane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Cardinal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Dollar Bill Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Blooming Cactus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Chinese Zodiac Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
A Paper Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

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Contents
- Folding Papers (.pdf)
Introduction
T he idea of folding materials is an ancient

one. Think of the advantages: Folding cloth
makes it easy to carry. Folding a letter written on
word. There are several possible reasons for
this, but perhaps the best involves the Japanese
origami crane, one of the most popular designs
paper keeps its contents secret to the casual pass- around the world. This folded paper classic is
erby. Wrapped in paper, food, medicine, or gifts well documented in Japan’s history and has been
stay clean and fresh. Documented thoughts, such folded for at least 400 years. For many years the
as stories or journal accounts, are more conve- paper crane was considered the most advanced
nient to carry around and read when the written model in the world. When modern publishers and
papers are fanfolded into a book (as opposed to promoters of paper folding needed a simple word
rolling them in long scrolls). for the art, they looked to Japan, the home of the
With origami, the paper becomes more than folded paper crane, and came up with origami. In
just a wrapper since the design of the folded Japanese ori means to fold and kami means paper.
paper is interesting in some way. Origami is a Since papermaking and paper folding began in
special type of paper folding that often results in Asia, the origami projects presented in this book
a beautiful pattern, a representation of a living naturally convey aspects of Asian culture. Flip
thing, or a familiar or clever object. In Asia, through these pages and you’ll discover a world
spiritual symbolism has been expressed through of chopsticks, Koi fish, and good-luck Darumas!
folded paper shapes and forms.
One of the wonderful aspects of origami is its
simplicity. The folder does not need anything
Paper Used for Origami
except something to fold—no glue, no tape, no
string or wire—just a piece of paper! Though Since origami is simply the art of paper folding,
the materials are simple, origami exemplifies any paper can be used. However, choosing the
the ability of the human mind to solve problems best paper for a particular project can be as
and create beautiful harmony. Folding is relaxing important as the folding process. Here are some
and peaceful, but it is also fun and exciting to things to consider:
invent new ways to fold paper. The satisfaction Paper for learning and practicing origami does
of producing a work of beauty, or discovering not have to be fancy or expensive. You should look
something, such as a form that you have never around for papers that are fairly thin and in good
seen before, can be addictive. Certain folders supply, like copier paper or discarded magazines.
specialize in creating origami puzzles, or action You can fold any of the projects in this book with
models—origami that has moving parts, like the these papers. You must, of course, prepare your
Flapping Bird that moves its wings when its tail paper by first cutting it to the proper size and
is pulled—that delights people of all ages. shape for the project (the basic techniques are
The Chinese are credited with the invention of explained in another section of this book). Cut
paper, and they were probably the first to create your papers carefully to make perfect squares,
folded paper designs. But today, paper folding and you will be off to a good start.
is known the world over as origami, a Japanese Once you have learned the folding method for

an origami model, and you are able to fold it well, you may become your best source of special
you may decide to make a special example using papers if you purchase an extra sheet or two
better paper. There are many beautiful papers to when they are available, or any time you have
consider. a little extra money. Paper folders often get
In the past, you would have probably needed to together to show one another not only what they
visit a large city to find art supply stores that sell have folded, but the papers they have collected
hundreds of different kinds of papers: machine- from their travels. Handmade paper from exotic
made and handmade, in rolls or sheets, and in lands is a wonderful souvenir, and nothing will be
many colors, patterns, and sizes. Today you can more greatly appreciated by your paper folding
order paper by mail. The Internet has numerous friends. If you still cannot find the right paper,
sources of special paper. Suppliers can send try making it yourself! It is not too difficult, and
orders directly to your mailbox. you may be surprised to find information in your
Paper folders (people who enjoy making ori- library, on the Internet, or perhaps from others in
gami) often become paper collectors. Eventually, your town who share a similar interest.
Key to Origami Symbols

The folding method for any origami model can be explained
using this simple system of drawings and symbols. Most
books written from the 1950s through today use this
system developed by Akira Yoshizawa, of Japan, and Samuel
Randlett, of the United States. Mr. Yoshizawa is widely
regarded as the father of modern origami: His origami
designs have inspired many of today’s great origami artists!
Once you become familiar with the meaning of these
symbols, you will be able to learn origami models from
any book—even if it is written in another language! Look
carefully at the different kinds of lines and arrows pictured
on this page. You will see that each symbol has its own
meaning, just like musical notation. If you study the origami X
techniques in the beginning of this book, you will be well
prepared for the more advanced projects.

Origami Techniques
List of Origami Symbols
• Valley fold • Fold and unfold arrow
Reading the Diagrams • Mountain fold • Fold in front arrow
By making this simple flower bud you will learn • Follow this spot • Fold behind arrow
how to read the diagrams and symbols: • Rotate symbol
1 2 3
X
X
X
Begin with a square piece of In this case, you must rotate Fold up the left and right sides.
paper, white side up if you are your paper so that the crease Here there is no X on the left and
using origami paper. Fold the made in step 1 is running from right sides. Even without the X, it
paper in half, bottom corner to the top corner to the bottom is a good habit to look ahead to
the top corner, and then unfold. corner. Now lift up the bottom the next step, so you will be able
Here you see what the valley fold corner to make a fold, but do to see what the paper should
(dashed line) is and what the fold not lift it all the way to the top. look like.
and unfold arrow means. Next, See the X, meaning follow this
notice the rotate symbol between spot, at the bottom corner. You
steps 1 and 2. This means that need to look ahead to step 3 to
you must position your paper to see where the X should go.
look like step 2 before making the
next fold.
4 5
X
X 4
Fold the bottom corner to the Now you have the finished flower
back. Here you will see the bud! Make several tiny buds from
mountain fold (broken dashed two-inch square papers and
line) and the arrow meaning fold paste them onto the front of a
behind. handmade card, or save them
to decorate your Hashi Wrapper
project.

How did you do? If your shape is not very good,
Practice Neat Folding try to figure out what went wrong. Perhaps your
paper is the problem. Check to see if it is really
Neatness is important when you are folding. This square. If the paper is square, perhaps your first
simple exercise will help you practice matching fold, from step 1, was done poorly—every fold
edges—a straightforward task but a common counts! Try again. Practice will help you improve
your basic folding skills. Teaching others what you
problem for many beginners who do not realize
have learned will improve these skills, too.
how important it will become later on.
2
1
Begin with a square of paper, white side up if you Fold the two bottom edges to meet at the crease
are using origami paper. Fold it in half, corner to in the center. For neatness, fold only one side at
corner, then unfold. Be sure to match the corners a time. Be sure that the edge of the paper aligns
and the edges of the square carefully before you with the crease exactly before you press the paper
press the paper flat to make the crease. flat. This shape is often called the kite base. Many
origami designs begin from this basic shape.
3 4
Fold the kite base in half, from left side to right. This Make several of these and use them to practice
is a good way to check for neatness. Do all of the inside-reverse folding, as explained in the next
edges match? Are the corners neat? section, where you will make an origami duck!

Learning the Inside-Reverse Fold
In this section you will practice the inside-reverse fold. This is an important origami technique that, with
a little practice, will allow you to complete many origami animal designs. The inside-reverse fold is most
often used to make bends in the paper for the joints of the limbs, neck, and head of an origami animal.
1 2
Begin with a kite base folded in half (see the previ-

ous section for the folding method). Here you see a Begin the fold by opening the kite base from un-
typical drawing of an inside-reverse fold instruction. derneath. Now you can easily push the narrow end
Look at step 4 to see what the paper should look like downward. Notice that only part of the kite base
once it has been inside-reverse folded. Notice that will be valley folded, from the bend in the middle
the corner has been bent inside itself. to the end of the point.
3 4
Once the valley fold portion of the fold is started,

you can begin to fold the shape flat (in half) again. This is what a completed inside-reverse fold
You can push the bent point to any angle you want. should look like.
5 6
Try adding two more inside-reverse folds, one at the

left end and another at the end of the first point.
Notice the turn paper over symbol, which tells you
that after you make the inside-reverse folds, you
should turn the paper over so that it looks similar to This is your finished duck! Make many of them to
the next drawing. become an expert at inside-reverse folding.

Making Paper Squares from Rectangles and Rolls
Most origami projects make use of the square shape as the starting point of design. There are good
reasons for this: The square is the easiest shape to make without the use of complicated techniques
or special tools, and the shape has a symmetry with many advantages for folded paper design. Other
shapes can be used, but they are less frequently encountered. This book uses only square paper designs.
The paper that you are likely to find at hand will not be in the familiar origami square shape. Most
paper was made for other purposes such as letter writing, gift wrapping, wall covering, or book,
magazine, and newspaper publishing. You can easily prepare such papers for almost any origami project
by following these simple steps.
1 2 3
Now you have the largest possible

Cut away the paper that extends square from this sheet of paper. If
beyond the edge of the over- you wish to make smaller squares,
lapping triangle of paper. You you can divide the square into
Fold the short edge of a piece can do this with scissors, or you quarters, by folding, and then cut
of rectangular paper to align with can simply fold along the edge along the creases. You can also cut
one of its longer edges. Fold and then carefully tear the paper smaller squares from the leftover
carefully—neatness counts! away. strip of paper.
4
To make squares from a roll of paper, begin by cutting away a strip
as wide as the size square that you will need for your project. Fold
and cut a square from this strip in the same way you did with the
sheet of rectangular paper.
Origami Resource Guide

The Origami Source www.sasugabooks.com OrigamiUSA
c/o Phyliss Meth A great source for Japanese books, 15 West 77th Street
40-50 166th Street origami and otherwise! New York, NY 10024
Flushing, NY 11358 (212) 769-5635
www.origami-usa.org Origamido Studio www.origami-usa.org
www.origamido.com origami-info@origami-usa.org
Sasuga Japanese Bookstore The only origami art gallery studio A membership supported, not-for-
7 Upland Road in the United States. Original origami profit, origami dedicated organization
Cambridge, MA 02140 designs and hand papermaking for
Phone: (617) 497-5460 origami art.

A Chopsticks Wrapper
Traditional Japanese Design
F or thousands of years, long before metal

spoons, forks, and knives existed, chopsticks
were the simplest, most practical way to handle
food. Today chopsticks are still commonly used What You Need
throughout Asia.
In Asia, special attention to the presentation Use paper that is at least six inches (15 cm)
of food and gifts is common, so items are often square. White paper is most traditional for this
wrapped. Visitors often remark that many articles wrapper. Origami paper, colored on one side
only, is perfect: The wrapper will be white on
are wrapped at least twice! This paper chopstick
the outside with a little bit of the colored side
wrapper is an easy way to keep chopsticks in showing from inside the top.
sets of two. It allows kitchen staff to set a table
without handling the ends of the chopsticks
that will touch the diner’s food or mouth. This design displays the red corner presented
Formal dining in Asia often features fine-quality against the rest of the white paper, and it is
chopsticks presented in clean folded paper considered a variation of the theme used for the
wrappers. In Asian markets, bags of colorful Japanese flag. This makes the white surfaces
folded paper chopstick wrappers hang in plastic available for calligraphy or special messages.
bags, often with an origami decoration adorning Most chopstick wrappers are folded from
the package. rectangles.
10

Instructions
1 2 3
Begin with the colored side up, Carefully fold the bottom edge
if you are using origami paper. to the crease line and unfold.
Fold the bottom edge to the top Repeat with the top edge and
edge. Unfold. unfold.
4 5 Fold the lower right corner to

the center crease. Be careful to
align the top edge of the corner
with the center crease.
Fold the upper right corner to
the first crease from the top. Be
careful to align the bottom edge
of the corner with this crease.
Fold down the top folded edge

Fold down the top edge to the to the first crease from the
middle crease. bottom.
6 7 8
Fold approximately one-half

inch (1 cm) of the left end
Fold down the top folded edge around the back to close the
to the bottom edge. wrapper. The finished Chopsticks Wrapper.
11

Fishing Boat
F ishing boats are pleasure craft designed for

sport ﬁshing. The raised pilothouse gives
the vessel’s captain a good view over rough seas.
This model doesn’t take to the water quite like its
full-size counterpart, but it’s fun to sail it across a
tabletop.
Instructions
1 2 What You Need
A square sheet of paper of

any size. If you run out of kit
paper, you can use colorful
gift wrap. Try racing these
Make mountain folds, corner to across a table with puffs of
corner, and valley folds, edge to Mountain-fold the C and D cor- air.
edge, on the colored side of the ners, bringing C, A and D down
paper. to B.
3 4 5
Fold up the bottom left edge

Your paper should look like this. and one corner to the front.
Move the top right corner over Look at step 5 for the shape.
to the left. Repeat behind. Fold up, front and back.
6 7 8
Turn inside-out. Push in from the top. The finished Fishing Boat.
12

Pinwheel
Traditional Design
T his classic model makes a lovely room decoration, but is

most exciting as a dynamic action model, twirling in the
breeze. Once folded, loosely attach the center of the pinwheel
to a pencil eraser with a thumbtack. Take it for a spin!
Instructions
1 2 What You Need
A square sheet of paper

of any size. Try using
multicolored papers, and
watch how the colors seem
Begin with the white side up. to change when the model
Valley-fold in half, corner to spins rapidly.
corner and edge to edge, in all Fold and unfold each edge to
four directions. the center. Turn over.
3 4 5
Fold all four corners to the Your paper will look like this.
center. Unfold. Turn over.
6 7 8
Using the crease pattern, bring

the center of all four edges to
meet at the middle of the paper.
Let each corner fold in half. Fold each corner over, clockwise. The finished Pinwheel.
13

Lily Blossom
T his origami flower is a long-time favorite.

Also called an Iris, this design easily pres-
ents a stripe on each petal if you leave a slight gap
between edges at step 5 when folding two-sided
(duo) papers. Make a bouquet by attaching pipe Whatt You Need
Wh
cleaner, florists’ wire, or green-paper wrapped
bamboo skewer for stems. Use a five- to eight-inch (13 to 20 cm) square of
colorful paper for each blossom. Find as many
larger green papers to cut or fold simple leaves,
and to glue over wires or sticks to make stems.
Instructions
1 2 5
On the white side of the paper,

make mountain folds, corner to
corner, and valley folds, edge to
edge. Valley-fold and unfold the Mountain-fold the C and D cor-
four corners to the center. ners, bringing B, C and D up to A.
3 4
Move the middle edge towards

the bottom, while folding in the
top edges. Repeat behind, and
Repeat behind, and then with then with the two inside layers.
Lift corner E, open the layers and the two inside corners, turning Look ahead to step 6 for the
flatten it. Look ahead at step 4. the layers to reveal them. shape.
14

6 7 8
Fold the bottom left and the

Fold the top layer of the right bottom right edges to the
Fold the corner up. Repeat with side over to the left. Repeat crease. Repeat behind and with
the other three. behind. the middle layers.
9 10
Open petals out.
11
Fold down the front and back

petals. Repeat with the other
two. Curl the petals. The finished Lily.
15

A Good Luck Triangle Box
Design by Richard Alexander,
based on an origami box by Molly Kahn
W e give gifts for many reasons. Most often

we choose something small, but elegant
and handmade if possible, as a true expression of
goodwill and friendship. Often a gift is a token of
a visit—something that the host or hostess can
use to remember the wonderful times spent with
good friends and relatives.
Gift giving is an integral part of Asian culture as Whatt You Need
a way to show thanks and appreciation. In many
cultures, superstition influences gift giving and You will need three pieces of square paper,
offerings of gifts are made to gods in exchange for each the same size, for this project. Six-inch
(15 cm) origami paper is ideal. The most festive
a bountiful harvest, or simply for good luck. This
boxes are made from papers that are colored
box is a great way to present a gift of a small piece differently on each side: You could have up to
of jewelry, candy, a seashell, or another item. six different colors on one box! Boxes can be
This triangular box is a classic design that is made as large or as small as you like, depending
versatile as well as beautiful. Molly Kahn first upon the size of the paper you begin with.
diagrammed this style of box in America in the
early 1950s. This variation was designed in 2002
by Richard Alexander, cofounder of the Origamido resembles a fortune cookie. These boxes can
Studio in Massachusetts. By pressing the polar easily be strung like beads, hung from a mobile,
corners of the box, it splits open in a way that or even placed as ornaments on a tree.
Instructions
1 2 3
Fold up the bottom corner to Fold in half, right corner to left Fold up the left and right corners
the top corner. corner, and unfold. to the top corner.
16

4 5 6
Fold up the bottom corner of the

Your paper will look like this. Fold down the top corner of the top layer. Make the corner touch
Turn the paper over, from left to top layer, carefully matching the middle of the folded edge at
right. with the bottom corner. the center of the paper.
7 8 9
Using the creases as guides,

mountain and valley fold up the
bottom corner of the top layer
to make a decorative band of
Fold up, folded edge to folded triangles across the middle of
edge. Unfold these folded layers. the paper.
10 11
Bring the two corners away from

the back. Mountain fold the ver- Each unit has two pockets (one on each side of the middle crease) and
tical center crease to make the two tabs (the two outer corners). You will need three units to make one
unit shape ready for assembly. box.
12
Assemble the box by inserting each
tab of one unit into one pocket area
of another unit. Be sure that all of the
valley creases face into the box. If
using as a gift box, place a small gift
inside after two units are joined.
Once all three pieces are arranged,
you can push them snugly together
to close the box.
17

A Chinese
Good Luck Bat
Design by Michael LaFosse
T he Chinese language takes advantage of

homonyms, words that sound alike but
mean different things. The Chinese word for bat
(fu) sounds similar to their word for good fortune
(fu). For this reason, the image of the bat is com-
monly seen in Chinese fabrics, drawings, pottery,
What You Need
woodworking, ivory, and other arts. The Chinese
Use square paper of any size. If you are using
consider it good luck if bats roost in your house
heavy, construction-weight paper, you should
(maybe because people with bats in their house fold this bat from a triangle shape. Make a prop-
are less likely to be bothered by insects such as er triangle by folding a square sheet of paper in
mosquitoes). The Chinese also attach good luck half, corner to corner, and then unfolding it. Cut
symbolism to the color red, and to the number the paper in half along the crease line. You will
have two triangles to fold bats from.
five, so what could be a better gift than a framed,
Create a bat mobile by attaching
ing tthread
handmade set of five red bats? to your bats and hanging them
hem from st sticks or
This cute little red bat is fun to make, fun to wires.
give, and certainly fun to receive!
188

Instructions
1 2 3
Begin with the white side up,

if you are using origami paper. Fold the bottom edge up
Fold up the bottom corner to Fold in half, right corner to left approximately two-thirds of the
the top corner. corner, and unfold. way.
4 5 6
Fold up the left and right halves

of the bottom edge. Try to make
them touch the intersecting
points of the top edges while
Your paper will look like this. forming a neat corner at the Fold down the top edges of the
Turn the paper over. bottom. wing papers.
7 8 9
Fold down the top corner, to Fold up a little bit of the head
Fold each wing in half. Unfold. make the head. corner, to make the mouth.
10 11 12
Mountain fold the center crease

to make the bat more three-
dimensional. (Optional: Cut a
Fold down the nose corner to diagonal slit in the left and right
touch the folded edge of the sides of the head paper. Pull up The finished Chinese Good Luck
mouth. the free corners to make the ears.) Bat.
19

Lotus Blossom
T hroughout many Asian, Indian, and African

cultures, the lotus flower has symbolic con-
nections to religious traditions. In Buddhism, the
teachings of Buddha are associated with the lotus
because it is thought that the universe has layers
without end. In Hinduism, it is believed that the
lotus flower blossom emerges from the Hindu
god Brahma’s navel, and at the center blooms
another Brahma. In Yoga, practitioners fold their
legs in the lotus position for enhanced meditation
because they believe when a person breathes, What You Need
his or her body expands just as a lotus flower You will need two pieces of square paper, one
blooms. Since the petals of the lotus flower unfold large and one small, for this project. The large
and emerge from the center, it is often compared piece should be at least eight and one-half
to a cycle of continuous renewal. inches (21 cm) and the small pieces should be
six inches (15 cm) or less. The two most popular
This lotus requires accurate, repeated folding
sizes of origami paper, the nine-and-three-quar-
of the corners to the center, called blintzing. This ter-inch (24 cm) and six-inch (15 cm) size, are
is a great way to develop folding skills—especially ideal. Use thin papers.
precise, crisp, and symmetrical folds.
Instructions
1 2 3
Fold the larger piece of paper in

half, corner to corner, both ways Fold all four new corners to the
to make crossing creases that Fold all four corners to the center, covering the four from
mark the center of the paper. center. the previous step.
20

4 5 6
You will notice that the center

is still marked by the crossing Fold out the four corners so that
Your paper will look like this. creases. Fold the four corners to each goes a bit beyond the edge
Turn the paper over. the center. of the square it is attached to.
7 8 9
Open the first layer of flower Open the last layer of flower
You now have an eight-pointed petals by folding the four center petals by folding the four center
star! Turn the paper over. corners to their outer corners. corners out flat.
10 11
Lift all eight petals up a little bit Make a second, smaller lotus blossom, and insert the four bottom cor-
to make the flower look fresh ners of the smaller blossom under the folded edges of the center of the
and open. larger blossom. They will lock together without the use of glue!
12
The finished Lotus Blossom
21

Masu Box
T he masu is a measuring box. Originally

made from wood, it was used traditionally
to measure rations of rice and beans. The most
ceremonial use of the wooden masu is for drink-
ing sake, a Japanese wine made from rice, espe-
cially during their celebration of Oshogatsu (New
Year’s).
This traditional origami box is most often
called a masu because it, too, has been used as a What You Need
measuring box, and it is square like the wooden
Use square paper of any size. Try using colorful
masu.
papers from magazine covers, gift wrap, old
We will use the origami masu for the bottom of calendars, and scraps of wallpaper.
our three-piece box project. It is perfectly suited
for this because it is smooth on the outside, and
so the lid will easily slide on. Use any kind of
paper, as long as it is the correct size to fit the
other pieces of the project. You can use the box
alone, however, and if you are folding two, one
can serve as a simple lid for the other!
Instructions
1 2
Begin with the colored side up, if you are using origami paper. Fold
in half, edge to edge, both ways, to make crossing valley folds on the Fold all four corners to the
colored side of the paper. Turn the paper over. center.
22

3 4 5
Fold the bottom and top edges Your paper will look like this. Fold the left and right edges to
to meet at the center. Unfold the previous two folds. meet at the center.
6 7 8
Fold the bottom and top edges

Unfold the left and right corners to meet in the center of the
Unfold these two folds. from the center. paper.
9 10
Turn your paper
so that it runs
the long way,
from top to
bottom. Open Look carefully at the creases in your paper. This
the folded edges folding method has prepared the paper with
from the center. mountain and valley folds in all of the key places
Look at step 10 necessary to close up the box shape. Begin by
for the desired lifting up the left and right walls. Next fold in the
shape. four corners a bit.
11 12 13
Remember that Fold the end flaps

you are making up and over the
a square box. top and bottom
Look carefully at the walls and into the This box needs no glue to keep
creases and feel how easily they inside of the box. Lay the corners its shape. Use this box as the
can bend into the right shape. flat in the bottom of the box. bottom to the lotus box project.
23

Shuttle Box
Traditional Design
T raditionally, a shuttle is a wooden spool

used to weave yarn through a loom. Here it
is presented as a sturdy and easy-to-fold box. Use
What You N
Need
eed
this box to hold small items or to present gifts to Use any size of square paper. This box makes a
good lid for the Masu Box. Use this box together
friends.
with the Lotus Topper to make a decorative box
Together the Shuttle Box and the Masu Box lid.
make a beautiful and functional gift box, or the
Shuttle Box can be used in place of the Masu Box
if you prefer this design. Unlike the Masu Box, Shuttle Box also contains four slots along the
this box can be made with rectangles other than sides that are perfectly located to accept the flaps
squares. Try making rectangular versions. The produced by our next project, the Lotus Box Lid.
Instructions
1 2 3
Begin white side up, if you are

using origami paper. Fold in half,
corner to corner, both ways, to Fold all four corners to the
make crossing valley folds. center. Unfold the four corners.
4 5 6
Look carefully at the crease

pattern. Fold each corner to the Fold over the four folded edges Your paper will look like this.
crossing crease nearest it. to make a frame. Turn the paper over.
24

7 8 9
Fold the bottom and top edges Your paper will look like this. Fold the left and right edges to
to meet at the center. Unfold the previous two folds. meet at the center.
10 11 12 13
Carefully fold over the

Fold the right top layer top and bottom right Return the top flap to
to the left like turning corners to the center the right, covering the Fold the top left layer to
the page of a book. crease. two folded corners. the right side.
14 15 16
Fold over the top and bottom Return the top flap to the left, Lift the two center edges up to
left corners to the center crease. covering the two folded corners. begin opening the box.
17 18 19
Push in the top
and bottom
corners as you
continue to
open the box.
Sharply mountain
fold the outside
corners and edges Use this box as the lid for the
of the box. Turn the box over. lotus box project.
25

Lotus Box Lid
Traditional Design, adapted by Michael LaFosse
I n Thailand, there is a celebration called Loy

Krathong, or the Beautiful Water Festival, cele-
brated during the full moon, late in the fall. Lotus
flower-shaped bowls with candles are floated on
the water to draw attention to the importance of
pure water.
This lotus decoration and lotus-topped box is a
versatile decoration for many celebrations.
What You Need
This lotus-shaped ornament is made using
the same principle as the traditional origami Use square paper of any size. Thin papers work
lotus project demonstrated earlier in this book. best. To make the full project—a box with a dec-
When folded from paper that is the same size orative lid—use three same-size sheets of square
paper. From one sheet, fold the Masu Box; from
as that used for the Shuttle Box, the four base
another sheet, fold the Shuttle Box; from the
corners will fit like tabs into the pocketlike edges third sheet, fold the Lotus Box Lid. Choose com-
of the box top. This makes for an easy, glueless plimentary colors of paper for the three units.
construction that is very impressive for a gift box.
Instructions
1 2 3
Fold the paper in half, corner

to corner, both ways, to make Fold all four new corners to the
crossing creases that mark the Fold all four corners to the center, covering the four from
center of the paper. center. the previous step.
26

4 5 6
You will notice that the center

is still marked by the crossing
Your paper will look like this. creases. Fold the four corners to
Turn the paper over. the center. Turn the paper over.
7 8 9
Open the first layer of flower Open the last layer of flower Lift all eight petals up a little bit
petals by folding the four center petals by folding the four center to make the flower look fresh
corners to their outer corners. corners out flat. and open.
10 11 12
Four tabs can be found on the

underside of this flower. These
four tabs fit into the slots on the
top edges of the Shuttle Box.
27

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CHAPTER II.
If there were in the wide world a good-looking, stalwart young
man of twenty-three for whom an unexpected meeting in romantic
and picturesque circumstances with a beautiful woman could be
expected to be without danger, George Lauriston might well have
been the man.
Not that he was a prig; not that the highly inflammable substance,
a soldier’s heart, was in his case consuming for some other lady. But
he was not quite in the position, and not at all in the mind of the
majority of his comrades of his own age. He was the poor son of a
brilliant but unlucky soldier who had died bravely in his first
campaign; and he was so eaten up with the ambition to distinguish
himself, and to render famous the name which his father had already
made honourable, that all other passions merely simmered in him
while that one boiled and seethed on the fires of an intense and
ardent nature that as yet had shown but little of its powers. That he
had a keen intellect was well known; it shone out of his brown eyes,
and gave interest to a face, the chief characteristic of which was a
certain, frank, boyish brightness. A good face, an honest face; none
but the better qualities of the nature it illustrated showing through it
yet, no sensual curves to spoil the firm lines of the mouth, which, for
the rest, was more than half hidden by a moustache some shades
lighter than the brown hair, which had a very pretty hero-like curl
about the temples. To the rare eyes which read more than superficial
signs in a man’s countenance, there might perhaps have been
something suggestive in the fact, unnoticeable to any but the very
keenest observer, and therefore unknown even by most of his
intimate friends, that the two sides of his face did not exactly
correspond in a single feature. One nostril was somewhat larger and
higher than the other; the left corner of the mouth scarcely level with
the right; and the same with the eyes and eyebrows, the difference
being in all cases very slight but none the less real. It might have
been argued with some point that a man whose face showed these
irregularities was just as likely to be guilty of startling inconsistencies
as a man with a heavy jaw is to turn out a brute, or one with a
receding chin to prove a soft and yielding fool. So far, however,
George Lauriston could boast a fair record, having earned his
universally high character as much by the heartiness and spirit with
which he threw himself into all games and sports, as by the energy
and devotion he showed in the discharge of the various duties of his
career.
Like most men of strong natures, he enjoyed more prestige than
popularity among his equals in age and rank, being looked upon by
the weaklings with secret contempt for his temperate and orderly life,
and by the superior sort with a little unacknowledged fear. For these
latter had an inkling that there was something under the crest,
whether boiling lava or a mere bed of harmless, quiescent pebbles
who should say? It was only the old officers in the regiment, as it had
been only the more experienced masters at college, who could
discern of what stuff this bright-eyed young soldier was made, and
knew that the fire within him, which could never find enough food for
its devouring energy, was a spark of the flame that, fanned by the
breeze of blessed opportunity, makes men heroes. Love, except in
its most fleeting forms, he had not yet felt, and did not, for the
present at least, mean to feel: it would come to him at the proper
time, like other good things, in some glorified form, and not, as it had
come to his father, in the shape of a romantic devotion to a pretty but
foolish woman who had been a clog and a burden as long as her
short life lasted. With a well-defined ideal in his mind, and with all
thoughts of pleasure in the present swallowed up by dreams of
distinction in the future, he found all women charming, but none
irresistible. Many of the girls he knew were handsome enough to
please a fastidious taste, some had an amusing vivacity, some a
fascinating innocence, here and there was one with the rarer
attraction of sweet and gentle manners; but the beauties were vain
and spoilt, the simple ones inane or ill-dressed, and one had doubts
about the heart of the wits, and the head of the soft and silent ones.
So that George Lauriston had never yet been brought face to face
with the alternative of vain longing for a woman he could not get, or
marriage on £200 a year. In such a situation, he had often avowed
what course he would take: “Marry her and have done with it,” was
his brief formula. He was of a nature too independent and self-
sufficing to be very strongly influenced by the varying outside
circumstances of his life or by the more lax and easy-going principles
of his common-place companions; therefore the views inculcated by
his old Scotch aunt of a woman as a sacred thing, and of love and
marriage as concerns in which a Divine providence took an extra
and special interest, still remained in his mind, though of course
somewhat clouded by the haze of experience. It follows that his
opinions on conjugal loyalty were even aggressively strong.
On one occasion, when a young married officer of the regiment—a
harmless creature enough, but with a youthful ambition to be thought
“fast”—was vapouring away at mess about his achievements with
the girls, Lauriston broke in, in a deep voice:
“Nonsense, laddie, everybody knows you can’t tear yourself away
from your little wife. And do you think we should think better of you if
you could?”
With these well-known principles and opinions, his more
susceptible young comrades, Massey and Dicky Wood, were
justified in not considering that they were exposing Lauriston to any
danger of the heart, in plotting his encounter with the dusky little wife
of a foreign shopkeeper.
It was nine o’clock on the evening appointed by the conspirators
when Lauriston, after dining at the “Criterion” with a friend, drove up
in a hansom to number 36, Mary Street.
It was dull, wet, and rather cold—the fag end of one of those
dismal days that so often mar the brightness of the season in an
English May. Seen through the damp drizzle in the darkness which
was already closing in, as if night were jealous of the gloom of day,
and were hurrying to push her out of the field, the street looked
dirtier and shabbier than ever, and Lauriston wondered to himself
how Frank Massey could have taken rooms in such a wretched
neighbourhood. He did not recognise it as the street in which he had
slipped away from his friends on the night of the dinner-party in
Fitzroy Square; but seeing the number 36 on the door, and observing
that a light was burning in two of the three windows on the first floor,
he paid the cabman, and, according to his instructions, turned the
handle of the door, and walked in. There was a modest and
economical light over the door, which threw small and weak rays
over a bare, wide, and dingy hall, papered with a greasy and smoke-
dyed imitation of a marble, which exists only in the imagination of the
more old-fashioned order of wall-paper designers. The ceiling was
blackened and smoke-hung, the deep wainscoting and the wood of
the once handsome banisters were worn and worm-eaten, the wide
stairs had only a narrow strip of cheap oilcloth up the middle,
scarcely reaching to the now ill-polished space on either side. On the
left hand were two doors, framed in oak with a little carving at the
top; between the panels of both these doors a small white card was
nailed, with the words “Rahas and Fanah, Oriental Merchants.” Only
one chair—a substantial, elaborately carved old hall chair, which
looked like a relic of some sale at a nobleman’s house, but on which
errand boys’ pocket-knives had now for some years exercised their
uninspired art carvings—broke up the monotony of the bare walls;
and a well-used doormat lay at the foot of the stairs. There was no
other attempt at furnishing, but against a door at the end of the
passage by the staircase a huge stack of packing-cases marked with
foreign characters were piled almost to the ceiling, and gave forth a
scent of mouldy straw to complete the attractions of the entrance-
hall.
“Rum place to hang out in!” he murmured, as he put his first foot
on the creaking stairs. “Number 36, Mary Street—yes, that was
certainly the address.”
On the first landing things looked a little more promising. There
was a carpet, and outside each of the three doors a small, black skin
rug, while against the wall, on a bracket of dark wood, with a looking-
glass let in the back, there burned a lamp with a pink glass shade.
Lauriston knocked at the door which he judged to be that of the
room in the windows of which he had seen a light.
There was no answer, and there was no sound.
He waited a few moments, and then knocked again—a sounding
rat-tat-tat with the handle of his umbrella, such as none but a deaf
person or a person fast asleep could fail to hear. Again no answer;
again no sound. He tried the other two doors with the same result;
then, much puzzled by this reception, he went back to the first door,
and after a third fruitless knock, turned the handle and peeped in.
Nothing but black darkness in the two inches he allowed himself to
see. He opened the next door. Although the blind was down and
there was no light inside, he could see quite clearly that it was a
small room with nobody in it. Now, as this apartment looked on to the
street, it was evident that the lights he had seen in the windows must
be those of the room into which he had first peeped, as the two
doors were on a line with each other.
“There must be a double door,” he said to himself, and going back
again, he opened the first door wide and found, not indeed the
obstacle he had expected, but a heavy curtain, thick as a carpet,
which might well be supposed to deaden all outer sounds.
He drew this back, and in a moment became conscious of an
intoxicating change from the gloom and the drizzle outside. A faint,
sweet perfume, like the smell of a burning fir-forest, a soft, many-
tinted subdued light, the gentle plash-plash of falling water all
became manifest to his senses at the same moment, and filled him
with bewilderment and surprise. In front of him, at the distance of
three or four feet, was a high screen of fine sandal-wood lattice work,
over which was flung a dark curtain, embroidered thickly with golden
lilies. Through the interstices of the aromatic wood were seen the
glimmer of quaint brass lamps, the flashing of gold and silver
embroideries, the soft green of large-leaved plants.
Lauriston knew he must have made some awful mistake; no young
English engineer would go in for this sort of thing. But his curiosity
was so great concerning the inhabitants of this Eastern palace on a
first floor in Mary Street, that he was unable to resist the temptation
of a further peep into the interior. He stepped forward and looked
behind the screen.
It was a large room. No inch of the flooring was to be seen, for it
was covered with thick carpets and the unlined skins of beasts. The
fireplace and the entire walls were hidden by shining silks and soft
muslins, draped so loosely that they shimmered in the draught of the
open door. At the four corners of the room stood clusters of broad-
leaved tropical plants, round the bases of which were piled small
metal shields, glittering yataghans, long yellowish elephant-tusks,
and quaintly-shaped vessels of many-hued pottery; above the dark
foliage spears and lances were piled against the wall, pressing back
the graceful draperies into their places, and shooting up, straight and
glistening, like clumps of tall reeds. The ceiling was painted like a
night sky—deep dark blue, with fleecy grayish clouds; from it hung,
at irregular intervals, innumerable tiny opalescent lamps, in each of
which glowed a little spark of light. Besides this, a large lamp of
brass and tinted glass hung suspended from two crossed silken
cords nearly in the middle of the room, and immediately under it a
small fountain played in a bronze basin.
Round three sides of the room was a low divan, covered with
loosely thrown rugs and cushions, some of sombre-hued tapestry,
some resplendent with gorgeous embroidery.
The whole of this most unexpected scene formed only a hazy and
harmonious background in George Lauriston’s eyes; for in front of
him on the divan, between the two trellised windows, lay a creature
so bewitchingly unlike anything of flesh and blood he had ever seen
or dreamed of, that the young Englishman felt his brain swim, and
held his breath with a great fear lest the dazzling vision before him
should melt away, with the scents and the soft lights and the rustle of
the night air in the hanging draperies, into the drizzling rain and the
damp and the darkness of the street outside.
It was a woman he saw, a small and slender woman, lying almost
at full length, supported by a sliding pile of cushions, the one on
which her head rested being a huge square of gold-tinted satin, with
peacocks’ feathers stitched down in all directions upon the smooth
silk. Below her on the ground was a little inlaid Turkish table, on
which burnt, in rather dangerous proximity to the lady’s light
draperies, an open lamp. A loose but clinging garment of soft white
stuff hid her figure and yet disclosed its outlines, the graceful curves
from shoulder to hip, and from hip to heel, while the tip of an
embroidered velvet slipper peeped out beneath its folds, and a
slender rounded arm, laden from shoulder to wrist with armlets and
bracelets, gold, silver and enamelled, escaping from its loose open
sleeve, hung down straight over the side of the divan, and looked in
the soft light which fell on it from the lamp, like purest ivory seen in
the last rays of a sunset. Long gold and silver chains which, had she
been erect, would have reached below her waist, hung round her
neck and jingled together over the side of the couch. A great soft
scarf of many skilfully blended colours was bound about her waist
and fastened by a large Indian ornament of roughly hewn precious
stones. The robe she wore had become disarranged by her reclining
posture, so that great folds of the soft white muslin had gathered
about her neck, forming a white nest-like frame for her small head,
which was covered by a tiny scarlet velvet cap, from under which her
short and curly black hair escaped in a tangled bush that cast a
shade over a little white face. Her eyes were closed and a most
ghastly livid pallor was spread over her features from forehead to
chin; so that Lauriston, with a great shock, was awakened out of the
state of moonstruck bewilderment and admiration into which the
strange sight had thrown him, by a horrible belief that he was
standing in the presence of a dead woman.
“Great Heaven!” broke from his stammering lips as he made one
quick step forward.
But at the sound of his voice the sleeping girl awoke; and her
opening eyes falling at once upon a stranger, she sprang into a
sitting position with a startled cry. In a moment he saw what had
caused his mistake. A blue glass in one side of the octagonal lantern
above had thrown a livid light on the young girl’s face, which he now
saw to be healthily flushed with sleep, and animated with the most
vivid alarm.
He was retreating hastily with a confused murmur of apologies for
his intrusion, when a bright glare of flame flashed up blindingly in a
pointed tongue of light and smoke towards the ceiling, and with a
shriek the girl started to her feet. The hanging open sleeve of her
white gown had caught fire as, waking like a child and not yet quite
mistress of all her faculties, she had, in her change of position,
allowed the flimsy light material to swing over the little lamp.
Lauriston’s light overcoat hung on his arm. He wrapped it round the
panting, struggling, moaning girl, swept up with his left hand a
leopard skin that was uppermost amongst the rugs at his feet, and
binding that also tightly about her, succeeded in very few moments in
stifling the flame. He had said nothing all the while, there being no
time for discussion; the girl, after the first cry, had submitted, with
only low murmurs of fright and pain, to his quick and vigorous
treatment. He looked down, when she at last fell merely to sighing
and trembling and gasping for breath, at the curly head from which
the little scarlet cap had fallen in his rough embrace. The thick tousle
of hair, soft, not as silk, but as finest wool, was entirely innocent of
curling tongs, and hung in disorder about a face which had
something more of passion, something more of a most innocent
voluptuousness in every curve and in every glance than are ever to
be found in the countenance of an English girl.
Lauriston still held the little creature tightly in his arms, and as he
did so the feelings of pity and anxiety, which had been the first to stir
in his heart when his prompt measures choked down the rising
flame, gave place to an impulse of tenderness as she looked up with
long, soft, shining, black eyes full of wondering inquiry. This small
helpless thing, quivering and sighing in his arms and gazing with the
velvet, innocent eyes of a fawn into his face, made his heart leap;
with an agitation new and strange, he pressed her close to him, and
clasped her head against his breast.
If it had been indeed a fawn that he had been caressing, he could
not have been more amazed and confused when the girl slipped
lithely through his arms, and shaking off the impromptu bandages in
which he had swathed her, tossed the ends of her long scarf over
her burnt and blistered left arm and the blackened rags of her sleeve
and bodice, and said haughtily, in English as good as his own, and
moreover with the accent of perfect refinement:
“I am much obliged to you, sir, for your kind help; but as you are a
complete stranger to me, I shall be glad if you will either give an
explanation of your visit, or bring it to a close!”
The unexpected dignity and self-possession of this young
creature, who could not be more than sixteen, together with the
shock of discovering that the fantastic and dreamy-eyed being whom
he had been treating somewhat in the free-and-easy fashion of the
Arabian Nights was a mere nineteenth century young English lady,
reduced poor Lauriston to a level of abject consternation. And yet,
against her will, there was something in her indignation more alluring
than repellent; even as he stammered out the first words of a humble
apology, the transient gleam of anger faded out of her long eyes, and
he saw only before him a graceful tiny creature, calling forth his pity
by the pain in her arm which made her wince and bite her under lip,
and passionate yearning admiration by the seductive charm of every
attitude and every movement.
“I beg you to forgive my intrusion, madam. This address was given
to me, by mistake, as that of one of my friends. I can’t describe to
you the distress I feel at my share in your accident. Tell me how to
summon your friends; I will go at once, and send a doctor. Please
forgive me; for heaven’s sake, forgive me.”
White wet beads stood on his forehead; he was in an agony as,
the danger past, she evidently felt more and more acutely the
smarting pain of her injured arm and shoulder. She gave way, as her
plaintive eyes met those of the young soldier, and burst into tears.
“There’s no one here. Mrs. Ellis has gone out; Sundran, my
servant, is in bed, and I won’t—won’t let Rahas come. I’m afraid of
him; I hate him, I hate him.” And she stamped her little velvet-shod
foot, that came softly enough down on the pile of disordered rugs.
“Oh, send some one to me—it does hurt so.”
“I will! I will!” he said hastily. And afraid of the emotion which was
choking his voice and causing his own eyes to overflow, he dashed
out of the room and down the stairs.
At the foot of them he came suddenly, with a great start, face to
face with a tall, gaunt, dark-visaged man, who seemed to spring up
like a magician from out of the gloom without sound or warning. He
wore an Oriental dress of loose trousers, jacket and sash of a deep
crimson, and a fez on his black hair; but there was no trace of
likeness, no trace of a similarity of race, between the ivory skin and
long liquid eyes of the girl Lauriston had just left, and the swarthy
complexion and fierce, lowering expression of this man.
“What are you doing here?” he said fluently enough, but with a
strong foreign accent, clutching at the young man’s coat with long
lean fingers.
Lauriston, without replying, flung him aside so deftly as well as
forcibly that the other staggered and reeled back against the wall,
and the young soldier dashed open the door and was out of the
house in a moment. Addressing the first respectable-looking man he
met in the street as he hastened in the direction of Fitzroy Square,
he asked the address of the nearest doctor’s, and a few moments
later was at the door of the house indicated. He hurried the doctor up
as if it had been a case of life or death, and burned with impatience
because that gentleman’s footsteps were more deliberate than his
own. For there was more in his heart than anxiety that the tender
little arm should be quickly eased of its pain. The forbidding face of
the man he had met on his way out haunted him, and filled him with
a sullen rage, the origin of which he did not clearly understand. He
was the “Rahas” the girl had wished to avoid; Lauriston felt sure of
that: and he was alone, excited with indignation against the strange
intruder, in the house with the injured girl. He would go up stairs to
her, furious, full of savage inquiries. What claim had he upon her?
What would he do to her?
Lauriston was in a fever of doubts and questions and tempestuous
impulses utterly foreign to him. An odd fancy would recur again and
again to his mind in this new tumult of thoughts and feelings.
She—the lovely, lissom creature whom he had held in his arms,
whose heart he had felt for a short moment beating against his own,
was the fascinating if somewhat soulless lady of the Eastern tales;
he—the dark-faced, evil-looking being whose eyes and teeth had
gleamed out upon him menacingly in the darkness, was the wicked
genie who held her in his power.
Well, and if so, what part in the tale was he, George Lauriston, to
play?
Within one short hour, the self-contained, ambitious young man
seemed to have changed his nature. The absurd, frivolous, or
perhaps dangerous question had become one of momentous
importance to him.
CHAPTER III.
When George Lauriston arrived with the doctor at the door of 36,
Mary Street, the lights in the windows on the first floor had grown
dimmer, and George, who would have opened the door as he had
done before, and gone up stairs with the doctor without ceremony,
found that the key had been turned and the bolts drawn. He rang the
bell, and made the knocker sound with a loud rata-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-
ta-tat that echoed through the now quiet street. No notice whatever
was taken of this, except by a gentleman who lodged on the third-
floor front opposite, who threw open his window and wanted to know
in a husky voice what the things unutterable they meant by kicking
up such an adjective-left-to-the-imagination row in a respectable
neighbourhood.
But No. 36, Mary Street remained as silent and unresponsive as
ever.
After a pause Lauriston knocked again, regardless of the growing
strength of the maledictions of the gentleman opposite. Then a
shadow was seen against the curtains of one of the first-floor
windows, and over the carved lattice-work a head looked out.
George moved closer to the door, and left the doctor to speak.
“Who is it knocking?”
“It is I, Dr. Bannerman. I have been sent for to attend a young lady
who has been severely burned, and if the door is not opened
immediately I shall return to my house.”
“Are you alone?”
“Say yes. I’ll go,” said Lauriston in a low tone.
“Alone? Yes.”
The head disappeared, and Lauriston went a little distance down
the street and crossed to the other side. He saw the door of No. 36
cautiously opened upon the chain, and then, after a few impatient
words from the doctor, it was thrown wide by the man in the fez, and
shut as the other entered. The young man walked up and down
impatiently, never letting the house go out of sight until, after about
half an hour, the doctor re-appeared, and the clank of the chain was
heard as the door was bolted again behind him.
“Well!” said Lauriston eagerly.
“Well!” said the doctor easily.
A doctor is the last sort of man to be readily astonished; but it was
hardly possible that the oldest priest of the body should find himself
in attendance on the entrancing mistress of an Eastern palace on the
first floor of a lodging-house in Mary Street without a mild sense of
passing through an unusual experience.
“You—you saw her?” continued the young man, breathlessly.
“Yes, and dressed the arm. Nothing at all serious; nothing to alarm
anybody. She won’t be able to wear short sleeves for some time, and
that’s about the worst of it.”
“Unimpressive logs these doctors are,” thought Lauriston,
perceiving that his marvellous Eastern lady, with all her romance-
stirring surroundings, had awakened in the man of science
absolutely no more interest than he would have felt in a butcher who
had broken his leg. The only thing to be noted in his quiet, intelligent
countenance was a deep and curious scrutiny of the face of his
young companion.
“You are not a friend of long standing of this lady’s, I understand?”
he said, after an unobtrusive but careful examination.
“Oh, no; it was by the merest accident I was in the house at all. I
was given that address by mistake as that of one of my friends. Why
do you ask?”
“It is nothing, nothing. Your manner when you came to me was so
strangely excited—in fact, it is so still—that I could not help thinking
what a difference thirty years make in a man’s view of things.”
“I was thinking something of the same sort. You seem to see
nothing new, interesting or strange in a patient who appears to me to
be the mysterious Rosamond in a labyrinth of extraordinary
circumstances.”
“I admit I cannot see anything extraordinary in the circumstances;
moreover, I marvel at the strength of an imagination which is able to
do so.”
“Will you tell me just what you did inside that house, and just what
you saw?”
“Certainly. I was admitted, as you know, by a tall dark man who, by
his dress and complexion, I should judge to be either an Arab or a
North African.”
“Don’t you think it strange that no attention was paid to my first
knock, and that you were admitted with as many precautions as a
policeman in a thieves’ kitchen?”
“That was all explained to me by the young man himself, who
seemed to be a very intelligent fellow.”
“How? What did he say?”
“He said that a lady who lodged in the house with her governess
and chaperon, and who, he gave me to understand, was shortly to
become his wife——”
“His wife!” interrupted Lauriston, with a rush of blood to his head.
“—had been frightened by an utter stranger who had by some
means got into the house, and forcing himself into the presence of
the young lady, who was asleep during the temporary absence of her
companion, had woke her and caused her, in her alarmed attempt to
escape, to set on fire the thin muslin wrapper she was wearing. Is
not this substantially correct?” asked the doctor calmly.
“Yes; but——”
“It seemed to me quite natural that our Arabian or African friend
should look upon the unexpected visit as something like an intrusion,
especially as the stranger, on leaving the house, flung the aggrieved
fiancé headlong over the staircase of his own dwelling.”
“Fiancé! How do you know he is her fiancé? You have only his
word for it.”
“It did not occur to me to ask for the lady’s,” said the doctor drily.
“Well, but the room, the lamps and the spears and the tapestries!
Her dress too! Do you have many patients dressed like that?”
Dr. Bannerman looked at him again. If he had seen nothing to
surprise him in his patient, he saw much in his questioner.
“Her dress? Let me see; she had on a white muslin wrapper with
one sleeve burnt off. No, I saw nothing astonishing in that. Her
governess, a rigidly dignified Englishwoman, was with her.”
“And the furniture of the room——”
“Was the usual furniture of a back bedroom in the better class of
London apartments.”
“Oh.” A pause. Lauriston looked half relieved, half puzzled.
He did not want to think that the little section of an enchanted
palace, in which he had passed through such a brief but exciting
experience of something altogether new and intoxicating in life, was
the mere vision that his calmer reason began already to tell him it
must be.
“You didn’t go into the front room then?”
“No.”
Lauriston felt better.
“But I could see into it, and there was nothing extraordinary in it.”
“It was the other room,” murmured Lauriston.
“Well, we are at the corner of my street, and I will wish you good-
night. We professional men have to keep early hours when we can.”
“Shall you call there again?”
“Possibly. But, if you will take an old man’s advice, you will not.”
“You will tell me why?”
“I will. I saw nothing of the marvellous sights you appear to have
witnessed, but I saw something which you did not, or at least not in
the same way. That little black-haired girl’s eyes are the eyes of a
woman who is born to be a coquette—perhaps something more; and
who can no more help looking up into the eyes of every man she
meets with a look that draws out his soul and his senses and leaves
him a mere automaton to be moved by her as she pleases than fire
can help burning, or the spider help spinning his thread.”
“I will never believe it. You may have had thirty years’ more
experience than I; but, by Jove, where a woman is concerned, one
man’s guess is as good as another’s. And I am quite as firmly
convinced that the child is an innocent and good little girl as you are
that she is the contrary. I know it, I am sure of it; as I held her in my
arms——”
“Ah!” interrupted the doctor.
“Wrapping my coat about her to put out the flames,” continued
Lauriston hastily, “I looked at her face, and was quite touched by its
helpless, childlike expression of innocence.”
“And will it take my thirty years of extra experience to teach you
that to hold a woman in your arms is not a judicial attitude?”
Lauriston was silent. Emboldened by the knowledge that the
doctor did not even know his name, and was by no means likely to
meet him again, he had allowed himself to talk more freely than he
would otherwise have done to a stranger. In the ferment of emotions
he was in, however, the older man’s drily cynical tone seemed to him
satanic. He was by this time, therefore, quite as anxious to leave the
doctor, as the latter could possibly be to get rid of him. He was
raising his hat for a rather reserved and abrupt leave-taking, when
Dr. Bannerman stopped him with a good-humoured touch on his
arm.
“Now what have I done that you should give me my dismissal like
that? Merely told you what your own good sense—for you’re a
Scotchman I know by your accent, though it’s far enough from a
canny Scot you’ve been to-night—will tell you in the morning. Set
your affections on a blue-eyed lassie among the hills, or on a prim
little English miss; she may not be quite so warm to you as a little
southern baggage would be, but then she’ll be colder to other
people, and that restores the balance to your advantage. Now, I shall
probably never see you again, so we may as well part good friends;
and for goodness’ ” (the doctor said something stronger than this)
“for goodness’ sake think over my advice. It’s ten times better than
any physic I ever prescribed.”
He held out his hand, which Lauriston shook warmly.
“Thank you, doctor. I’m not a Scotchman, though I was brought up
among the heather. You’re right. Your prescription is a very good
one, and I’ll take as much of the dose as—as I can swallow.”
And in a moment he was striding down the street.
When he woke up the next morning, George Lauriston felt like a
small boy who has been well thrashed the night before and who,
sleeping soundly after an exhausting burst of grief, can’t for the life of
him remember, for the first moment, the nature of the load of
affliction which still burdens his little soul. Had he had more
champagne the night before than was strictly necessary to support
existence? Or had he been plucked in an exam.?
The sight of his over-coat lying on a chair, with the lining
blackened and burnt, recalled the adventures of the preceding
evening. But they came back to his mind in a hazy sort of way,
nothing very clear but that odd little figure in white, with the slender
arms, and the long black eyes, and the chains and bracelets that
jingled and glittered as she moved. It was an odd incident certainly,
and not the least odd part of it was the seriousness with which the
old doctor had warned him to have nothing more to do with the
mysterious lady of the sandal-wood screens and skin-covered
couch. Nothing was less likely than that he should: in cold blood and
in the healthy and prosaic atmosphere of morning, Lauriston felt not
the slightest wish to run possible melodramatic dangers in the
endeavour to see again the beautiful little girl whose romantic
surroundings had afforded him an hour’s excitement the night
before. The burn she had so unluckily sustained through no fault of
his, had been pronounced not serious; if he were to attempt even a
civil call for inquiries, he would probably be ill received in the house
as a person whose presence had already brought more harm than
good.
Therefore George Lauriston, who was deeply interested in a war-
game which was being played that day, treated the subject as
dismissed, not without some shame at the absurd pitch of
excitement to which this meeting with a presumably low-bred woman
had for a short time raised him. He retained nevertheless just
sufficient interest in the little episode, or perhaps just enough
shyness about his own share in it, to say nothing whatever upon the
subject to Massey or Dicky Wood, neither of whom had the courage
to question him. The blunder—for he never suspected a plot—might
remain unexplained. And the conspirators, not guessing what a
brilliant success they had had, decided that the train had been laid in
vain.
But accident—Lauriston was the last person in the world to call it
fate—threw him within a fortnight again in the way of the mysterious
lady. He was returning one afternoon from Fitzroy Square, after a
call at the house of the old officer whose dinner-party had indirectly
led to the adventure, when by pure accident he found himself in
Mary Street, opposite to the very house where his mysterious
introduction had taken place. He retained a vivid enough recollection
of all the circumstances to feel a strange shock, half pleasure, half a
vague terror, when the red-lettered inscription “Rahas and Fanah,
Oriental Merchants,” with the star and crescent underneath, caught
his eye. He stopped involuntarily, and glanced up at the windows.
Nothing in the daylight appearance of the house gave any indication
of the luxurious glories within. The blinds of the two windows in
which the lights had shone on the evening of his startling visit were
half drawn down, and there was no sign of the carved lattice-work
which he remembered so clearly. The third window on the first-floor
was open, and while he looked the curtain—not a gorgeous hanging
of bullion-embroidered tapestry, but the common white lace curtain
of commerce—moved, and the black curly head of a young girl
appeared at the window. It was the mysterious lady of the lamps.
Although seen thus in the strong afternoon sunlight, apparently
dressed like an ordinary English girl in a silk dress that was a sort of
green shot with pale grey, she produced an entirely different
impression on him from that of his first sight of her, the charm of the
warm-tinted skin and the glowing eyes was as great for him as ever.
He raised his hat, and she beckoned to him with a coquettish and
mischievous little curve of her tiny fore-finger under her chin. He felt
his heart leap up, and though, when she whirled round and
disappeared from the window, he tried to walk on, telling himself
vehemently that he should be worse than a fool to yield to the
magnetic attraction this dark-skinned elf seemed to exercise upon
him, he relaxed his speed, trying to assure himself that it was too hot
to race along like a postman. But at the creaking of a door in the
street behind him he was obliged to look back, and there, peeping
out like a tiny enchantress in this dingy London wilderness of dirty,
screaming children, costers with their barrows, the public-house
loafer and the catsmeat man, stood the girl, laughing at him, and
inviting him with bewitching eyes and dazzling teeth, her head bent
downwards to avoid the blaze of the sun, which shone full on her
head and on the little ivory hand which she held up against her
dusky soft black hair as a most inadequate screen.
George Lauriston hesitated. If he had foreseen in continuing this
acquaintance merely a flirtation with a pretty and somewhat forward
girl, all his ascetic principles and resolutions would have had to give
way under the strong admiration she had excited in him. But the
strange circumstances of his first meeting with her which, though
they had been thrust into the background of his mind by the
absorbing interest of his deep-seated ambition, now again appealed
to his imagination with great force; the advice of the old doctor, and
perhaps a suggestion of that sacred instinct which the lower animals
listen to and live by, all tended to warn him from a danger more than
ephemeral, and at the same time to throw over the acquaintance an
extraordinary glamour of romantic attraction.
The girl apparently guessed his reluctance, which she was not
without means to overcome. Advancing a step further in the
doorway, and leaning forward so that her slight grey-and-green-clad
figure was visible almost to the waist, she pointed to her left arm,
which hung in a picturesque sling of soft orange Indian silk. This
gesture was irresistible. He felt that it justified his immediate and
hasty return. How could he excuse his boorish conduct in not calling
before to ask after the little arm that had been injured through him?
The lady, however, was in forgiving mood. She drew back into the
doorway as soon as she saw that her end was gained, and when he
reached it she was leaning against the old carved oak banisters,
waiting for him, all smiles and laughter.
“Yes, come in,” she whispered, putting her finger to her lips and
glancing at the inner door on her right hand.
Again Lauriston thought reluctantly of the Arabian Nights, and the
lady kept in a cage by the tyrannical genie, but it was too late to
retreat now, even if he could have found strength to resist the spell of
the dancing eyes, or the dumb eloquence of the wounded arm. She
sprang forward as soon as he had entered and shut the door softly. It
was cool in the bare hall after the heat of the streets. The girl’s dress
was a simple robe of silk, with lights and shades of grey changing
into green, made something after the fashion of the so-called
æsthetic gowns he had aforetime abhorred, but falling in straight
crisp folds instead of clinging to her like damp rags, as did the
garments of crumpled South Kensington devotees a few years ago.
She mounted two steps and turned, holding the banister-rail and
leaning on it.
“I thought you would have come before,” she said with a first touch
of shyness, looking down upon her hand with a most coquettish air
of being quite ready to look up again if she were invited to do so.
“I didn’t dare,” said Lauriston at the foot of the stairs, “I was so
ashamed of the mischief I had done.”
“You might have called to ask if I had got better.”
“What would Mr. Rahas have said?”
“Rahas!” A great flood of crimson blood mounted to her face,
glowed in her cheeks, and heightened the brilliancy of her eyes,
which flashed a liquid light of haughty indignation from china-blue
white and velvet-brown iris. “Rahas! What right has he to speak? He
has no claim in the world upon me!”
Evidently the impetuous little lady and the despised Rahas,
whatever their relation to each other might be, had been expressing
a mutual difference of opinion. The Englishman watched with equal
measure of admiration and astonishment the rise of the sudden
wave of passion which seemed almost incredibly strong for such a
small creature to sustain. She was struck in the midst of her anger
by the expression of his face.
“What are you laughing at?”
“I did not mean to laugh. I was wondering to see you so angry.”
The girl smiled, quite restored to good humour.
“Ah, yes, they used to say that when I was at school. English
girls”—with a flash of contempt—“can’t be angry or sorry or happy or
anything; they can only eat and drink and sleep and wrangle and
giggle.”
“You are not English then?”
“I English! You did not think I was English the other night?”
“No.”
“What did you think I was?”
“A little fairy princess.”
“But when my sleeve caught fire, and you took me in your arms
and put it out; you did not think I was a fairy then?”
“No,” said Lauriston, stupefied by the daring of her childish
coquetry.
“Well, what did you think I was then?”
“A poor little creature in danger through my blundering.”
“And what did you think of me when I said: ‘Away; leave my
presence?’ ” asked she, imitating the stately tone and attitude she
had used.
“I thought you a very dignified young lady.”
“You did not think me unkind?” with anxiety.
“Certainly not.”
“Oh!” A pause. “I am very glad you did not think me unkind.”
She looked down for a few moments, and played with the tiny bow
at the top of her injured arm’s silken sling. “You see,” she went on
earnestly, “when Rahas came up stairs he said you had flung him on
one side, and I said you were perfectly right, and he was then very
disagreeable. And Mrs. Ellis, my governess, came in, and they both
said they did not believe what you said, and you would never dare to
show your face here again. And I said”—the girl drew herself up like
a queen as she repeated her own words—“ ‘Do you think that I, the
daughter of an English gentleman, do not know the signs by which to
tell an English gentleman?’ He will come back to ask my pardon for
the accident, to learn if it was serious. That is what I said,” she
continued, dropping her majestic manner, “and so I have watched for
you; oh, how I have watched for you! You see, I was anxious, for my
credit’s sake, that you should not long delay.” The last words were
uttered in a demure tone, an afterthought evidently.
“I have been very busy,” murmured Lauriston, trying guiltily to look
like a Cabinet minister on the eve of a dissolution. “I really couldn’t
get away before.”
“Of course not, or you would have come,” said she simply. “And I
suppose you did not like to come in because you did not know my
people. But you will come up stairs now and know my governess,
and she will see that all I have said about you is true. Please follow
me. I forgot that it was discourteous to keep you waiting here.”
She was like a child playing a dozen different parts in half an hour.
Now, with the manner of a chamberlain, she led the way up stairs
and ushered Lauriston into the smaller sitting-room into which on the
night of his unexpected visit he had only peeped.

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Origami Activities for Kids: Discover

the Magic of Japanese Paper Folding,

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Easy Step-by-Step Instructions for 19 Simple

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 1 23/3/18 10:28 AM

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 2 23/3/18 10:28 AM

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 3 23/3/18 10:28 AM

1. Make sure you have an Internet connection.

T he idea of folding materials is an ancient

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 4 23/3/18 10:28 AM

Key to Origami Symbols

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 5 23/3/18 10:28 AM

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 6 23/3/18 10:28 AM

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 7 23/3/18 10:29 AM

Begin with a kite base folded in half (see the previ-

Once the valley fold portion of the fold is started,

Try adding two more inside-reverse folds, one at the

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 8 23/3/18 10:29 AM

Now you have the largest possible

Origami Resource Guide

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 9 23/3/18 10:29 AM

F or thousands of years, long before metal

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 10 23/3/18 10:29 AM

4 5 Fold the lower right corner to

Fold down the top folded edge

Fold approximately one-half

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 11 23/3/18 10:29 AM

F ishing boats are pleasure craft designed for

A square sheet of paper of

Fold up the bottom left edge

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 12 23/3/18 10:29 AM

T his classic model makes a lovely room decoration, but is

A square sheet of paper

Using the crease pattern, bring

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 13 23/3/18 10:29 AM

T his origami flower is a long-time favorite.

On the white side of the paper,

Move the middle edge towards

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 14 23/3/18 10:29 AM

Fold the bottom left and the

Open petals out.

Fold down the front and back

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 15 23/3/18 10:29 AM

W e give gifts for many reasons. Most often

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 16 23/3/18 10:29 AM

Fold up the bottom corner of the

Using the creases as guides,

Bring the two corners away from

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 17 23/3/18 10:29 AM

T he Chinese language takes advantage of

Origami Activities_48pp.indd 18 23/3/18 10:29 AM

Begin with the white side up,