Rinkitink in Oz
had been used by the warriors in toppling over the towers, which in
their haste they had neglected to remove, and with some difficulty he
untied the knots and carried the rope to the mouth of the well.
Bilbil had lain down to sleep and the refrain of a merry song came in
muffled tones from the well, proving that Rinkitink was making a patient
endeavor to amuse himself.
"I've found a rope!" Inga called down to him; and then the boy proceeded
to make a loop in one end of the rope, for the King to put his arms
through, and the other end he placed over the drum of the windlass. He
now aroused Bilbil and fastened the rope firmly around the goat's
shoulders.
"Are you ready?" asked the boy, leaning over the well.
"I am," replied the King.
"And I am not," growled the goat, "for I have not yet had my nap out.
Old Rinki will be safe enough in the well until I've slept an hour or
two longer."
"But it is damp in the well," protested the boy, "and King Rinkitink may
catch the rheumatism, so that he will have to ride upon your back
wherever he goes."
Hearing this, Bilbil jumped up at once.
"Let's get him out," he said earnestly.
"Hold fast!" shouted Inga to the King. Then he seized the rope and
helped Bilbil to pull. They soon found the task more difficult than they
had supposed. Once or twice the King's weight threatened to drag both
the boy and the goat into the well, to keep Rinkitink company. But they
pulled sturdily, being aware of this danger, and at last the King popped
out of the hole and fell sprawling full length upon the ground.
For a time he lay panting and breathing hard to get his breath back,
while Inga and Bilbil were likewise worn out from their long strain at
the rope; so the three rested quietly upon the grass and looked at one
another in silence.
Finally Bilbil said to the King:
"I'm surprised at you. Why were you so foolish as to fall down that
well? Don't you know it's a dangerous thing to do? You might have broken
your neck in the fall, or been drowned in the water."
"Bilbil," replied the King solemnly, "you're a goat. Do you imagine I
fell down the well on purpose?"
"I imagine nothing," retorted Bilbil. "I only know you were there."
"There? Heh-heh-heek-keek-eek! To be sure I was there," laughed
Rinkitink. "There in a dark hole, where there was no light; there in a
watery well, where the wetness soaked me through and
through--keek-eek-eek-eek!--through and through!"
"How did it happen?" inquired Inga.
"I was running away from the enemy," explained the King, "and I was
carelessly looking over my shoulder at the same time, to see if they
were chasing me. So I did not see the well, but stepped into it and
found myself tumbling down to the bottom. I struck the water very neatly
and began struggling to keep myself from drowning, but presently I found
that when I stood upon my feet on the bottom of the well, that my chin
was just above the water. So I stood still and yelled for help; but no
one heard me."
"If the warriors had heard you," said Bilbil, "they would have pulled
you out and carried you away to be a slave. Then you would have been
obliged to work for a living, and that would be a new experience."
"Work!" exclaimed Rinkitink. "Me work? Hoo, hoo, heek-keek-eek! How
absurd! I'm so stout--not to say chubby--not to say fat--that I can
hardly walk, and I couldn't earn my salt at hard work. So I'm glad the
enemy did not find me, Bilbil. How many others escaped?"
"That I do not know," replied the boy, "for I have not yet had time to
visit the other parts of the island. When you have rested and satisfied
your royal hunger, it might be well for us to look around and see what
the thieving warriors of Regos and Coregos have left us."
"An excellent idea," declared Rinkitink. "I am somewhat feeble from my
long confinement in the well, but I can ride upon Bilbil's back and we
may as well start at once."
Hearing this, Bilbil cast a surly glance at his master but said nothing,
since it was really the goat's business to carry King Rinkitink wherever
he desired to go.
They first searched the ruins of the palace, and where the kitchen had
once been they found a small quantity of food that had been half hidden
by a block of marble. This they carefully placed in a sack to preserve
it for future use, the little fat King having first eaten as much as he
cared for. This consumed some time, for Rinkitink had been exceedingly
hungry and liked to eat in a leisurely manner. When he had finished the
meal he straddled Bilbil's back and set out to explore the island,
Prince Inga walking by his side.
They found on every hand ruin and desolation. The houses of the people
had been pilfered of all valuables and then torn down or burned. Not a
boat had been left upon the shore, nor was there a single person, man or
woman or child, remaining upon the island, save themselves. The only
inhabitants of Pingaree now consisted of a fat little King, a boy and a
goat.
Even Rinkitink, merry hearted as he was, found it hard to laugh in the
face of this mighty disaster. Even the goat, contrary to its usual
habit, refrained from saying anything disagreeable. As for the poor boy
whose home was now a wilderness, the tears came often to his eyes as he
marked the ruin of his dearly loved island.
When, at nightfall, they reached the lower end of Pingaree and found it
swept as bare as the rest, Inga's grief was almost more than he could
bear. Everything had been swept from him--parents, home and country--in
so brief a time that his bewilderment was equal to his sorrow.
Since no house remained standing, in which they might sleep, the three
wanderers crept beneath the overhanging branches of a cassa tree and
curled themselves up as comfortably as possible. So tired and
exhausted were they by the day's anxieties and griefs that their
troubles soon faded into the mists of dreamland. Beast and King and boy
slumbered peacefully together until wakened by the singing of the birds
which greeted the dawn of a new day.
The Three Pearls
CHAPTER 5
When King Rinkitink and Prince Inga had bathed themselves in the sea and
eaten a simple breakfast, they began wondering what they could do to
improve their condition.
"The poor people of Gilgad," said Rinkitink cheerfully, "are little
likely ever again to behold their King in the flesh, for my boat and my
rowers are gone with everything else. Let us face the fact that we are
imprisoned for life upon this island, and that our lives will be short
unless we can secure more to eat than is in this small sack."
"I'll not starve, for I can eat grass," remarked the goat in a pleasant
tone--or a tone as pleasant as Bilbil could assume.
"True, quite true," said the King. Then he seemed thoughtful for a
moment and turning to Inga he asked: "Do you think, Prince, that if the
worst comes, we could eat Bilbil?"
The goat gave a groan and cast a reproachful look at his master as he
said:
"Monster! Would you, indeed, eat your old friend and servant?"
"Not if I can help it, Bilbil," answered the King pleasantly. "You would
make a remarkably tough morsel, and my teeth are not as good as they
once were."
While this talk was in progress Inga suddenly remembered the three
pearls which his father had hidden under the tiled floor of the banquet
hall. Without doubt King Kitticut had been so suddenly surprised by the
invaders that he had found no opportunity to get the pearls, for
otherwise the fierce warriors would have been defeated and driven out of
Pingaree. So they must still be in their hiding place, and Inga
believed they would prove of great assistance to him and his comrades in
this hour of need. But the palace was a mass of ruins; perhaps he would
be unable now to find the place where the pearls were hidden.
He said nothing of this to Rinkitink, remembering that his father had
charged him to preserve the secret of the pearls and of their magic
powers. Nevertheless, the thought of securing the wonderful treasures of
his ancestors gave the boy new hope.
He stood up and said to the King:
"Let us return to the other end of Pingaree. It is more pleasant than
here in spite of the desolation of my father's palace. And there, if
anywhere, we shall discover a way out of our difficulties."
This suggestion met with Rinkitink's approval and the little party at
once started upon the return journey. As there was no occasion to delay
upon the way, they reached the big end of the island about the middle of
the day and at once began searching the ruins of the palace.
They found, to their satisfaction, that one room at the bottom of a
tower was still habitable, although the roof was broken in and the place
was somewhat littered with stones. The King was, as he said, too fat to
do any hard work, so he sat down on a block of marble and watched Inga
clear the room of its rubbish. This done, the boy hunted through the
ruins until he discovered a stool and an armchair that had not been
broken beyond use. Some bedding and a mattress were also found, so that
by nightfall the little room had been made quite comfortable.
The following morning, while Rinkitink was still sound asleep and Bilbil
was busily cropping the dewy grass that edged the shore, Prince Inga
began to search the tumbled heaps of marble for the place where the
royal banquet hall had been. After climbing over the ruins for a time he
reached a flat place which he recognized, by means of the tiled flooring
and the broken furniture scattered about, to be the great hall he was
seeking. But in the center of the floor, directly over the spot where
the pearls were hidden, lay several large and heavy blocks of marble,
which had been torn from the dismantled walls.
This unfortunate discovery for a time discouraged the boy, who realized
how helpless he was to remove such vast obstacles; but it was so
important to secure the pearls that he dared not give way to despair
until every human effort had been made, so he sat him down to think over
the matter with great care.
Meantime Rinkitink had risen from his bed and walked out upon the lawn,
where he found Bilbil reclining at ease upon the greensward.
"Where is Inga?" asked Rinkitink, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles
because their vision was blurred with too much sleep.
"Don't, ask me," said the goat, chewing with much satisfaction a cud of
sweet grasses.
"Bilbil," said the King, squatting down beside the goat and resting his
fat chin upon his hands and his elbows on his knees, "allow me to
confide to you the fact that I am bored, and need amusement. My good
friend Kitticut has been kidnapped by the barbarians and taken from me,
so there is no one to converse with me intelligently. I am the King and
you are the goat. Suppose you tell me a story."
"Suppose I don't," said Bilbil, with a scowl, for a goat's face is very
expressive.
"If you refuse, I shall be more unhappy than ever, and I know your
disposition is too sweet to permit that. Tell me a story, Bilbil."
The goat looked at him with an expression of scorn. Said he:
"One would think you are but four years old, Rinkitink! But there--I
will do as you command. Listen carefully, and the story may do you some
good--although I doubt if you understand the moral."
"I am sure the story will do me good," declared the King, whose eyes
were twinkling.
"Once on a time," began the goat.
"When was that, Bilbil?" asked the King gently.
"Don't interrupt; it is impolite. Once on a time there was a King with a
hollow inside his head, where most people have their brains, and--"
"Is this a true story, Bilbil?"
"And the King with a hollow head could chatter words, which had no