Rinkitink in Oz
turned and fled before the calm advance of Prince Inga of Pingaree. The
warriors were like their master, and having thrown all their weapons
over the wall and being helpless to oppose the strangers, they all
swarmed after Gos, who abandoned his city and crossed the bridge of
boats to the Island of Coregos. There was a desperate struggle among
these cowardly warriors to get over the bridge, and many were pushed
into the water and obliged to swim; but finally every fighting man of
Regos had gained the shore of Coregos and then they tore away the bridge
of boats and drew them up on their own side, hoping the stretch of open
water would prevent the magic invaders from following them.
The humble citizens and serving people of Regos, who had been terrified
and abused by the rough warriors all their lives, were not only greatly
astonished by this sudden conquest of their masters but greatly
delighted. As the King and his army fled to Coregos, the people embraced
one another and danced for very joy, and then they turned to see what
the conquerors of Regos were like.
Rinkitink Makes a Great Mistake
CHAPTER 8
The fat King rode his goat through the streets of the conquered city and
the boy Prince walked proudly beside him, while all the people bent
their heads humbly to their new masters, whom they were prepared to
serve in the same manner they had King Gos.
Not a warrior remained in all Regos to oppose the triumphant three; the
bridge of boats had been destroyed; Inga and his companions were free
from danger--for a time, at least.
The jolly little King appreciated this fact and rejoiced that he had
escaped all injury during the battle. How it had all happened he could
not tell, nor even guess, but he was content in being safe and free to
take possession of the enemy's city. So, as they passed through the
lines of respectful civilians on their way to the palace, the King
tipped his crown back on his bald head and folded his arms and sang in
his best voice the following lines:
"Oh, here comes the army of King Rinkitink!
It isn't a big one, perhaps you may think,
But it scattered the warriors quicker than wink--
Rink-i-tink, tink-i-tink, tink!
Our Bilbil's a hero and so is his King;
Our foemen have vanished like birds on the wing;
I guess that as fighters we're quite the real thing--
Rink-i-tink, tink-i-tink, tink!"
"Why don't you give a little credit to Inga?" inquired the goat. "If I
remember aright, he did a little of the conquering himself."
"So he did," responded the King, "and that's the reason I'm sounding our
own praise, Bilbil. Those who do the least, often shout the loudest and
so get the most glory. Inga did so much that there is danger of his
becoming more important than we are, and so we'd best say nothing about
him."
When they reached the palace, which was an immense building, furnished
throughout in regal splendor, Inga took formal possession and ordered
the majordomo to show them the finest rooms the building contained.
There were many pleasant apartments, but Rinkitink proposed to Inga that
they share one of the largest bedrooms together.
"For," said he, "we are not sure that old Gos will not return and try to
recapture his city, and you must remember that I have no magic to
protect me. In any danger, were I alone, I might be easily killed or
captured, while if you are by my side you can save me from injury."
The boy realized the wisdom of this plan, and selected a fine big
bedroom on the second floor of the palace, in which he ordered two
golden beds placed and prepared for King Rinkitink and himself. Bilbil
was given a suite of rooms on the other side of the palace, where
servants brought the goat fresh-cut grass to eat and made him a soft bed
to lie upon.
That evening the boy Prince and the fat King dined in great state in the
lofty-domed dining-hall of the palace, where forty servants waited upon
them. The royal chef, anxious to win the favor of the conquerors of
Regos, prepared his finest and most savory dishes for them, which
Rinkitink ate with much appetite and found so delicious that he ordered
the royal chef brought into the banquet hall and presented him with a
gilt button which the King cut from his own jacket.
"You are welcome to it," said he to the chef, "because I have eaten so
much that I cannot use that lower button at all."
Rinkitink was mightily pleased to live in a comfortable palace again and
to dine at a well-spread table. His joy grew every moment, so that he
came in time to be as merry and cheery as before Pingaree was despoiled.
And, although he had been much frightened during Inga's defiance of the
army of King Gos, he now began to turn the matter into a joke.
"Why, my boy," said he, "you whipped the big black-bearded King exactly
as if he were a schoolboy, even though you used no warlike weapon at all
upon him. He was cowed through fear of your magic, and that reminds me
to demand from you an explanation. How did you do it, Inga? And where
did the wonderful magic come from?"
Perhaps it would have been wise for the Prince to have explained about
the magic pearls, but at that moment he was not inclined to do so.
Instead, he replied:
"Be patient, Your Majesty. The secret is not my own, so please do not
ask me to divulge it. Is it not enough, for the present, that the magic
saved you from death to-day?"
"Do not think me ungrateful," answered the King earnestly. "A million
spears fell on me from the wall, and several stones as big as mountains,
yet none of them hurt me!"
"The stones were not as big as mountains, sire," said the Prince with a
smile. "They were, indeed, no larger than your head."
"Are you sure about that?" asked Rinkitink.
"Quite sure, Your Majesty."
"How deceptive those things are!" sighed the King. "This argument
reminds me of the story of Tom Tick, which my father used to tell."
"I have never heard that story," Inga answered.
"Well, as he told it, it ran like this:
"When Tom walked out, the sky to spy,
A naughty gnat flew in his eye;
But Tom knew not it was a gnat--
He thought, at first, it was a cat.
"And then, it felt so very big,
He thought it surely was a pig
Till, standing still to hear it grunt,
He cried: 'Why, it's an _elephunt_!'
"But--when the gnat flew out again
And Tom was free from all his pain,
He said: 'There flew into my eye
A leetle, teenty-tiny fly.'"
"Indeed," said Inga, laughing, "the gnat was much like your stones that
seemed as big as mountains."
After their dinner they inspected the palace, which was filled with
valuable goods stolen by King Gos from many nations. But the day's
events had tired them and they retired early to their big sleeping
apartment.
"In the morning," said the boy to Rinkitink, as he was undressing for
bed, "I shall begin the search for my father and mother and the people
of Pingaree. And, when they are found and rescued, we will all go home
again, and be as happy as we were before."
They carefully bolted the door of their room, that no one might enter,
and then got into their beds, where Rinkitink fell asleep in an instant.
The boy lay awake for a while thinking over the day's adventures, but
presently he fell sound asleep also, and so weary was he that nothing
disturbed his slumber until he awakened next morning with a ray of
sunshine in his eyes, which had crept into the room through the open
window by King Rinkitink's bed.
Resolving to begin the search for his parents without any unnecessary
delay, Inga at once got out of bed and began to dress himself, while
Rinkitink, in the other bed, was still sleeping peacefully. But when the
boy had put on both his stockings and began looking for his shoes, he
could find but one of them. The left shoe, that containing the Pink
Pearl, was missing.
Filled with anxiety at this discovery, Inga searched through the entire
room, looking underneath the beds and divans and chairs and behind the
draperies and in the corners and every other possible place a shoe might
be. He tried the door, and found it still bolted; so, with growing
uneasiness, the boy was forced to admit that the precious shoe was not
in the room.
With a throbbing heart he aroused his companion.
"King Rinkitink," said he, "do you know what has become of my left
shoe?"
"Your shoe!" exclaimed the King, giving a wide yawn and rubbing his eyes
to get the sleep out of them. "Have you lost a shoe?"
"Yes," said Inga. "I have searched everywhere in the room, and cannot
find it."
"But why bother me about such a small thing?" inquired Rinkitink. "A
shoe is only a shoe, and you can easily get another one. But, stay!
Perhaps it was your shoe which I threw at the cat last night."
"The cat!" cried Inga. "What do you mean?"
"Why, in the night," explained Rinkitink, sitting up and beginning to
dress himself, "I was wakened by the mewing of a cat that sat upon a
wall of the palace, just outside my window. As the noise disturbed me, I
reached out in the dark and caught up something and threw it at the cat,
to frighten the creature away. I did not know what it was that I threw,
and I was too sleepy to care; but probably it was your shoe, since it is
now missing."
"Then," said the boy, in a despairing tone of voice, "your carelessness
has ruined me, as well as yourself, King Rinkitink, for in that shoe was
concealed the magic power which protected us from danger."
The King's face became very serious when he heard this and he uttered a
low whistle of surprise and regret.
"Why on earth did you not warn me of this?" he demanded. "And why did
you keep such a precious power in an old shoe? And why didn't you put
the shoe under a pillow? You were very wrong, my lad, in not confiding
to me, your faithful friend, the secret, for in that case the shoe would
not now be lost."
To all this Inga had no answer. He sat on the side of his bed, with
hanging head, utterly disconsolate, and seeing this, Rinkitink had pity
for his sorrow.
"Come!" cried the King; "let us go out at once and look for the shoe
which I threw at the cat. It must even now be lying in the yard of the
palace."
This suggestion roused the boy to action. He at once threw open the door
and in his stocking feet rushed down the staircase, closely followed by
Rinkitink. But although they looked on both sides of the palace wall and
in every possible crack and corner where a shoe might lodge, they failed
to find it.
After a half hour's careful search the boy said sorrowfully:
"Someone must have passed by, as we slept, and taken the precious shoe,
not knowing its value. To us, King Rinkitink, this will be a dreadful
misfortune, for we are surrounded by dangers from which we have now no
protection. Luckily I have the other shoe left, within which is the
magic power that gives me strength; so all is not lost."
Then he told Rinkitink, in a few words, the secret of the wonderful
pearls, and how he had recovered them from the ruins and hidden them in
his shoes, and how they had enabled him to drive King Gos and his men
from Regos and to capture the city. The King was much astonished, and
when the story was concluded he said to Inga:
"What did you do with the other shoe?"
"Why, I left it in our bedroom," replied the boy.
"Then I advise you to get it at once," continued Rinkitink, "for we can
ill afford to lose the second shoe, as well as the one I threw at the
cat."
"You are right!" cried Inga, and they hastened back to their bedchamber.
On entering the room they found an old woman sweeping and raising a
great deal of dust.
"Where is my shoe?" asked the Prince, anxiously.