A study of a children's story written by the prolific but rather mediocre author, Mrs. Craik, revealed the presence of transitional phenomena in the story's content. Reviewing the personal history of Mrs. Craik, the authors point out the deprivation and loss, the anxiety and rage, that must have afflicted her during her formative years. In the story, "The Little Lame Prince," a number of elements can be seen as thinly diguised representations of her family members and circumstances. Representation of a transitional object (a flying robe) provides a source of solace and eventual triumph for a deprived and crippled young prince. Mrs. Craik's conflicts and defenses are hypothetically elucidated from these elements in the story. The authors make the point that even though the transitional object phenomenon was not described until the middle of the twentieth century, Mrs. Craik's intuitive and observational skills enabled her to describe accurately some of the functions of transitional objects and the fantasies accompanying them.