Part 31 (1/2)
It was a long journey, and all the Pinkies were dripping water from their raincoats, and their fat little legs were tired and aching when the pink glow showing through the fog at last announced that they were nearing the Pink Country.
At the very edge of the Fog Bank the elephant halted, winked at b.u.t.ton-Bright, lowered its head and began to shrink in size and dwindle away. By the time the boy came up to it, closely followed by Trot and Cap'n Bill, the thing was only the well-known Magic Umbrella, with the carved elephant's head for a handle, and it lay motionless upon the ground. b.u.t.ton-Bright picked it up, and as he examined it he thought the tiny eyes still twinkled a little, as if with triumph and pride.
Trot drew a long breath.
”That was SOME magic, I guess!” she exclaimed. ”Don't you think so, Rosalie?”
”It was the most wonderful thing I ever saw,” admitted the Witch. ”The fairies who control b.u.t.ton-Bright's umbrella must be very powerful indeed!”
TROT REGULATES THE PINKIES
CHAPTER 29
The Pinkies were rejoiced to find themselves again in their beloved land of sunrises and sunsets. They sang and shouted with glee, and the Band uncovered its pink instruments and played the National Pink Anthem, while the parrot flew from Trot's shoulder to Cap'n Bill's shoulder and back again, screaming ecstatically,
”Hooray! We're through the wetful fogs Where the elephant scared the fretful frogs!”
There was a magnificent sunset in the sky just then, and it cheered the Pinkies and gave them renewed strength. Away they hastened across the pink fields to the Pink City, where all the Pink people who had been left behind ran out to welcome them home again.
Trot and b.u.t.ton-Bright, with Cap'n Bill and Rosalie the Witch, went to the humble palace, where they had a simple supper of coa.r.s.e food and slept upon hard beds. In the houses of the City, however, there was much feasting and merrymaking, and it seemed to Trot that the laws of the country which forbade the Queen from enjoying all the good things the people did were decidedly wrong and needed changing.
The next morning Rosalie said to the little girl, ”Will you make Tourmaline the Queen again when you go away?”
”I'll send for her and see about it,” replied Trot.
But when Tourmaline arrived at the palace, dressed all in lovely, fluffy robes and with a dainty pink plume in her pink hair, she begged most earnestly not to be made the Queen again.
”I'm having a good time just now after years of worry and uncomfortable living in this uncomfortable old hut of a palace,” said the poor girl, ”so it would be cruel for you to make me the servant of the people again and condemn me to want and misery.”
”That seems reason'ble,” replied Trot thoughtfully.
”Rosalie's skin is just as light a pink as my own,” continued Tourmaline. ”Why don't you make her the Queen?”
”I hadn't thought of that,” said Trot. Then she turned to Rosalie and asked, ”How would you like to rule the Pinkies?”
”I wouldn't like it,” replied the Witch with a smile. ”The Queen is the poorest and most miserable creature in all the kingdom, and I'm sure I don't deserve such a fate. I've always tried to be a good witch and to do my duty.”
Trot thought this over quite seriously for a time. Then one of her quaint ideas came to her--so quaint that it was entirely sensible. ”I'm the Queen of the Pinkies just now, am I not?” she asked.
”Of course,” answered Rosalie. ”None can dispute that.”
”Then I've the right to make new laws, haven't I?”
”I believe so.”
”In that case,” said the girl, ”I'm goin' to make a law that the Queen shall have the same food an' the same dresses an' the same good times that her people have; and she shall live in a house jus' as good as the houses of any of her people, an' have as much money to spend as anybody. But no more. The Queen can have her share of ever'thing 'cordin' to the new law, but if she tries to get more than her share, I'll have the law say she shall be taken to the edge an' pushed off.
What do you think of THAT law, Rosalie?”