_The Twelfth Surprise_
THE LAND OF THE CIVILIZED MONKEYS
I must now tell you of a very strange adventure that befell PrinceZingle, which, had it not turned out exactly as it did, might haveresulted in making him a captive for life in a remarkable country.
By consulting Smith's History of Prince Zingle you will notice thatfrom boyhood he had a great passion for flying kites, and unlike otherboys, he always undertook to make each kite larger than the last one.Therefore his kites grew in size, and became larger and larger, untilat length the Prince made one twice as tall as himself.
When it was finished he was very proud of this great kite, and took itout to a level place to see how well it would fly, being accompanied bymany of the people of Mo, who took considerable interest in thePrince's amusement.
There happened to be a strong south wind blowing and, fearing the kitemight get away from him, Zingle tied the string around his waist. Itflew beautifully at first, but pulled so hard the Prince could scarcelyhold it.
At last, when the string was all let out, there came a sudden gust ofwind, and in an instant poor Zingle was drawn into the air as easily asan ordinary kite draws its tail. Up and up he soared, and the kitefollowed the wind and carried him over many countries until thestrength died out of the air, when the kite slowly settled toward theearth and landed the Prince in the top of a tall tree.
He now untied the string from his waist and fastened it to a branch ofthe tree, as he did not wish to lose the kite after all his bother inmaking it.
Then he began to climb down to the ground, but on reaching the lowerbranches he was arrested by a most curious sight.
Standing on the ground, and gazing up at him, were a dozen monkeys, allvery neatly dressed and all evidently filled with surprise at thePrince's sudden appearance in the tree.
"What a very queer animal!" exclaimed an old monkey, who wore a tallsilk hat and had white kid gloves on his hands. Gold spectacles restedon his nose, and he pointed toward the Prince with a gold-headed cane.By his side was a little girl-monkey, dressed in pink skirts and a bluebonnet; and when she saw Zingle she clung to the old monkey's hand andseemed frightened.
"Oh, grandpapa!" she cried; "take me back to mamma; I'm afraid thestrange beast will bite me."
Just then a big monkey, wearing a blue coat with brass buttons andswinging a short club in his hand, strutted up to them and said:
"Don't be afraid, little one. The beast can't hurt you while I'maround!" And then he tipped his cap over his left ear and shook hisclub at the Prince, as if he did not know what fear meant.
Two monkeys, who were dressed in red jackets and carried muskets intheir hands, now came running up, and, having looked at Zingle withmuch interest, they called for some one to bring them a strong rope.
"We will capture the brute and put him in the Zoo," said one of thesoldier-monkeys.
"What kind of animal is it?" asked the other.
"I do not know. But some of our college professors can doubtless tell,and even if they can't they will give it some scientific name that willsatisfy the people just as well."
All this time Prince Zingle remained clinging to the branches of thetree. He could not understand a word of the monkey language, andtherefore had no idea what they were talking about; but he judged fromtheir actions that the monkeys were not friendly. When they brought along and stout rope, and prepared to throw one end of it over his head,in order to capture him, he became angry and called out to them:
"Stop--I command you! What is the meaning of this strange conduct? I amPrince Zingle, eldest son of the Monarch of Mo, and, since I have beenblown into your country through an accident, I certainly deserve kindtreatment at your hands."
But this speech had no meaning in the ears of the monkeys, who said toeach other:
"Hear him bark! He jabbers away almost as if he could talk!"
By this time a large crowd of monkeys had surrounded the tree, somebeing barefooted boy-monkeys, and some lady-monkeys dressed in silkengowns and gorgeous raiment of the latest mode, and others men-monkeysof all sorts and conditions. There were dandified monkeys andsober-looking business monkeys, as well as several who appeared to bepoliticians and officials of high degree.
"Stand back, all of you!" shouted one of the soldiers. "We're going tocapture this remarkable beast for the royal menagerie, and unless youstand out of the way he may show fight and bite some one."
So they moved back to a safe distance, and the soldier-monkey preparedto throw a rope.
"Stop!" cried Zingle, again; "do you take me for a thief, that you tryto bind me? I am a prince of the royal blood, and unless you treat merespectfully I shall have my father, the King, march his army on youand destroy your whole country."
"He barks louder," said the soldier. "Look out for him; he may bedangerous." The next moment he threw the rope and caught poor Zinglearound his arms and body, so that he was helpless. Then thesoldier-monkey pulled hard on the rope, and Prince Zingle fell out ofthe tree to the ground.
At first the monkeys all pressed backward, as if frightened, but theirsoldiers cried out:
"We've got him; he can't bite now."
Then one of them approached the Prince and punched him with a stick,saying, "Stand up!"
Zingle did not understand the words, but he resented being prodded withthe stick, so he sprang up and rushed on the soldier, kicking the stickfrom his hands, his own arms being bound by the rope.
The monkeys screamed and rushed in every direction, but the othersoldier came behind the Prince and knocked him down with the butt ofhis gun. Then he tied his legs with another rope, and, seeing him thusbound, the crowd of monkeys, which had scattered and fallen over oneanother in their efforts to escape, came creeping timidly back, andlooked on him with fear and trembling.
"We've subdued him at last," remarked the soldier who had been kicked."But he's a very fierce animal, and I shall take him to the Zoo andlock him in one of the strongest cages."
So they led poor Zingle away to where the Royal Zoological Gardens werelocated, and there they put him into a big cage with iron bars, thedoor being fastened with two great padlocks.
Before very long every monkey in the country learned that a strangebeast had been captured and brought to the Zoo; and soon a large crowdhad gathered before Zingle's cage to examine him.
"Isn't he sweet!" said a lady-monkey who held a green parasol over herhead and wore a purple veil on her face.
"Sweet!" grunted a man-monkey standing beside her, "he's the ugliestlooking brute I ever saw! Scarcely has any hair on him at all, and notail, and very little chin. I wonder where on earth the creature camefrom?"
"It may be one of those beings from whom our race is descended," saidanother onlooker. "The professors say we evolved from some primitivecreature of this sort."
"Heaven forbid!" cried a dandy-monkey, whose collar was so high that itkept tipping his hat over his eyes. "If I thought such a creature asthat was one of my forefathers, I should commit suicide at once."
Zingle had been sitting on the floor of his cage and wondering what wasto become of him in this strange country of monkeys, and now, to showhis authority, one of the keepers took a long stick and began to pokethe Prince to make him stand up.
"Stop that!" shouted the angry captive, and catching hold of the stickhe jerked it from the keeper's hand and struck him a sharp blow on thehead with it.
All the lady-monkeys screamed at this, and the men-monkeys exclaimed:
"What an ugly disposition the beast has!"
The children-monkeys began to throw peanuts between the bars of thecage, and Zingle, who had now become very hungry, picked them up andate them. This act so pleased the little monkeys that they shouted withlaughter.
At last two solemn-looking monkeys with gray hair, and wearing longblack coats and white neckties, came up to the cage, where they weregreeted with much respect by the other monkeys.
"So this is the strange animal," said one of the new-comers,
putting onhis spectacles and looking sharply at the captive; "do you recognizethe species, Professor?"
The other aged monkey also regarded the Prince critically before heanswered:
"I can not say I have ever seen a specimen of this genus before. Butone of our text-books mentions an obscure animal called HomoPeculiaris, and I have no doubt this is one of that family. I shallwrite an article on the creature and claim he is a Homo, and withoutdoubt the paper will create quite a stir in the scientific world."
"See here," suddenly demanded Prince Zingle, standing up and shakingthe bars of his cage, "are you going to give me anything to eat? Or doyou expect me to live on peanuts forever?"
Not knowing what he said, none of the monkeys paid any attention tothis question. But one of the professor-monkeys appeared to listenattentively, and remarked to friend: "There seems to be a smoothnessand variety of sound in his speech that indicates that he possessessome sort of language. Had I time to study this brute, I might learnhis method of communicating with his fellows. Indeed, there is apossibility that he may turn out to be the missing link."
However, the professor not yet having learned his language, PrinceZingle was obliged to remain hungry. The monkeys threw severalcocoanuts into the cage, but the prisoner did not know what kind offruit these were; so, after several attempts to bite the hard shell, hedecided they were not good to eat.
Day after day now passed away, and, although crowds of monkeys came toexamine Zingle in his cage, the poor Prince grew very pale and thin forlack of proper food, while the continuance of his unhappy imprisonmentmade him sad and melancholy.
"Could I but escape and find my way back to my father's valley," hemoaned, wearily, "I should be willing to fly small kites foreverafterward."
Often he begged them to let him go, but the monkeys gruffly commandedhim to "stop his jabbering," and poked him with long sticks havingsharp points; so that the Prince's life became one of great misery.
At the end of about two weeks a happy relief came to Zingle, for then ababy hippopotamus was captured and brought to the Royal Zoo, and afterthis the monkeys left the Prince's cage and crowded around that of thenew arrival.
Finding himself thus deserted, Prince Zingle began to seek a means ofescape from his confinement. His first attempt was to break the ironbars; but soon he found they were too big and strong. Then he shook thedoor with all his strength; but the big padlocks held firm, and couldnot be broken. Then the prisoner gave way to despair, and threw himselfon the floor of the cage, weeping bitterly.
Suddenly he heard a great shout from the direction of the cage wherethe baby hippopotamus was confined, and, rising to his feet, the Princewalked to the bars and attempted to look out and discover what wascausing the excitement. To his astonishment he found he was able tothrust his head between two of the iron bars, having grown so thinthrough hunger and abuse, that he was much smaller than when themonkeys had first captured him. He realized at once that if his headwould pass between the bars, his body could be made to do so, likewise.So he struggled bravely, and at last succeeded in squeezing his bodybetween the bars and leaping safely to the ground.
Finding himself at liberty, the Prince lost no time in running to thetree where he had left his kite. But on the way some of the boy-monkeysdiscovered him and raised a great cry, which soon brought hundreds ofhis enemies in pursuit.
Zingle had a good start, however, and soon reached the tree. Quickly heclimbed up the trunk and branches until he had gained the limb wherethe string of his kite was still fastened. Untying the cord, he woundit around his waist several times, and then, finding a strong northwind blowing, he skilfully tossed the kite into the air. At once itfilled and mounted to the sky, lifting Zingle from the tree andcarrying him with perfect ease.
It was fortunate he got away at that moment, for several of the monkeyshad scrambled up the tree after him, and were almost near enough toseize him by the legs when, to their surprise, he shot into the air.Indeed, so amazed were they by this remarkable escape of their prisonerthat the monkeys remained staring into the air until Prince Zingle hadbecome a little speck in the sky above them and finally disappeared.
That was the last our Prince ever saw of the strange country of themonkeys, for the wind carried his kite straight back to the Valley ofMo. When Zingle found himself above his father's palace, he took outhis pocket-knife and cut the string of the kite, and immediately fellhead foremost into a pond of custard that lay in the back yard, wherehe dived through a floating island of whipped cream and disappearedfrom view.
Nuphsed, who was sitting on the bank of the custard lake, was nearlyfrightened into fits by this sight; and he ran to tell the King that anew meteor had fallen and ruined one of his floating islands.
Thereupon the monarch and several of his courtiers rushed out and foundPrince Zingle swimming ashore; and the King was so delighted at seeinghis lost son again that he clasped him joyfully in his arms.
The next moment he regretted this act, for his best ermine robe wassmeared its whole length with custard, and would need considerablecleaning before it would be fit to wear again.
The Prince and the King soon changed their clothes, and then there wasmuch rejoicing throughout the land. Of course the first thing Zingleasked for was something to eat, and before long he was sitting at atable heaped with all sorts of good things, plucked fresh from thetrees.
The people crowded around him, demanding the tale of his adventures,and their surprise was only equaled by their horror when they learnedhe had been captured by a band of monkeys, and shut up in a cagebecause he was thought to be a dangerous wild beast.
Experience is said to be an excellent teacher, although a very cruelone. Prince Zingle had now seen enough of foreign countries to remaincontented with his own beautiful Valley, and, although it was manyyears before he again attempted to fly a kite, it was noticed that,when he at last did indulge in that sport, the kite was of a very smallsize.