_The Thirteenth Surprise_
THE STOLEN PLUM-PUDDING
The King's plum-pudding crop had for some time suffered from thedevastations of a secret enemy. Each day, as he examined the vines, hefound more and more of the plum-pudding missing, and finally themonarch called his Wise Men together and asked them what he should do.
The Wise Men immediately shut their eyes and pondered so long over theproblem that they fell fast asleep. While they slept still more of theplum-pudding was stolen. When they awoke the King was justly incensed,and told the Wise Men that unless they discovered the thief withinthree days he would give them no cake with their ice-cream.
This terrible threat at last aroused them to action, and, afterconsulting together, they declared that in their opinion it was the Foxthat had stolen the pudding.
Hearing this, the King ordered out his soldiers, who soon captured theFox and brought him to the palace, where the King sat in state,surrounded by his Wise Men.
"So ho! Master Fox," exclaimed the King, "we have caught you at last."
"So it seems," returned the Fox, calmly. "May I ask your Majesty why Iam thus torn from my home, from my wife and children, and broughtbefore you like any common criminal?"
"You have stolen the plum-pudding," answered the King.
"I beg your Majesty's pardon for contradicting you, but I have stolennothing," declared the Fox. "I can easily prove my innocence. When wasthe plum-pudding taken?"
"A great deal of it was taken this morning, while the Wise Men slept,"said the King.
"Then I can not be the thief," replied the Fox, "as you will admit whenyou have heard my story."
"Ah! Have you a story to tell?" inquired the King, who dearly loved tohear stories.
"It is a short story, your Majesty; but it will prove clearly that Ihave not taken your pudding."
"Then tell it," commanded the King. "It is far from my wish to condemnany one who is innocent."
The Wise Men then placed themselves in comfortable positions, and theKing crossed his legs and put his hands in his pockets, while the Foxsat before them on his haunches and spoke as follows:
THE FOX'S STORY.
"It has been unusually damp in my den of late, so that both my familyand myself have suffered much. First my wife became ill, and then I wasafflicted with a bad cold, and in both cases it settled in our throats.Then my four children, who are all of an age, began to complain of sorethroats, so that my den became a regular hospital.
"We tried all the medicines we knew of, but they did no good at all. Mywife finally begged me to go to consult Doctor Prairiedog, who lives ina hole in the ground away toward the south. So one morning I said goodby to my family and ran swiftly to where the doctor lives.
"Finding no one outside the hole to whom I might apply for admission Iwalked boldly in, and having followed a long, dark tunnel for somedistance, I suddenly came to a door.
"'Come in!' said a voice; so in I walked, and found myself in a verybeautiful room, lighted by forty-eight fireflies, which sat in a row ona rail running all around the apartment. In the center of the room wasa table, made of clay and painted in bright colors; and seated at thistable, with his spectacles on his nose, was the famous DoctorPrairiedog, engaged in eating a dish of stewed snails.
"'Good morning,' said the Doctor; 'will you have some breakfast?'
"'No, thank you,' I replied, for the snails were not to my liking; 'Iwish to procure some medicine for my children, who are suffering fromsore throats.'
"' How do you know their throats are sore?' inquired the Doctor.
"'It hurts them to swallow,' I explained.
"'Then tell them not to swallow,' said the Doctor, and went on eating.
"'Sir!' I exclaimed, 'if they did not swallow, they would starve todeath.'
"'That is true,' remarked the Doctor; 'we must think of somethingelse.' After a moment of silence he cried out: 'Ha! I have it! Go homeand cut off their necks, after which you must turn them inside out andhang them on the bushes in the sun. When the necks are thoroughly curedin the sun, turn them right-side-out again and place them on yourchildren's shoulders. Then they will find it does not hurt them toswallow.'
"I thanked the great Doctor and returned home, where I did as he hadtold me. For the last three days the necks of not only my children butof my wife and myself, as well, have been hanging on the bushes to becured; so we could not possibly have eaten your plum-pudding. Indeed,it was only an hour ago when I finished putting the neck on the last ofmy children, and at that moment your soldiers came and arrested me."
When the Fox ceased speaking the King was silent for a while. Then heasked:
"Were the necks all cured?"
"Oh, yes," replied the fox; "the sun cured them nicely."
"You see," remarked the King, turning to his Wise Men; "the Fox hasproved his innocence. You were wrong, as usual, in accusing him. Ishall now send him home with six baskets of cherry phosphate, as areward for his honesty. If you have not discovered the thief by thetime I return I shall keep my threat and stop your allowance of cake."
Then the Wise Men fell a-trembling, and put their heads together,counseling with one another.
When the King returned, they said: "Your Majesty, it must have been theBullfrog."
So the King sent his soldiers, who captured the Bullfrog and broughthim to the palace.
"Why have you stolen the plum-pudding?" demanded the King, in a sternvoice.
"I! Steal your plum-pudding!" exclaimed the Frog, indignantly. "Surelyyou must be mistaken! I am not at all fond of plum-pudding, and,besides, I have been very busy at home during the past week."
"What have you been doing?" asked the King.
"I will tell you, for then you will know I am innocent of this theft."
So the Bullfrog squatted on a footstool, and, after blinking solemnlyat the King and his Wise Men for a moment, spoke as follows:
THE FROG'S STORY.
"Some time ago my wife and I hatched out twelve little tadpoles. Theywere the sweetest children parents ever looked on. Their heads were allvery large and round, and their tails were long and feathery, whiletheir skins were as black and shiny as could be. We were proud of them,my wife and I, and took great pains to train our children properly,that they might become respectable frogs, in time, and be a credit tous.
"We lived in a snug little hole under the bank of the river, and infront of our dwelling was a large stone on which we could sit and watchthe baby tadpoles grow. Although they loved best to lie in the mud atthe bottom of the river, we knew that exercise is necessary to theproper development of a tadpole; so we decided to teach our youngstersto swim. We divided them into two lots, my wife training six of thechildren, while I took charge of the other six. We drilled them to swimin single file, in column of twos and in line of battle; but I mustacknowledge they were quite stupid, being so young, and, unless we toldthem when to stop, they would keep on swimming until they bumpedthemselves into a bank or a stone.
"One day, about a week ago, while teaching our children to swim, westarted them all going in single file, one after the other. They swamin a straight line that was very pretty to see, and my wife and I saton the flat stone and watched them with much pride. Unfortunately atthat very moment a large fish swam into our neighborhood and lay on thebottom of the river to rest. It was one of those fishes that hold theirgreat mouths wide open, and I was horrified when I saw the advancingline of tadpoles headed directly toward the gaping mouth of the monsterfish. I croaked as loudly as I could for them to stop; but either theyfailed to hear me, or they would not obey. The next moment all the lineof swimming tadpoles had entered the fish's mouth and were lost to ourview.
"Mrs. Frog threw herself into my arms with a cry or anguish,exclaiming:
"'Oh, what shall we do? Our children are lost to us forever!'
"'Do not despair,' I answered, although I was myself greatlyfrightened; 'we must try to prevent the fish from swimming away withour loved ones. If we can keep
him here, some way may yet be found torescue the children.'
"Up to this time the big fish had remained motionless, but there was anexpression of surprise in its round eyes, as if it did not know what tomake of the lively inhabitants of its stomach.
"Mrs. Frog thought for a moment, and then said:
"'A short distance away is an old fish-line and hook, lying at thebottom of the river, where some boys lost it while fishing one day. Ifwe could only--'
"'Fetch it at once,' I interrupted. 'With its aid we shall endeavor tocapture the fish.'
"She hastened away, soon returning with the line, which had a largehook on one end. I tied the other end firmly about the flat stone, andthen, advancing cautiously from behind, that the fish might not see me,I stuck the iron hook through its right gill.
"The monster gave a sudden flop that sent me head over heels a yardaway. Then it tried to swim down the stream. But the hook and line heldfast, and soon the fish realized it was firmly caught, after which itwisely abandoned the struggle.
"Mrs. Frog and I now sat down to watch the result, and the time ofwaiting was long and tedious. After several weary days, however, thegreat fish lay over on its side and expired, and soon after therehopped from its mouth the sweetest little green frog you ever laid eyeson. Another and another followed, until twelve of them stood beside us;and then my wife exclaimed:
"'They are our children, the tadpoles! They have lost their tails andtheir legs have grown out, but they are our own little ones,nevertheless!'
"Indeed, this was true; for tadpoles always become frogs when a fewdays old. The children told us they had been quite comfortable insidethe great fish, but they were now hungry, for young frogs always havewonderful appetites. So Mrs. Frog and I set to work to feed them, andhad just finished this pleasant task when your soldiers came to arrestme. I assure your Majesty this is the first time I have been out of thewater for a week. And now, if you will permit me to depart, I will hopback home and see how the youngsters are growing."
When the Bullfrog had ceased speaking the King turned toward the WiseMen and said, angrily:
"It seems you are wrong again, for the Frog is innocent. Your boastedwisdom appears to me very like folly; but I will give you one morechance. If you fail to discover the culprit next time, I shall punishyou far more severely than I at first promised."
The King now gave the Bullfrog a present of a red silk necktie, andalso sent a bottle of perfumery to Mrs. Frog. The soldiers at oncereleased the prisoner, who joyfully hopped away toward the river.
The Wise Men now rolled their eyes toward the ceiling and twirled theirthumbs and thought as hard as they could. At last they told the Kingthey had decided the Yellow Hen was undoubtedly responsible for thetheft of the plum-pudding.
So the King sent his soldiers, who searched throughout the Valley andat last captured the Yellow Hen and brought her into the royalpresence.
"My Wise Men say you have stolen my plum-pudding," said his Majesty."If this is true, I am going to punish you severely."
"But it is not true," answered the Yellow Hen; "for I have justreturned from a long journey."
"Where have you been?" inquired the King.
"I will tell you," she replied; and, after rearranging a few of herfeathers that the rough hands of the soldiers had mussed, the YellowHen spoke as follows:
THE YELLOW HEN'S STORY
"All my life I have been accustomed to hatching out thirteen eggs; butthe last time there were only twelve eggs in the nest when I got readyto set. Being experienced in these matters I knew it would never do toset on twelve eggs, so I asked the Red Rooster for his advice.
"He considered the question carefully, and finally told me he had seena very nice, large egg lying on the rocks near the sugar mountain.
"'If you wish,' said he, 'I will get it for you.'
"'I am very sorry to trouble you, yet certainly I need thirteen eggs,'I answered.
"The Red Rooster is an accommodating fowl, so away he flew, and shortlyreturned with a large white egg under his wing. This egg I put with theother twelve, and then I set faithfully on my nest for three weeks, atthe end of which time I hatched out my chickens.
"Twelve of them were as yellow and fluffy as any mother could wish. Butthe one that came from the strange egg was black and awkward, and had alarge bill and sharp claws. Still thinking he was one of my children,despite his deformity, I gave him as much care as any of them, and soonhe outgrew the others and became very big and strong.
"The Red Rooster shook his head, and said, bluntly:
"'That chick will be a great trouble to you, for it looks to mestrangely like one of our enemies, the Hawks.'
"'What!' I exclaimed, reproachfully, 'do you think one of my darlingchildren could possibly be a Hawk? I consider that remark almost aninsult, Mr. Rooster!'
"The Red Rooster said nothing more; but he kept away from my big, blackchick, as if really afraid of it.
"To my great grief this chick suddenly developed a very bad temper, andone day I was obliged to reprove it for grabbing the food away from itsbrothers. Suddenly it began screaming with anger, and the next momentit sprang on me, digging its sharp claws into my back.
"While I struggled to free myself, he flew far up into the air,carrying me with him, and uttering loud cries that filled me withmisgivings. For I now realized, when it was too late, that his voicesounded exactly like the cry of a Hawk!
"Away and away he flew, over mountains, and valleys, and rivers, andlakes, until at last, as I looked down, I saw a man pointing a gun atus. A moment later he shot, and the black chick gave a scream of pain,at the same time releasing his hold of me; so that I fell over and overand finally fluttered to the ground.
"Then I found I had escaped one danger only to encounter another, foras I reached the ground the man seized me and carried me under his armto his home. Entering the house, he said to his wife:
"'Here is a nice, fat hen for our breakfast.'
"'Put her in the coop,' replied the woman. 'After supper I will cut offher head and pick the feathers from her body.'
"This frightened me greatly, as you may suppose, and when the manplaced me in the coop I nearly gave way to despair. But, finding myselfalone, I plucked up courage and began looking for a way to escape. Tomy great joy I soon discovered that one of the slats of the coop wasloose, and, having pushed it aside, I was not long in gaining myliberty.
"Once free, I ran away from the place as fast as possible, but did notknow in which direction to go, the country being so strange to me. So Ifluttered on, half running and half flying, until I reached the placewhere an army of soldiers was encamped. If these men saw me I fearedthey would also wish to eat me for breakfast; so I crept into the mouthof a big cannon, thinking I should escape attention and be safe untilmorning. Soon I fell asleep, and so sound was my slumber that the nextthing I heard was the conversation of some soldiers who stood besidethe cannon.
"'It is nearly sunrise,' said one. 'You must fire the salute. Is thecannon loaded?'
"'Oh, yes,' answered the other. 'What shall I shoot at?'
"' Fire into the air, for then you will not hurt any one,' said thefirst soldier.
"By this time I was trembling with fear, and had decided to creep outof the cannon and take the chances of being caught, when, suddenly,'Bang!' went the big gun, and I shot into the air with a rush like thatof a whirlwind.
"The noise nearly deafened me, and my nerves were so shattered that fora time I was helpless. I felt myself go up and up into the air, untilsoon I was far above the clouds. Then I recovered my wits, and when Ibegan to come down again I tried to fly. I knew the Valley of Mo mustbe somewhere to the west; so I flew in that direction until I foundmyself just over the Valley, when I allowed myself to flutter to theground.
"It seems my troubles were not yet over; for, before I had fullyrecovered my breath after this long flight, your soldiers seized me andbrought me here.
"I am accused of stealing your plum-pudding; but, in tr
uth, yourMajesty, I have been away from your kingdom for nine days, and amtherefore wholly innocent."
The Yellow Hen had scarce finished this story when the King flew into aviolent rage at the deceptions of his Wise Men, and turning to hissoldiers he ordered them to arrest the Wise Men and cast them intoprison.
Having given the unfortunate Hen a pair of gold earrings that fittedher ears and matched her complexion, the King sent her home with manyapologies for having accused her wrongfully.
Then his Majesty seated himself in an easy chair, and pondered how bestto punish the foolish Wise Men.
"I would rather have one really Wise Man," he said to himself, "thanfifty of these, who pretend to be wise and are not."
That gave him an idea; so the next morning he ordered the Wise Mentaken to the royal kitchen, where all were run through the meat chopperuntil they were ground as fine as mincemeat. Having thoroughly mixedthem, the King stirred in a handful of salt, and then made them intoone man, which the cook baked in the oven until it was well done.
"Now," said the King, "I have one Wise Man instead of several foolishones. Perhaps he can tell me who stole the plum-pudding."
"Certainly," replied the Wise Man. "That is quite easy. It was thePurple Dragon."
"Good," cried the monarch; "I have discovered the truth at last!"
And so he had, as you will find by reading the next surprise.
_The Fourteenth Surprise_
THE PUNISHMENT OF THE PURPLE DRAGON
Scarcely had the King spoken when some of his soldiers came runningwith news that they had seen the Purple Dragon eating plum-pudding inthe royal garden.
"What did you do about it?" asked the monarch.
"We did nothing," they answered; "for, had we interfered with itsrepast, the Dragon would probably have eaten us for dessert."
"That is true," remarked the King. "Yet something must be done toprotect us from this monster. For many years it has annoyed us byeating our choicest crops, and nothing we can do seems of any avail tosave us from its ravages."
"If we were able to destroy the Dragon," said Prince Thinkabit, "weshould be doing our country the greatest possible service."
"We have often tried to destroy it," replied the King, "but the beastalways manages to get the best of the fight, having wonderful strengthand great cunning. However, let us hold a council of war, and see whatis suggested."
So a council of war was called. The Wise Man, all the Princes andNoblemen, the Dog and the Wise Donkey being assembled to talk thematter over.
"I advise that you build a high wall around the Dragon," said the WiseMan. "Then it will be unable to get out, and will starve to death."
"It is strong enough to break down the wall," said the King.
"I suggest you dig a great hole in the ground," remarked the Donkey."Then the Dragon will fall into it and perish."
"It is too clever to fall into the hole," said the King.
"The best thing to do," declared Timtom, "is to cut off its legs; forthen it could not walk into our gardens."
"The scales on its legs are too hard and thick," said the King. "Wehave tried that, and failed."
"We might take a red-hot iron, and put the Dragon's eyes out," venturedPrince Jollikin.
"Its eyes are glass," replied the King with a sigh, "and the iron wouldhave no effect on them."
"Suppose we tie a tin can to its tail," suggested the Dog. "Therattling of the can would so frighten the Dragon that it would run outof the country."
"Its tail is so long," answered the King, gloomily, "that the Dragoncould not hear the can rattle."
Then they all remained silent for a time, thinking so hard that theirheads began to ache; but no one seemed able to think of the right thingto do.
Finally the King himself made a proposition.
"One thing we might attempt with some hope of success," said hisMajesty. "Should it fail, we can not be worse off than we are atpresent. My idea is for us to go in a great body to the castle of theDragon, and pull out its teeth with a pair of forceps. Having no teeth,the monster will be harmless to annoy us in any way; and, since we seemunable to kill it, I believe this is the best way out of ourdifficulty."
The King's plan pleased every one, and met with shouts of approval. Thecouncil then adjourned, and all the members went to prepare for thefight with the Purple Dragon.
First the blacksmith made a large pair of forceps, to pull the Dragon'steeth with. The handles of the forceps were so long that fifty mencould take hold of them at one time. Then the people armed themselveswith swords and spears and marched in a great body to the castle of thePurple Dragon.
This remarkable beast, which for so long had kept the Valley of Mo inconstant terror, was standing on the front porch of its castle when thearmy arrived. It looked at the crowd of people in surprise, and said:
"Are you not weary with your attempts to destroy me? What selfishpeople you must be! Whenever I eat anything that belongs to you, thereis a great row, and immediately you come here to fight me. Thesebattles are unpleasant to all of us. The best thing for you to do is toreturn home and behave yourselves; for I am not in the least afraid ofyou."
Neither the King nor his people replied to these taunts. They simplybrought forward the big pair of forceps and reached them toward theDragon.
This movement astonished the monster, who, never having been to adentist in his life, had no idea what the strange instrument was for.
"Surely you can not think to hurt me with that iron thing," it calledout, in derision. And then the Dragon laughed at the idea of any oneattempting to injure it.
But when the Dragon opened its mouth to laugh, the King opened the jawsof the forceps, quickly closing them again on one of the monster'sfront teeth.
"Pull!" cried the King; and fifty men seized the handles of the forcepsand began to pull with all their strength.
But, pull as they might, the tooth would not come out, and this was thereason: The teeth of Dragons are different from ours, for they gothrough the jaw and are clinched on the other side. Therefore, noamount of pulling will draw them out.
The King did not know this fact, but thought the tooth must have a longroot; so he called again:
"Pull! my brave men; pull!"
And they pulled so hard that the Dragon was nearly pulled from theporch of its castle. To avoid this danger the cunning beast wound theend of its tail around a post of the porch, and tied a hard knot in it.
"Pull!" shouted the King for the third time.
Then a surprising thing happened. Any one who knows anything at allabout Dragons is aware that these beasts stretch as easily as if madeof india-rubber. Therefore the strong pulling of the fifty men resultedin the Dragon being pulled from its foothold, and, as its tail wasfastened to the post, its body began to stretch out.
The King and his people, thinking the tooth was being pulled, starteddown the hill, the forceps still clinging fast to the monster's bigfront tooth. And the farther they went the more Dragon's body stretchedout.
"Keep going!" cried the King; "we mustn't let go now!" And away marchedthe fifty men, and farther and farther stretched the body of theDragon.
Still holding fast to the forceps, the King and his army marched intothe Valley, and away across it, and up the hills on the other side, noteven stopping to take breath. When they came to the mountains and theforests, and could go no farther, they looked back; and behold! theDragon had stretched out so far that it was now no bigger around than afiddle-string!
"What shall we do now?" asked the fifty men, who were perspiring withthe long pull and the march across the Valley.
"I'm sure I don't know," replied the panting King. "Let us tie this endof the beast around a tree. Then we can think what is best to be done."
So they tied that end of the Dragon to a big tree, and sat down torest, being filled with wonder that the mighty Purple Dragon was now nolarger around than a piece of twine.
"The wicked creature will never bother us again," said th
e King. "Yetit was only by accident we found a way to destroy it. The question nowis, what shall we do with this long, thin Dragon? If we leave it hereit will trip any one who stumbles against it."
"I shall use it for fiddle-strings," said Prince Fiddlecumdoo, "for thecrop failed this year, and I have none for my violin. Let us cut theDragon up into the proper sizes, and store the strings in the royalwarehouse for general use."
The King and the people heartily approved this plan. So the Princebrought a pair of shears and cut the Dragon into equal lengths to useon his violin. Thus the wicked monster was made good use of at last,for the strings had an excellent tone.
And that was not only the end of the Purple Dragon, but there were twoother ends of him; one tied to a tree in the mountains and the otherfastened to a post of the castle.
That same day the Monarch of Mo gave a magnificent feast to all hispeople to celebrate the destruction of their greatest foe; and everafterward the gardens of the Beautiful Valley were free frommolestation.
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