Kabumpo

“ Would you?”
“Only sensible thing it ever said, probably,” answered the Elegant Elephant, with his mouth full of leaves. “There’s a lot more to be learned by traveling than by studying, my boy. Somersaults for sums—let’s always remember that!”
Pompa did not answer. He slid down Kabumpo’s trunk and began hunting anxiously around for something to eat. Not far away he found a large nut tree and, gathering a handful of nuts, he sat down and began to crack them on a white marble slab near by. Next instant Kabumpo heard a thud and a muffled cry.
The Prince of Pumperdink had vanished, as if by magic. ”

“ In the left side of his robe there was a deep pocket. Into this the Elegant Elephant slipped all the jewels he possessed, taking them from a drawer in the chest.
“I must get that gold door knob,” he rumbled thoughtfully. “And the mirror.” Noiselessly (for all his tremendous size, Kabumpo could move without a sound) he made his way back to the banquet hall and loomed up suddenly behind the Prime Pumper. The old fellow was staring with popping eyes into the gold mirror.
“Ho, Ho!” roared Kabumpo. “Ho, Ho! Kerumph!” ”

“ The sky grew pinker and pinker. You have no idea how pink the morning skies in Oz can be. Just as the sun got out of bed, the Elegant Elephant came to the wonderful Emerald City itself, shining and fairylike as a dream under the lovely colors of sunrise. Kabumpo paused and took a deep breath. Even he was impressed, and it took a good bit to impress him. He reached back and touched Pompa with his trunk. ”

“ Kabumpo paused to blow his trunk explosively on a violet silk handkerchief. "And after that I thought we'd go and visit the Red Jinn."
"Oh, Kabumpo, could we?" Randy's face brightened and then as quickly fell. "I don't believe Uncle Hoochafoo will let me go," he finished dolefully.
"A King does not ask whether or not he may go, he GOES," stated the Elegant Elephant, beginning to sway like a ship under full sail. "But to avoid all arguments we'll not start till later. Could you be ready by midnight, young one?" ”

“ Pompa sighed dismally. “No one will want to marry me now. It’s all coming true, Kabumpo, just as Count It Up said. Remember? ‘If a thin Prince sets out on a fat elephant to find a Proper Princess, how many yards of fringe will the elephant lose from his robe and how bald will the Prince be at the end of the journey?’ And we’ve scarcely begun!” ”

“ I live on other people’s affairs, and unless”—here it paused, took a large handkerchief out of a pocket in its fur and began to wipe its eyes—“unless a Cottabus asks fifty questions a day it curls up in its porch rocker and d-d-dies, and this is my fifth questionless day.”
“Curl up and die, then,” said Kabumpo gruffly. But the kind-hearted Prince felt sorry for the foolish creature. ”

“ The Runaway Country rolled its lakes helplessly from one to the other. “I thought settlers always managed to get a living off the land,” it murmured in a troubled voice.
“Not us!” rumbled Kabumpo. “Not enough pie in pioneer to suit this party!”
“Has your Highness anything to suggest?” asked the Country, looking anxiously at Peg.
“Well,” said the Wooden Doll slowly, “suppose we stop at the first country we come to and stock up. We could get a few chickens and seeds and saws and hammers and things.” ”

“ But just then there was a creak from without and the great dome lifted as suddenly as it had fallen—so suddenly in fact that Pompa fell flat on his back. There stood Kabumpo winding up the long rope with his trunk and grumbling furiously all the while.
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“Takes more than a snuffer to keep me down,” wheezed the Elegant Elephant, hurrying over and jerking the Prince to his feet. “Three humps of my shoulders and off she goes! What makes it so dark?” ”

“ I am funny. You know I am!” she sighed a bit ruefully.
“You’re not funny to me,” blustered Wag, still glaring at Kabumpo. “Who does he think he is?”
“I?” sniffed Kabumpo, spreading out his ears complacently, “I am the Elegant Elephant of Pumperdink. Notice my pearls; gaze upon my robe.”
“You don’t look very elegant to me,” snorted Wag. “You look more like a tramp. Says he’s a lelegant nelephant from Dumperpink,” he whispered scornfully to Peg.
“And what’s that you’ve got on your back?” he called, with a wave of his paw at Pompa. “A dunce?” ”

“ Kabumpo, sampling stray wisps as he ran and peering out comically from under the hay, enjoyed to the utmost the sensation he was causing.
"Make a wish, my boy," he shouted exuberantly. "It's awfully lucky to wish on the first load of hay."
"Then I wish we would reach the Red Jinn's castle before night," decided Randy. "And wouldn't Jinnicky laugh if he could see us now? Did you leave a pearl for the hay, Kabumpo?"
"Certainly," retorted the elephant, speaking rather stuffily through the haystack. "We're travelers, not thieves. Hi! what's ahead, my lad? ”

“ There was a smooth patch of sand under the trees and Wag hopped over and began marking out the squares with his paw.
“Scop hotch!” laughed Pompa, While Peg gave a skip of delight.
“Play if you want to,” wheezed Kabumpo, shaking himself wearily, “I feel about as playful as a stone lion. Besides, hop scotch isn’t an elephant game.”
Peg, Wag and Pompa began to hop scotch for dear life. Peg often tumbled over, for it is hard to keep your balance on wooden legs, but it was Peg who won in the end and Wag crowned her with daisies. ”

“ Planetty nodded dreamily, then, seeing Kabumpo was ready to start, she tapped Thun with her silver heels and away streaked the Thunder Colt, Kabumpo swinging along at a grand gallop behind him.
"Strange we have not passed any woodsmen's huts, nor seen any wild animals," called Randy, jamming his crown down a little tighter to keep it from sailing off. "Hi! Watch out, there old Push-a-Foot! There's a wall ahead stretching away on all sides and going up higher than higher. What's a wall doing in a forest? ”

“ Go dive in the feathers yourself. His Highness is going to sleep in here on the floor." Kabumpo stood so close and spoke so violently through the keyhole, Dawkins was blown back against the opposite wall. For a time footsteps pattered up and down the corridor, then finally deciding the young King was to have his own way at last, the footmen and courtiers and even Uncle Hoochafoo took themselves off. But not till everything was absolutely quiet and still and everyone in the castle asleep did Kabumpo and Randy venture forth. ”

“ There at his feet lay the King of the Candles, stiff and lifeless and with never a head to bless himself with. While the Elegant Elephant stared at the long candlestick figure a fat little Candleman rushed forward and lit with his own head the small black wick sticking out of the King’s collar.
Instantly the ruddy flame face of the King appeared, his eyes snapping dangerously. Jumping to his feet he advanced toward Pompadore. “Is this your Ouch?” spluttered the King, jerking his thumb at Kabumpo. “You must take him away at once. I never was so put out in my life. ”

“ Nelegant Lelephant.”
“Oh, all right,” sniffed Kabumpo hastily. “But you’ll have to admit she’s curious.”
“Of course she is,” said Wag complacently. “That’s why I like her. She wasn’t cut out to be a beauty, but to be companionable, and she is. When you’ve known Peg as long as I have”—Wag paused impressively—“you’ll be proud to carry her on your back, Mr. Long Nose!”
“I’ve only known her a few minutes and I adore her!” said Pompa heartily. “Mistress Peg and I are good friends already.” Peg curtseyed awkwardly. “I’ve done this before,” she reflected curiously to herself. ”

“ With a tremendous yawn he opened the other eye and began to chuckle and shake all over.
“We stole a march on ’em, Pompa. I’d like to see the King’s face when he finds us gone. Old Pumper will be Oyezing all over the palace. He’ll think we’ve disappeared by magic.”
“Well, didn’t we?” asked Pompadore in amazement.
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“Not unless you call me magic. I carried you off in the night. Did you suppose old Kabumpo was going to stand quietly by while they married you to a faggotty old fairy like Faleero? Not much,” wheezed the Elegant Elephant. “I have other plans for you, little one!” ”

“ Can’t you eat grass and fish? There’s fine fish in my lakes.”
“Well, I don’t eat at all,” explained Peg pleasantly, “but Pompa is a Prince and a Prince has to have meat and vegetables and puddings on Sunday—”
“And I have to have lettuce and carrots and cabbages, or I won’t work!” cried Wag, thumping with his hind feet and winking at Kabumpo. “I’ll not dig a single mountain!”
“And I’ve got to have my ton of hay a day, too!” trumpeted the Elegant Elephant, “or I’ll not lug a single log. Pretty poor sort of a Country you are, expecting us to live on grass as if we were donkeys and goats.” ”

“ He shot his neck angrily in Mombi's direction and immediately everyone's attention was directed to the old witch, whom the Elegant Elephant still guarded in the corner.
"Why, there's Kabumpo!" cried Ozma and then, catching her first glimpse of the tailor without ears, she sank limply into a chair and began to fan herself with a doily. "Everything, everything's so queer," murmured the little Queen, looking appealingly at Betsy and Trot.
"Fetch the Green Book of Magic from the library," ordered the Wizard, giving Sir Hokus a push. ”

“ Even Kabumpo shuddered as Peg Amy told how Cap’n Bill had cut down the little tree, pared off all the branches and carved from the trunk a small wooden doll for Trot.
“It didn’t hurt,” Princess Peg hastened to explain as she caught Pompa’s sorrowful expression, “and being a doll was a lot better than being a tree. I could not move or speak but I knew what was going on and life in Ozma’s palace was cheerful and interesting. Only, of course, I longed to tell Ozma or Trot of my enchantment. I missed dear Uncle Tozzyfog and all the people of Sun Top Mountain. ”

“ For a while the two little Wakes marched ahead in a subdued silence as the Elegant Elephant picked his way around rocks and tree stumps.
"Not mad, I hope?" Torpy, most talkative of the two, looked anxiously over his shoulder.
"No, no—certainly not. I don't know when I've spent a more delightful evening," Kabumpo said. "Being stuck full of arrows and then buried alive is such splendid entertainment."
"Oh, I say now, we cannot all be alike," put in Snorpy, coming to the rescue of his embarrassed companion. ”

“ Planetty turned a frankly puzzled face.
"I mean, do you have a house or a castle?" persisted Randy, determined to have the matter settled in his mind once for all. "Do you have brothers and sisters, and is your father a King?"
"No house, no castle, no those other words," answered Planetty in even greater bewilderment. "On Anuther Planet each is to herself or himself alone. One floats, rides, skips or drifts through the leadling heights and lowlands, hanging the cape where one happens to be."
"Regular gypsies," murmured Kabumpo under his breath. ”

“ Do you want to be stiff and still as a statue for the rest of your days?"
"I'd rather be a statue down here with you and Bumpo, where the birds sing and the flowers grow and the woods are green and wonderful, than to be a live Princess of Anuther Planet!" sighed the metal maiden, hiding her face in Thun's mane.
"You WOULD?" cried Randy, almost falling off the elephant in his extreme joy and excitement. "Then you just SHALL, and Jinnicky will change everything so you can live down here always and come back to Oz with Kabumpo and me! Would you like that, Planetty?" ”

“ An old woman and a goose were walking calmly through the mountain just as if it did not exist at all—an old woman and a goose! The former was dressed in the simple costume of a Gilliken farmer's wife. In one hand she carried a large basket and with the other she held her stick and a long rope attached to the goose's neck.
"It's Mombi!" cried Dorothy, clutching Snip in terror, for in spite of the disguise, there was no mistaking that wicked old face.
"And Pajuka!" gasped Snip, scarcely daring to breathe. Tora's ears were fluttering like leaves in a gale, and even Kabumpo trembled slightly. ”

“ Out of Gaper's Gulch
Now the Gapers were not dead, but only sleeping, and soon the dormant natives of this strange Hibernation lifted up their headstones and began blinking out indignantly to see what and who had got loose in their quiet valley.
"Silence! Cease! Desist!" shuddered Sleeperoo the Great and Snorious, holding up his headstone with one hand and waving his other arm feebly at Kabumpo. "A bit more of that racket and we'll be roused for months. Who are you? ”

“ The Elegant Elephant looked ruefully at his silk robe of state, which was hopelessly smeared with icing; then put his trunk to his head, for something hard had struck him between the eyes. He felt about the floor and found a round shiny object which he was about to show the King when Pompus pounced upon a tall scroll sitting upright in his tumbler. ”

“ This is Peg Amy, Princess of Sun Top Mountain.
While Pompa stared with round eyes the words faded out and this new legend formed in the glass:
This is the Proper Princess.
“I always knew you were a Princess,” cried Wag, turning a somersault.
The big rabbit had just come right-side-up, when a still more amazing thing happened. The wooden body of Peg melted before their eyes and in its place stood the loveliest little Princess in the world. And yet, with all her beauty, she was strangely like the old Peg. Her eyes had the same merry twinkle and her mouth the same pleasant curve. ”