_The Sixth Surprise_
KING SCOWLEYOW AND HIS CAST-IRON MAN
Across the mountains at the north of the Valley of Mo there reigned awicked King named Scowleyow, whose people lived in caves and mines anddug iron and tin out of the rocks and melted them into bars. These barsthey then carried away and sold for money.
King Scowleyow hated the Monarch of Mo and all his people, because theylived so happily and cared nothing for money; and he would have senthis army into the Valley to destroy the merry people who dwelt therehad he not been afraid of the sharp swords that grew on their trees,which they knew so well how to use against their foes.
So King Scowleyow pondered for a long time how to destroy the Valley ofMo without getting hurt himself; and at last he hit on a plan hebelieved would succeed.
He put all his mechanics to work and built a great man out ofcast-iron, with machinery inside of him. When he was wound up theCast-iron Man could roar, and roll his eyes, and gnash his teeth andmarch across the Valley, crushing trees and houses to the earth as hewent. For the Cast-iron Man was as tall as a church and as heavy asiron could make him, and each of his feet was as big as a barn.
It took a long time to build this man, as you may suppose; but KingScowleyow was so determined to ruin the pretty Valley of Mo that hemade his men work night and day, and at last the Cast-iron Man wasready to be wound up and sent on his journey of destruction.
They stood him on the top of the mountain, with his face toward theBeautiful Valley, and began to wind him up. It took a hundred men awhole week to do this; but at last he was tightly wound, and the wickedKing Scowleyow stood ready to touch the spring that made him go.
"One--two--three!" said the King, and touched the spring with hisringer.
The Cast-iron Man gave so terrible a roar that he even frightened themen who had made him; and then he rolled his eyes till they flashedfire, and gnashed his teeth till the noise sounded like thunder.
The next minute he raised one great foot and stepped forward, crushingfifty trees that stood in his path, and then away he went, stridingdown the mountain, destroying everything that stood in his way, andnearing with every step the Beautiful Valley of Mo.
The King and his people were having a game of ball that day, and thedog was acting as umpire. Suddenly, just as Prince Jollikin had made ahome run and everybody was applauding him, a terrible roaring noisesounded in their ears, and they heard a great crashing of trees on themountain side and saw a monstrous man approaching the Valley.
The people were so frightened they stood perfectly still, being unableto move through surprise and terror; but the dog ran with all his mighttoward the mountain to see what was the matter. Just as the dog reachedthe foot of the mountain the Cast-iron Man came tramping along andstepped into the Valley, where he ruined in one instant a large bed oflady-fingers and a whole patch of ripe pumpkin pies. Indeed, the entireValley would soon have been destroyed had not the Cast-iron Man stubbedhis toe against the dog and fallen flat on his face, where he layroaring and gnashing his teeth, but unable to do any further harm.
Presently the King and his people recovered from their fright andgathered around their prostrate foe, marveling at his great size andstrength.
"Had you not tripped him up," said the King to the dog, "this giantwould certainly have destroyed my kingdom. Who do you suppose was sowicked as to send this monster to crush us?"
"It must have been King Scowleyow," declared the dog, "for no one elsewould care to harm you, and the giant came from the direction of thewicked King's country."
"Yes," replied the monarch, thoughtfully, "it must indeed have beenScowleyow; and it was a very unkind act, for we never harmed him in anyway. But what shall we do with this great man? If he is left here hewill scare all the children with his roarings, and none of the ladieswill care to walk near this end of the Valley. He is so heavy that notall of us together could lift him, and even if we succeeded we have noplace to put him where he would be out of the way."
This was indeed true; so all the people sat down in a circle around theCast-iron Man and thought upon the matter intently for the space of anhour.
Then the monarch asked, solemnly, as became the importance of theoccasion:
"Has any one thought of a way to get rid of him?"
The people shook their heads gravely and thought deeply for anotherhour. At the end of that time the dog suddenly laughed, and called outin a voice so loud that it startled them:
"I have thought of a way!"
"Good!" exclaimed the King. "Let us hear your plan."
"You see," explained the dog, "the Cast-iron Man is now lying on hisface. If we could only roll him over on to his back, and then raise himto his feet again, he would be turned around, and would march straightback to where he came from, and do us no further harm."
"That is a capital idea," replied the King. "But how can we roll himover, or make him stand up?"
That puzzled them all for a while, but by and by Prince Thinkabit, whowas a very clever young man, announced his readiness to undertake thejob.
"First, bring me a feather," commanded the Prince.
The royal chamberlain hunted around and soon found for him a long,fluffy feather. Taking this in his hand the Prince approached theCast-iron Man and tickled him under the left arm with the end of thefeather.
"Ouch!" said the Cast-iron Man, giving a jump and rolling completelyover, so that he lay on his back.
"Hurrah!" cried the people, clapping their hands with joy at thissuccessful stratagem; "the Prince is a very wise Prince, indeed!"
Prince Thinkabit took off his hat and bowed politely to them in returnfor the compliment. Then he said:
"Bring me a pin."
So Nuphsed brought him a pin with a very sharp point, and the Princetook it and walked up to the Cast-iron Man, and gave him a sharp prodin the back with the point of the pin.
"Ouch!" again yelled the Cast-iron Man, giving at the same time such agreat jump that he leaped square on his feet. But now, to their joy,they saw he was facing the mountains instead of the Valley.
As soon as the Cast-iron Man stood up the machinery began to workagain, and he marched with great steps up the mountain side and overinto the kingdom of the wicked Scowleyow, where he crushed the King andall his people, and laid waste the land wherever he went.
And that was their punishment for being envious of the good people ofMo.
As to the fate of the Cast-iron Man, he was wound up so tightly that hekept walking straight on until he reached the sea, where he steppedinto the water, went down to the bottom, and stuck fast in the mud.
And I have no doubt he is there to this day.