Ruth Plumly Thompson

“ The minute that he had touched her the town clock began tolling furiously and two hands upon its face flew round and round as if to make up for the time they had pointed to 3:00. Out rushed the pink rabbit—out tumbled the knitted gentleman—the Dutch dolls—their hands pressed to their bosoms—out, I say, rushed everybody. The owl, ruffled and angry, scolded the whole company roundly for deserting the Princess. The wooden soldiers ran madly to and fro trying to find her, but all they could find were the giant footsteps of the wretch who had carried her off. ”

“ The Queen wept and pleaded in vain, the King only laughed the more wickedly and the Barber, whose fingers had been itching with impatience, stepped up and snip, snap, went the relentless shears, and soon—soon—the most charming Prince was as bald as the baldest of them. "Well," demanded the King, "are we not beautiful?" but still Sambrun stubbornly shook his head.
"What—what!" roared the King, and sent his royal snuffbox flying at the Prince's head. Sambrun shrugged his shoulders and said, "No," louder than ever. ”

“ The eyes of the hundred Lords fastened upon it greedily. They began shoving and pushing each other rudely to get a better view. "Well," said the King, "will the Lord who thinks that he can handle my daughter's fortune kindly step forward." At this the whole hundred or more of them made a spirited dash for the chest, tumbling over one another's shins and landing in a confused heap at the Princess's feet. "Ho, ho!" roared the King, "one at a time, one at a time, if
you please." ”

“ Looking neither to the right nor to the left, Sambrun walked straight up to the King and held out the flask, saying, "Here, your Highness, is a magic fluid. One drop will restore your hair. Use more than that and you shall perish, you and the secret with you." All the Ladies and Gentlemen gasped and gaped with astonishment. The King, his hands trembling with eagerness, seized the emerald flask, and without so much as a thank you, he rushed into the garden and from the garden into the forest, for he wanted to be quite alone when he tried it. ”

“ Sambrun had not time to dodge, and the little shoe hit him squarely in the eye. Everything grew black. He felt himself falling.
Down, down, he plunged through inky darkness, and landed at last with a dull thump. When he opened his eyes and looked about dizzily, he was in a great gloomy hall. Hundreds of tiny dwarfs were running excitedly about swinging red lanterns. Their eyes gleamed red and scarily and the lanterns sent thin streaks of light into the shadowy corners. Then up hopped the little dwarf who had thrown
the shoe and told the Prince to come with him. ”

“ The Queen and her Ladies were whispering together in scared voices, while the Gentlemen, with one anxious eye upon the King and one foot well to the fore, were making ready to dodge at the slightest warning. "Well!" thundered the bad-tempered King at last, "is it finished?" "No, your Majesty—I mean, Yes, your Royal Highness!" stuttered the Poet, upsetting the inkwell in his furry. "Well, read it then!" growled the King, leaning back and closing his eyes.
"Our Sovereign's head is like the sun,
Its brightness dims the eye." ”

“ You remember that the owl had said she must never be left for a moment. She and all the other Cozytown folk had crossed over into her garden and were in the midst of an exciting game of croquet. The Princess had just sent her ball through two wickets, and everybody was shouting and waving, as if they had not been frightened to pieces a moment before. That is the way with Cozytown folks, my dears, they never remember anything unpleasant. So the pink rabbit and the Teddy bears and the Captain of the wooden soldiers decided to say nothing about the giant footprint. ”

“ Even her name was a dancy sort of name, for it was Dianidra.
Well, poor Dianidra grew every day more thin and sad, because all the Court Ladies who could dance were exceedingly unkind to her. I shouldn't be surprised if they pinched her now and then. And the King was so vexed that a real Princess couldn't dance, that quite often he boxed her ears. Oh, he was a crab of a King! When Dianidra went near her mother, the Queen covered her face with her handkerchief and shrieked for her smelling-salts, and moaned: "A Princess who cannot dance will never marry. ”

“ The Teddy bears and wooden soldiers, the pink rabbit and the knitted gentleman were kept busy picking up her fan and kerchief.
Princess Poppsy flew into a rage, which had never happened before. "Stop it—stop it!" she screamed at the French doll crossly. "You are nothing but an old toy, anyway—a silly old toy!" Scarcely had she finished speaking before the French doll pitched forward upon her face and lay stiff and stark upon the ground. "I've killed her!" wailed Princess Poppsy dropping down beside her. "I've killed her!" ”

“ Miss Amanda's angel cake, and Miss Hepzibah's cookies were the pride of the town; so you can imagine with what impatience all of them waited to be bidden to the feast.
"Hurrah for a tea party!" cried everybody delightedly.
"I do hope there'll be crumpets," said the Princess to the pink rabbit. "So do I,—but what is the excitement in the garden, pray?" The wooden soldiers, the knitted gentleman, a French doll and the Jack-in-the-box had formed in an angry circle around a wooden goat. ”

“ In the centre of the sea, you know, is a tiny island where the last witch in the world with her forty cats lives safe from the heartless witch-burning folks of today. When Tonto reached this island, he raised his giant head out of the water and called, "Come out, good mother, I beg," and the witch who had not had a visitor for one hundred years, stuck her black head out of her little hut to see what it all might mean. Tonto in great excitement began to tell her all about the dimpled Princess, but so lusty was his voice that at the first word the little old woman was blown into the sea. ”

“ The royal Ladies got out their needles in earnest and, with puckered brows and pricked fingers, settled down to serious tailoring. What odd looking costumes the poor Ladies achieved and what sour looking nobles were in them! Small wonder for often they ripped up if one sat down too suddenly.
And Jerry, shameless fellow, sent the Princess a gold thimble—a thimble mind you!—which she would have done well to return, things considered. ”

“ There they found the crabbish King tearing out what little hair was left him, while the Queen, nearly smothered with smelling-salts, was weeping more bitterly than ever, and sobbing: "A Princess who could not dance was better than no Princess at all!" ”

“ The Princess' eyes grew round as saucers. She gasped, dropped her handkerchief, and tripped over her train. My Lord of Toppertush was purple with fury. Determined not to be outdone by the fellow's cleverness he pulled off his cloak and, with a glance of such hatred that 'tis a wonder Jerry did not crinkle up upon the spot, strode forward saying that
he also would have a cloak. ”

“ The Prince followed the little fellow to the end of the hall where a very ancient dwarf with a silvery beard at least a yard long sat upon a throne cut from a blazing ruby. Sambrun dropped to one knee and remained thus until the King of the dwarfs bade him rise. "Well," demanded the King in a faraway voice. "What is your wish? Here are stored the treasures of the world. ”

“ Why, Cozytown is the delightfulest place imaginable, though it does stand on the very edge of things, surrounded by a high, gray wall—that the name of this wall is "Facts" need not bother us, nor that to most people it is impassable. Those who know walk straight up to the wall and, taking four steps to the left of an iron ring which they will find without much trouble, they knock sharply on a stone which says believe! ”

“ Then, sweethearts, the fairy kissed Dianidra and flew up, up, out of sight. And I might tell you that the fairy's name was Happiness, if you have not already guessed it.
Something about the fairy kiss kept the Princess laughing softly all the way along between the tall trees until she came to the gray stone. She peeked 'round it curiously, and there, sure enough, was her first dancing master, a rippling, racing, merry little brook. ”

“ For the royal maidens began to cast kindly glances upon the richly clad burghers' sons, quite ignoring the shabby Dukes and Lords. Was there ever such a topsy-turvy Kingdom as Nevermindwhere, I wonder!
And right into the midst of this topsy-turviness dropped the thunderbolt. At least the King said it was a thunderbolt and I quite agree with his Majesty, for if an announcement that King Cedric of Torrens, the wealthiest realm for leagues about, will in ten days visit the court with the intention of marrying one's daughter, is not a thunderbolt then I know nothing about them. ”

“ Then he arose and wiping the tears of mirth from his little green eyes he commanded, "Let the Court Painter step forward."
"Ha!" said the King, fixing his eye upon the trembling Painter, "is my head not beautiful?"
"Yes—yes—certainly—yes!" stammered the painter.
"Would you not like to have one as beautiful?"
"Oh! Oh! No! I mean yes—oh, my hair—oh, my head! My career and my art!" wailed the Painter and fell over in a heap. "Do your work!" ordered the King. The Barber stepped forward importantly and tying a red towel round the Painter's neck began snipping off his long locks. ”

“ But 'tis just possible that one may take cold in one's heart by chilly draughts, and there were sighs enough to frost anyone in the great, huge, marble palace where the little Prince lived. His father, the King, sighed because he had nothing to do. (What can a poor King do with thirty-eleven servitors forever bouncing and bobbing around one?) And the Queen sighed because she had less than nothing to do; the Courtiers sighed because they were not Kings and Queens; so you can easily see for yourself that wherever the little Prince turned he was pretty sure of catching a chilly sigh. ”

“ At which the Queen swooned away into the arms of a Marchioness, who swooned into the arms of a duchess, who swooned into the arms of a Dearknows-whatess; indeed, all of the royal Ladies toppled over like nine pins, while the King jumped up and down in a frenzy and tore large chunks from his beard. No wonder! ”

“ Tumbling from their carriages in most unroyal fashion the King and the Courtiers rushed into Jerry's shop each waving the pink bills they had received from Jerry. Knocking over chairs and jostling the workers they pushed forward, and at a signal from My Lord of Toppertush, who stood on a chair the better to be seen, each tore his pink bill into a thousand bits so that the pieces came fluttering down upon Jerry in a regular pink snow storm. ”

“ But as his Majesty remarked shrewdly to his advisors, "'twould be a waste to hang so great a rogue and so good a tailor." "A taste of prison will show him what's what," declared the King, taking a pinch of snuff. But in prison Jerry sang as gaily as a bird in a cage and was so agreeable that the turnkey and keeper of the jail could not bring themselves to be rough with him. He said the fare was excellent and the service quite satisfactory, and was so bubbling over with songs and jokes that the whole place took on a festive air. Even Crooks, Stitchem and Rowley bore up under their trials. ”

“ Now he took off his royal spectacles and, folding his hands upon his ample stomach, began, "My honored subjects, it pleases me to inform you that every Lord of the realm wishes to marry my daughter." Here all the hundred or more Lords of the realm adjusted their monocles and glared at each other haughtily. "This is er—flattering, and er—embarrassing," continued the King, at which the Princess clicked her heels together and dutifully nodded her head. "Loving you all so well," chuckled the King, with a mischievous wink, "we find it impossible to choose among you. ”

“ Of course the French doll was dead—as stiff and stupid as a doll in a toy store—and you all know how stupid that is. No dolly is really alive until she belongs to some little girl who believes in her. When Princess Poppsy called her a toy, of course she toppled over, and nothing could bring her to life again. They worked over her a long time, then the Pink Rabbit and the Captain carried her sadly into her home, all the Cozytown folk following after. ”

“ Exchanging uneasy glances they explained how they had come to warn him against the wrath of My Lord of Toppertush.
"Just as one man to another now, tha should'na have spoken so!" protested the second tailor shaking his head solemnly. "A terrible fellow, with power enough at court to make a man smart!" asserted the third. "Did'st see his velvet cloak?—the price has been owing me this twelve month—and now—now he'll never pay it!" whimpered the first, growing excited again. Whereupon Jerry lost his temper and harangued them fiercely for their cravenness. ”

“ With no one to bother him, he rose in the morning and with the merry little boy went swimming and wading. They played ball and built forts, climbed trees and did all the other things that everyday little boys do. The Prince thought everybody in the palace mad, for whenever he mentioned his friend, whom he called Orin whenever he talked to him, the Courtiers looked at him sadly and shook their heads. ”