The Surprising Adventures of The Magical Monarch of Mo And His People


The Surprising Adventures of The Magical Monarch of Mo And His People
L. Frank Baum
The First Surprise. THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF MO
I dare say there are several questions you would like to ask at the very 
beginning of this history. First: Who is the Monarch of Mo? And why is he called 
the Magical Monarch? And where IS Mo, anyhow? And why have your never heard of 
it before? And c an it be reached by a railroad or a trolley-car or must one 
walk all the way? 
These questions I realize should be answered before we (that "we" means you and 
the book) can settle down together for a comfortable reading of all the wonders 
and astonishing adventures I shall endeavor faithfully to relate. 
In the first place, the Monarch of Mo is a very pleasant personage holding the 
rank of King. He is not very tall, nor is he very short; he is midway between 
fat and lean; he is delightfully jolly when he is not sad, and seldom sad if he 
can possible be jolly. How old he may be I have never dared to inquire, but when 
we realize that he is destined to live as long as the Valley of Mo exists, we 
may reasonably suppose the Monarch of Mo is exactly as old as his native land. 
And no one in Mo has ever recko ned up the years to see how many they have been. 
So we will just say that the Monarch of Mo and the Valley of Mo are each a part 
of the other and cannot be separated. 
He is not called the Magical Monarch because he deals in magic, for he doesn't 
deal in magic. But he leads such a queer life in such a queer country that his 
history will surely seem magical to us who inhabit the civilized places of the 
world and think that anything we can not find a reason for must be due to magic. 
The life of the Monarch of Mo seems simple enough to him, you may be sure, for 
he knows no other existence. And our ways of living, could he know of them, 
would doubtless astonish him grea tly. 
The land of Mo, which is ruled by the King we call the Magical Monarch, is often 
spoken of as the "Beautiful Valley." If they would only put in on the maps of 
our geographies and paint it pink or light green and print a big round dot where 
the King's ca stle stands, it would be easy enough to point out to you its exact 
location. But I cannot find the Valley of Mo in any geography I have examined, 
so I suspect the men who made these instructive books really know nothing about 
Mo, else it would surely be on the maps. 
Of one thing I am certain: that no other country included in the maps is so 
altogether delightful as the Beautiful Valley of Mo. The sun shines all the 
time, and its rays are perfumed. The people who live in the Valley do not sleep, 
because there is no night. Everything they can possibly need grows on the trees, 
so they have no use for money at all, and that saves them a deal of worry. 
There are no poor people in this quaint Valley. When a person desires a new hat, 
he waits till one is ripe, and then picks it and wears it without asking 
anybody's permission. If a lady wishes a new ring, she examines carefully those 
upon the ring tree , and when she finds one that fits her finger, she picks it 
and wears it upon her hand. In this way they procure all they desire. 
There are two rivers in the Land of Mo, one of which flows milk of a very rich 
quality. Some of the islands in Milk River are made of excellent cheese, and the 
people are welcome to spade up this cheese whenever they wish to eat it. In the 
little pools near the bank, where the current does not flow swiftly, delicious 
cream rises to the top of the milk, and instead of water-lilies great strawberry 
leaves grow upon the surface, and the ripe, red berries lie dipping their noses 
into the cream as if inviti ng you to come and eat them. The sand that forms the 
river bank is pure white sugar, and all kinds of candies and bonbons grow thick 
on the low bushes, so that anyone may pluck them easily. 
These are only a few of the remarkable things that exist in the Beautiful 
Valley. The people are merry, light-hearted folk, who live in beautiful houses 
of pure crystal, where they can rest themselves and play their games and go in 
when it rains. For i t rains in Mo as it does everywhere else, only it rains 
lemonade, and the lightning in the sky resembles the most beautiful fireworks, 
and the thunder is usually a chorus from the opera of Tannhauser. 
No one ever dies in this Valley, and the people are always young and beautiful. 
There is the King and a Queen, besides several princes and princesses. But it is 
not much use being a prince in Mo, because the King cannot die, therefore a 
prince is a pri nce to the end of his days, and his days never end. 
Strange things occur in this strange land, as you may imagine; and while I 
relate some of these, you will learn more of the peculiar features of the 
Beautiful Valley. 
The Second Surprise. THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THE KING'S HEAD
A good many years ago the Magical Monarch of Mo became annoyed by the Purple 
Dragon, which came down from the mountains and ate up a patch of his best 
chocolate caramels just as they were getting ripe. So the King went out to the 
sword tree and picked a long, sharp sword and tied it to his belt and went away 
to the mountains to fight the Purple Dragon. 
The people all applauded him, saying one to another, "Our King is a good King. 
He will destroy this naughty Purple Dragon and we shall be able to eat the 
caramels ourselves." 
But the Dragon was not alone naughty; it was bad and fierce and strong and did 
not want to be destroyed at all. Therefore the King had a terrible fight with 
the Purple Dragon, and cut it with his sword in several places, so that the 
raspberry juice whic h ran in its veins squirted all over the ground. 
It is always difficult to kill Dragons. They are by nature thick-skinned and 
tough, as doubtless everyone has heard. Besides, you must not forget that this 
was a Purple Dragon, and all scientists who have studied deeply the character of 
Dragons say tho se of a purple color are the most disagreeable to fight with. So 
all the King's cutting and slashing had no other effect upon the monster than to 
make him angry. Forgetful of the respect due to a crowned King, the wicked 
Dragon presently opened wide its jaws and bit his Majesty's head clean off from 
his body. Then he swallowed it. 
Of course the King realized it was useless to continue the fight after that, for 
he could not see where the Dragon was. So he turned and tried to find his way 
back to his people. But at every other step he would bump into a tree, which 
made the naughty Dragon laugh at him. Furthermore, he could not tell in which 
direction he was going, which is an unpleasant feeling under any circumstances. 
As last some of the people came to see if the King had succeeded in destroying 
the Dragon and found their monarch running around in a circle, bumping into 
trees and rocks but not getting a step nearer home. So they took his hand and 
led him back to the palace, where everyone was filled with sorrow at the sad 
sight of the headless King. Indeed, his devoted subjects for the first time in 
their lives came as near to weeping as an inhabitant of the Valley of Mo ever 
gets. 
"Never mind," said the King cheerfully. "I can get along very well without a 
head, and as a matter of fact, the loss has its advantages. I shall not be 
obliged to brush my hair or clean my teeth or wash my ears. So do not grieve, I 
beg of you, but he h appy and joyful as you were before." Which showed the King 
had a good heart, and after all, a good heart is better than a head any day. 
The people, hearing him speak out of the top of his neck (for he had no mouth), 
immediately began to laugh, which in a short time led to their being as happy as 
ever. But the Queen was not contented. "My love," she said to him, "I can not 
kiss you any more, and that will break my heart." 
Thereupon the King sent word throughout the Valley that anyone who could procure 
for him a new head should wed one of the princesses. The princesses were all 
exceedingly pretty girls, and so it was not long before one young man made a 
very nice head out of candy and brought it to the King. It did not look exactly 
like the old head, but the face was very sweet, nevertheless, so the King put it 
on and the Queen kissed it at once with much satisfaction. 
The young man had put a pair of glass eyes in the head with which the King could 
see very well after he got used to them. 
According to the royal promise, the young man was now called into the palace and 
asked to take his pick of the princesses. They were all so sweet and lady-like 
that he had some trouble in making a choice, but at last he took the biggest, 
thinking that h e would thus secure the greatest reward, and they were married 
amid great rejoicing. 
But a few days afterward the King was caught in a rainstorm, and before he could 
get home, his new head had melted in the great shower of lemonade that fell. 
Only the glass eyes were left, and these he put in his pocket and went 
sorrowfully to tell the Queen of his new misfortune. 
Then another young man who wanted to marry a princess made the King a head out 
of dough, sticking in the glass eyes, and the King tried it on and found that it 
fitted very well. So the young man was given the next-biggest princess. But the 
following da y the sun chanced to shine extremely hot, and when the King walked 
out, it baked his dough head into bread, at which the monarch felt very 
light-headed. And when the birds saw the bread, they flew down from the trees, 
perched upon the King's shoulder, an d quickly ate up his new head. All but the 
glass eyes. 
Again the good King was forced to go home to the Queen without a head, and the 
lady firmly declared that this time her husband must have a head warranted to 
last at least as long as the honeymoon of the young man who made it; which was 
not at all unreaso nable under the circumstances. So a request was sent to all 
loyal subjects throughout the Valley asking them to find a head for their King 
that was neat and substantial. 
In the meanwhile, the King had a rather hard time of it. When he wished to go 
anyplace, he was obliged to hold out in front of him, between his thumbs and 
fingers, the glass eyes, that they might guide his footsteps. This, as you may 
imagine, made his Majesty look rather undignified, and dignity is very precious 
to every royal personage. 
At last a woodchopper in the mountains made a head out of wood and sent it to 
the King. It was neatly carved, besides being solid and durable; moreover, it 
fitted the monarch's neck to a T. So the King rummaged in his pocket and found 
the glass eyes, a nd when these were put in the new head, the King announced his 
satisfaction. There was only one drawback--he couldn't smile, as the wooden face 
was too stiff; and it was funny to hear his Majesty laughing heartily while his 
face maintained a solemn expre ssion. But the glass eyes twinkled merrily and 
everyone knew that he was the same kind-hearted monarch of old, although he had 
become of necessity rather hard-headed. 
Then the King sent word to the woodchopper to come to the palace and take his 
pick of the princesses, and preparations were at once begun for the wedding. But 
the woodchopper on his way to the court unfortunately passed by the dwelling of 
the Purple Dra gon and stopped to speak to the monster. 
Now it seems that when the Dragon had swallowed the King's head, the unusual 
meal made the beast ill. It was more accustomed to berries and caramels for 
dinner than to heads, and the sharp points of the King's crown (which was firmly 
fastened to the hea d) pricked the Dragon's stomach and made the creature 
miserable. After a few days of suffering, the Dragon disgorged the head, and not 
knowing what else to do with it, locked it up in a cupboard and put the key in 
its pocket. 
When the Dragon met the woodchopper and learned he had made a new head for the 
King and as a reward was to wed one of the princesses, the monster became very 
angry. It resolved to do a wicked thing, which will not surprise you when you 
remember the beas t's purple color. "Step into my parlor and rest yourself," 
said the Dragon politely. Wicked people are most polite when they mean mischief. 

"Thank you, I'll stop for a few minutes," replied the woodchopper, "but I cannot 
stay long, as I am expected at court." 
When he had entered the parlor, the Dragon suddenly opened its mouth and snapped 
off the poor woodchopper's head. Being warned by experience, however, it did not 
swallow the head, but placed it in the cupboard. Then the Dragon took from a 
shelf the Kin g's head and glued it on the woodchopper's neck. "Now," said the 
beast with a cruel laugh, "you are the King! Go home and claim your wife and 
your kingdom." 
The poor woodchopper was much amazed, for at first he did not really know which 
he was, the King or the woodchopper. He looked in the mirror, and seeing the 
King, made a low bow. Then the King's head thought, "Who am I bowing to? There 
is no one great er than the King!" And so at once there began a conflict between 
the woodchopper's heart and the King's head. 
The Dragon was mightily pleased at the result of its wicked stratagem, and 
having pushed the bewildered woodchopper out of the castle, immediately sent him 
on his way to the court. When the poor man neared the town, the people ran out 
and said, "Why, th is is the King come back again. All hail, your Majesty!" 
"All nonsense!" returned the woodchopper. "I am only a poor man with the King's 
head upon my shoulders. You can easily see it isn't mine, for it's crooked; the 
Dragon didn't glue it on straight." 
"Where then is your own head?" they asked. 
"Locked up in the Dragon's cupboard," replied the poor fellow, beginning to 
weep. 
"Here," cried the King's head, "stop this. You mustn't cry out of my eyes! The 
King never weeps." 
"I beg pardon, your Majesty," said the woodchopper meekly. "I'll not do it 
again." 
"Well see that you don't," returned the head more cheerfully. 
The people were greatly amazed at this, and took the woodchopper to the palace, 
where all was soon explained. When the Queen saw the King's head, she 
immediately kissed it, but the King rebuked her, saying she must kiss only him. 
"But it is your head," said the poor Queen. 
"Probably it is," replied the King, "but it is on another man. You must confine 
yourself to kissing my wooden head." 
"I'm sorry," sighed the Queen, "for I like to kiss the real head best." 
"And so you shall," said the King's head. "I don't approve your kissing that 
wooden head at all." 
The poor lady looked from one to the other in perplexity. Finally, a happy 
thought occurred to her. "Why don't you trade heads?" she asked. 
"Just the thing!" cried the King, and, the woodchopper consenting, the exchange 
was made and the Monarch of Mo found himself in possession of his own head 
again, whereat he was so greatly pleased that he laughed long and merrily. 
The woodchopper, however, did not even smile. He couldn't because of the wooden 
face. The head he had made for the King he now was compelled to wear himself. 
"Bring hither the princesses," commanded the King. "This good man shall choose 
his bride at once, for he has restored to me my own head." 
But when the princesses arrived and saw that the woodchopper had a wooden head, 
they each and all refused to marry him, and begged so hard to escape that the 
King was in a quandary. "I promised him one of my daughters," he argued, "and a 
King never brea ks his word." 
"But he hadn't a wooden head then," explained one of the girls. The King 
realized the truth of this. Indeed, when he came to look carefully at the wooden 
head, he could not blame his daughters for not wishing to marry it. Should he 
force one of them t o consent, it was not unlikely she would call her husband a 
blockhead, a term almost certain to cause trouble in any family. 
After giving the matter deep thought, the King resolved to go to the Purple 
Dragon and oblige it to give up the woodchopper's head. So all the fighting men 
in the kingdom were got together, and having picked ripe swords off the sword 
tree, they marched in a great body to the Dragon's castle. Now the Purple Dragon 
realized that if it attempted to fight all this army, it would perhaps be cut to 
pieces, so it retired within its castle and refused to come out. 
The woodchopper was a brave man. "I'll go in and fight the Dragon alone," he 
said, and in he went. By this time the Dragon was both frightened and angry, and 
the moment it saw the man, it rushed forward and made a snap at his head. The 
wooden head cam e off at once, and the Dragon's long, sharp teeth got stuck in 
the wood and would not come out again; so the monster was unable to do anything 
but flop its tail and groan. 
The woodchopper now ran to the cupboard, took out his head and placed it upon 
his shoulders where it belonged. Then he proudly walked out of the castle and 
was greeted with loud shouts by the army, which carried him back in triumph to 
the King's palace. And now that he wore his own head again, one of the prettiest 
of the young princesses willingly agreed to marry him, so the wedding ceremony 
was performed amidst great rejoicing. 
The Third Surprise. THE TRAMP DOG AND THE MONARCH'S LOST TEMPER
One day the Monarch of Mo, having nothing better to do, resolved to go hunting 
blackberries among the bushes that grew on the foot of the mountains. So he put 
on an old crown that would not get tarnished if it rained, and having found a 
tin pail in the pantry, started off without telling anyone where he was going. 
For some distance the path was a nice, smooth taffy that was very agreeable to 
walk on, but as he got nearer the mountains, the ground became gravelly, the 
stones being jackson-balls and gumdrops, so that his boots, which were a little 
green when he pick ed them, began to hurt his feet. 
But the King was not easily discouraged, and kept on until he found the 
blackberry bushes, when he immediately began to fill his pail, the berries being 
remarkably big and sweet. While he was thus occupied, he heard a sound of 
footsteps coming down the mountainside, and presently a little dog ran out from 
the bushes and trotted up to him. Now there were no dogs at all in Mo, and the 
King had never seen a creature like this before, therefore he was greatly 
surprised and said, "What are you, and where do you come from?" 
The dog also was surprised at this question and looked suspiciously at the 
King's tin pail, for many times wicked boys had tied such a pail to the end of 
his tail. In fact, that was the reason he had run away from home and found his 
way, by accident, to the Valley of Mo. "My name is Prince," replied the dog 
gravely, "and I have come from a country beyond the mountains and the desert." 
"Indeed! Are you in truth a prince?" exclaimed the monarch. "Then you will be 
welcome in my kingdom, where we always treat nobility with proper respect. But 
why do you have four feet?" 
"Because six would be too many," replied the dog. 
"But I have only two," said the King. 
"I am sorry," said the dog, who was something of a wag, "because where I come 
from it is more fashionable to walk on four feet." 
"I like to be in fashion," remarked the King thoughtfully, "but what am I to do, 
having only two legs?" 
"Why, I suppose you would walk on your hands and feet," replied the dog with a 
laugh. 
"So I will," said the King, being pleased with the idea, "and you shall come to 
the palace with me and teach all the fashions of the country from whence you 
came." 
The King got down on his hands and knees and was delighted to find he could get 
along in this way very nicely. "How am I to carry my pail?" he asked. 
"In your mouth, of course," replied the dog. This suggestion seeming a happy 
one, the King took the pail in his mouth, and they started back toward the 
palace. But when his Majesty came to the gumdrops and jackson-balls, they hurt 
his hands and knees s o that he groaned aloud. But the dog only laughed. Finally 
they reached a place where it was quite muddy. Of course the mud was only jelly, 
but it hadn't dried up since the last rain. The dog jumped over the place nimbly 
enough, but when the King tried to do likewise, he failed, and came down into 
the jelly with both hands and knees, and stuck fast. 
Now the monarch had a very good temper, which he carried in his vest pocket; but 
as he passed over the gumdrop pebbles on his hands and knees, this temper 
dropped out of his pocket, and having lost it he became very angry at the dog 
for getting him into such a scrape. So he began to scold, and when he opened his 
mouth, the pail dropped out and the berries were all spilled. This made the dog 
laugh more than ever, at which the King pulled himself out of the jelly, jumped 
to his feet and began to chase th e dog as fast as he could. Finally the dog 
climbed a tall tree where the King could not reach him, and when safe among the 
branches, he looked down and said, "See how foolish a man becomes who tries to 
be in fashion rather than live as nature intended he should! You can no more be 
a dog than I can be a king, so hereafter, if you are wise, you will be content 
to walk on two legs." 
"There is truth in what you say," replied the Monarch of Mo. "Come with me to 
the palace and you shall be forgiven. Indeed, we shall have a fine feast in 
honor of your arrival." So the dog climbed down from the tree and followed the 
King to the palace , where all the courtiers were astonished to see so queer an 
animal, and made a great favorite of him. 
After dinner the King invited the dog to take a walk around the grounds of the 
royal mansion, and they started out merrily enough. But the King's boots had 
begun to hurt him again, for as they did not fit, being picked green, they had 
rubbed his toes unt il he had corns on them. So when they reached the porch in 
front of the palace the King asked, "My friend, what is good for corns?" 
"Tight boots," replied the dog, laughing, "but they are not very good for your 
feet." 
Now the King, not yet having found his lost temper, became exceedingly angry at 
this poor jest, so he rushed at the dog and gave it a tremendous kick. Up into 
the air like a ball flew the dog, while the King, having hurt his toe by the 
kick, sat down on the doorstep and nursed his foot while he watched the dog go 
farther and farther up until it seemed like a tiny speck against the blue of the 
sky. "I must have kicked harder than I thought," said the King ruefully. "There 
he goes, out of sight, and I sh all never see him again!" 
He now limped away into the back garden, where he picked a new pair of boots 
that would not hurt his feet, and while he was gone the dog began to fall down 
again. Of course he fell faster than he went up and finally landed with a crash 
exactly on the Ki ng's doorstep. But so great was the force of the fall and so 
hard the doorstep that the poor dog was flattened out like a pancake and could 
not move a bit. 
When the King came back, he said, "Hullo! Some kind friend has brought me a new 
doormat as a present," and he leaned down and stroked the soft hair with much 
pleasure. Then he wiped his feet on the new mat and went into the palace to tell 
the Queen. W hen her Majesty saw the nice, soft doormat, she declared it was too 
good to be left outside, so she brought it into the palace and put it on the 
floor before the fireplace. 
The good King was sorry he had treated the dog so harshly, and for fear he might 
do some other dreadful thing he went back to the place where he had lost his 
temper and searched until he found it again, when he put it carefully away in 
his pocket, where it would stay. Then he returned to the palace and entered the 
parlor, but as he passed the mat, his new boots were so clumsy he stumbled 
against the edge and pushed the mat together into a roll. 
Immediately the dog gave a bark, got upon its legs and said, "Well, this is 
better! Now I can breathe again, but while I was so flat I could not draw a 
single breath." 
The monarch and his Queen were much surprised to find that what they had taken 
for a mat was only the dog that had fallen so flat on their doorstep, but they 
could not forbear laughing at his queer appearance. For, as the King had kicked 
the mat on the e dge, the dog was more than six feet long and no bigger around 
than a lead pencil; which brought its front legs so far from its rear legs that 
it could scarcely turn around in the room without getting tangled up. 
"But it is better than being a doormat," said the dog, and the King and Queen 
agreed with him in this. Then the King went away to tell the people he had found 
the dog again, and when he left the palace he slammed the front door behind him. 
The dog had started to follow the King out, so when the front door slammed, it 
hit the poor animal so sharp a blow on the nose that it pushed his body together 
again, and, lo and behold! there was the dog in his natural shape just as he was 
before the King kicked him . 
After this, the dog and the King agreed very well, for the King was careful not 
to kick, since he had recovered his temper, and the dog took care not to say 
anything that would provoke the King to anger. And one day the dog saved the 
Kingdom and all the Valley of Mo from destruction, as I shall tell you another 
time. 
The Fourth Surprise. THE PECULIAR PAINS OF FRUITCAKE ISLAND
Prince Zingle, who was the eldest of all the princes of the Valley of Mo, at one 
time became much irritated because the King, his father, would not allow him to 
milk the cow with the golden horns. This cow was a great favorite with the King 
because she gave as large a quantity of ice cream at a milking as an ordinary 
cow does of milk, and in the warm days this was an agreeable luxury. The King 
liked to keep the cow with the golden horns for his own use and that of the 
Queen, so Prince Zingle thought he was being abused, having a great fondness for 
ice cream himself. 
To be sure, there was the great fountain of ice cream soda water playing 
constantly in the courtyard, which was free to everyone, but the Prince longed 
for what he could not have. Therefore, being filled with anger against his 
father, the King, he wande red away until he chanced to come near to the castle 
of the Purple Dragon. When the wicked monster saw the Prince, it decided that 
here was a splendid opportunity to make mischief, so it said politely, "Good 
morning, King Zingle." 
"I am not a king, I am only a prince," replied Zingle. 
"What! Not a king?" exclaimed the Dragon as if surprised. "That is too bad." 
"I can never be a king while my father lives," continued the Prince, "and it is 
impossible for him to die. So what can I do?" 
"Since you ask my advice, I will tell you," answered the naughty Dragon. "Down 
near Rootbeer River, where the peanut trees grow, is a very deep hole in the 
ground. You must get the King to go and look into the hole, and while he is 
leaning over the edg e push him in. Of course, he will not die, for that, as you 
say, is impossible; but no one will know where to find him. So, your father 
being out of the way, you will be king in his place." 
"That is surely good advice," said the Prince, "and I will go and do it at once. 
Then the cow with the golden horns will be mine, and I shall become the Monarch 
of Mo." The Prince turned to go back to the palace, and as soon as he was out of 
sight, the horrid Dragon laughed to think what a fool it had made of the boy. 
When Zingle saw his father, he called him aside and said, "Your Majesty, I have 
discovered something very funny at the bottom of the hole near the peanut trees. 
Come and see what it is." 
So the King went with the Prince without suspecting his evil design, and while 
he leaned over the hole, the Prince gave him a sudden push. The next moment down 
fell the Monarch of Mo, way to the bottom! Then Prince Zingle went back to the 
palace and beg an to milk the cow with the golden horns. 
Now when the King found himself at the bottom of the hole, he at first did not 
know what to do, so he sat down and thought about it. Presently a happy idea 
came into his head. He knew if only he was at the other end of the hole, he 
would be at the top i nstead of the bottom and could make his escape. So the 
King took hold of the hole, and exerting all his strength turned the hole upside 
down. Being now at the top, he stepped upon the ground and walked back to the 
palace, where he caught Prince Zingle m ilking the cow with the golden horns. 
"Oho!" he said. "You wish to be King, do you? Well, we'll see about that!" Then 
he took the naughty Prince by the ear and led him into the palace, where he 
locked him up in a room from which he could not escape. The King now sat himself 
down in an ea sy chair and began to think on how he could best punish the 
Prince, but after an hour of deep thought he was unable to decide on anything 
that seemed a sufficient chastisement for so great an offense. At last he 
resolved to consult the Wise Donkey. 
The Wise Donkey lived in a pretty little house away at the end of the Valley, 
for he didn't like to mix with the gay life at the court. He had not always been 
wise, but at one time was a very stupid donkey indeed, and he acquired his 
wisdom in this way. 
One Friday afternoon, just as school was letting out, the stupid donkey strayed 
into the schoolhouse, and the teachers and scholars were all so anxious to get 
home that they never noticed the donkey, but locked him up in the schoolhouse 
and went away wit hout knowing he was there. No one came into the building from 
Friday afternoon until Monday morning, so the donkey got very hungry and 
certainly would have starved had he not chanced to taste of a geography that was 
sticking out from one of the desks. T he hungry donkey decided it was not so 
very bad, so he ate it all up. Then he ate an arithmetic, an algebra, and two 
first readers. After that he lay down and went to sleep, but becoming hungry 
again, he awoke and commenced on the school library, which he completely 
devoured. This library comprised all the solid and substantial wisdom in the 
Valley of Mo, and when the janitor opened the schoolhouse door on Monday 
morning, all the books of learning in the whole land had been eaten up by the 
stupid donke y. 
You can readily imagine that after he had digested all this knowledge he became 
very wise, and thereafter the King and the people often consulted the Wise 
Donkey when their own intelligence was at fault. So now the monarch went to the 
donkey's house and told him of the Prince's wickedness, asking how he could best 
punish him. 
The Wise Donkey thought about the matter for a moment and then replied, "I do 
not know a worse punishment than a pain in the stomach. Among the books I ate in 
the schoolhouse was a trigonometry, and before I had digested it I suffered very 
severe pains i ndeed." 
"But I cannot feed the Prince a trigonometry," returned the King. "You ate the 
last one yourself." 
"True," answered the donkey, "but there are other things that cause pain in the 
stomach. You know there is a certain island in Rootbeer River that is made of 
fruitcake of a very rich quality. I advise you to put the Prince on this island 
and allow him nothing to eat except the fruitcake. Presently he will have 
violent pains in his stomach and will be punished as greatly as you could 
desire." 
The King was very well pleased with this plan, and having thanked the donkey for 
his wise advice hurried back to the palace. Prince Zingle was now brought from 
his room and rowed in a boat to the Fruit Cake Island in Rootbeer River, where 
he was left wi thout any way to escape. He knew how to swim, to be sure, but it 
was forbidden by law to swim in the Rootbeer, as many people came to this river 
to drink. 
"You shall stay here," said the King sternly, "until you are sorry for your 
wickedness, and you shall have nothing to eat but fruitcake." 
The Prince laughed, because he thought the punishment was no punishment at all. 
When the King had rowed away in the boat and Zingle was left alone, he said to 
himself, "Why, this is delightful! I shall have a jolly time here and can eat 
all the cake I w ant without anyone scolding me for being greedy." He broke off 
a large piece of the island where the raisins and citron were thickest and 
commenced to eat. But after a time he became tired of eating nothing but 
fruitcake and longed for something to go w ith it. But the island did not 
contain a single thing except the cake of which it was composed. 
Presently Prince Zingle began to have a pain inside him. He paid no attention to 
it at first, thinking it would pass away; but instead it grew more severe so 
that he began to cry out, but no one heard him. The pain steadily increased, and 
the Prince wep t and rolled on the ground and began to feel exceeding sorry he 
had been so wicked. Finally he seized the telephone, which was connected with 
the palace, and called up the King. 
"Hello!" said the King's voice in reply. "What is wanted?" 
"I have a terrible pain," said the Prince with a groan, "and I'm very sorry 
indeed that I pushed your Majesty down the hole. If you'll only take me off this 
dreadful island, I'll be the best prince in all the Valley from this time 
forth!" 
So the King sent the boat and had the Prince brought back to the palace, where 
he forgave his naughty actions. Being a kind parent, he next fed his suffering 
son a blossom from a medicine tree, which quickly relieved his pain and led him 
to appreciate t he pleasure of repentance. 
The Fifth Surprise. THE MONARCH CELEBRATES HIS BIRTHDAY
There were great festivities in the Valley of Mo when the King had a birthday. 
The jolly monarch was born so many years ago that everyone had forgotten the 
date. One of the Wise Men said the King was born in February, another declared 
it was in May, an d a third figured that the great event happened in October. So 
the King issued a royal decree that he would have three birthdays every year in 
order to be on the safe side, and whenever he happened to think of it, he put in 
an odd birthday or two for luc k. The King's birthdays came to be regarded as 
very joyful events, for on these occasions festivities of unusual magnificence 
were held, and everybody in the kingdom was invited to participate. 
On one occasion the King, suddenly recollecting he had not celebrated his 
birthday for several weeks, announced a royal festival on a most elaborate 
scale. The cream puff crop was an unusually large one, and the bushes were 
hanging full of the delicious ripe puffs, which were highly prized by the people 
of Mo. So all the maidens got out their best dresses and brightest ribbons, and 
the young men carefully brushed their hair and polished their boots, and soon 
the streets leading to the palace were thron ged with gay merrymakers. 
When the guests were all assembled, a grand feast was served in which the newly 
picked cream puffs were an important item. Then the King stood up at the head of 
the table and ordered his ruby casket to be brought him, and when the people 
heard this, the y at once became quiet and attentive, for the Ruby Casket was 
one of the most curious things in the Valley. It was given the King many years 
before by the sorceress Maetta, and whenever it was opened something was found 
in it that no living person had se en before. 
So the people, and even the King himself, always watched the opening of the Ruby 
Casket with much curiosity, for they never knew what would be disclosed. The 
King placed the casket on a small table before him, and then, after a solemn 
look at the expect ant faces, he said slowly, "Giggle-gaggle-goo!" which was the 
magic word that opened the box. 
At once the lid flew back and the King peered within and exclaimed, "Ha!" This 
made the guests more excited than before, for they did not know what he was 
saying "ha!" about, and they held their breaths when the King put his thumb and 
finger into the bo x and drew out a little wooden man about as big as my finger. 
He wore a blue jacket and a red cap and held a little brass horn in his hand. 
The King stood the wooden man upon the table and then reached within the box and 
brought out another wooden man dressed just the same as the other, and also 
holding a horn in his hand. This the King stood beside the first wooden man, and 
then took out a nother, and another, until ten little wooden men were standing 
in a row on the table, holding drums and cymbals and horns in their small, still 
hands. "I declare," said the King when he had stood them all up. "It's a little 
German band. But what a sham e it is they cannot play." 
No sooner had the King uttered the word "play" than every little wooden man put 
his horn to his mouth or beat his drum or clashed his cymbal, and immediately 
they began to play such delicious music that all the people were delighted, and 
even the King cl apped his hands in applause. 
Just then out from the casket leaped a tiny Baby Elephant about as large as a 
mouse, and began capering about on its toes. It was dressed in short, fluffy 
skirts like those worn by a ballet dancer, and it danced so funnily that all who 
saw it roared wit h laughter. When the elephant stopped to rest, two pretty 
Green Frogs sprang from the casket and began to play leapfrog before the 
astonished guests, who had never before seen such a thing as a frog. The little 
green strangers jumped over each other quic k as a flash, and finally one of 
them jumped down the other's throat. Then, as the Baby Elephant opened his mouth 
to yawn, the remaining frog jumped down the elephant's throat. 
The audience was so much amused at this feat that the Baby Elephant thought he 
would see what he could do to please them, so he stood on his head and gave a 
great jump and disappeared down his own throat, leaving the musicians to play by 
themselves. 
Then all the young men caught the girls about their waists and began spinning 
around in a pretty dance of their own, and the fun continued until they were 
tired out. The King thanked the tiny wooden musicians and put them back in the 
Ruby Casket. He di d not offer to take up a collection for them, there being no 
money of any kind in the Valley of Mo. The casket was then carried back in the 
royal treasury, where it was guarded with much care when not in use. 
Just then a young man approached the King asking permission for the people to 
skate on the Crystal Lake, and his Majesty graciously consented. As it was never 
cold in the Kingdom of Mo, there was, of course, no ice for skating. But the 
Crystal Lake was composed of sugar syrup, and the sun had candied the surface of 
the lake so it had become hard enough to skate on and was, moreover, as smooth 
as glass. 
It was not often the King allowed skating there, for he feared someone might 
break through the crust, but as it was his birthday he could refuse the people 
nothing. So presently hundreds of the boys and girls were skating swiftly on the 
Crystal Lake and having rare sport, for it was just as good as ice without being 
cold or damp. 
In the center there was one place where the crust was quite thin, and just as 
the merriment was at its height, crack! went the ice--or candy, rather--and down 
into the sugar syrup sank the Princess Truella and the Prince Jollikin, and the 
King's royal ch amberlain, Nuphsed. 
Down and down they went until they reached the bottom of the lake, and there 
they stood, stuck fast in the syrup and unable to move a bit, while all the 
people gathered on the shore to look at them, the lake being as clear as the 
clearest water. Of cour se, this calamity put an end to further skating, and the 
King rushed around asking everyone how he could get his daughter and his son and 
his royal chamberlain out of the mess. But no one could tell him. 
Finally the King consulted the Wise Donkey, and after he had thought the matter 
over and consulted his learning, the donkey advised his Majesty to fish for 
them. "Fish!" exclaimed the King. "How can I do that?" 
"Take a fish line and put a sinker on it to make it sink through the syrup. Then 
bait the end of the line with the thing that each one of them likes best. In 
that way you can catch hold of them and draw them out of the lake." 
"Well," said the King, "I'll try it, for of course you know what you are talking 
about." 
"Have you ever eaten a geography?" demanded the Wise Donkey. 
"No," said the King. 
"Well I have," declared the donkey haughtily, "and what I don't know about lakes 
and such things isn't in the geography." 
So the King went back to the Crystal Lake and got a strong fish line, which he 
tied to the end of a long pole. Then he put a sinker on the end of the line and 
was ready for the bait. "What does the Princess Truella like best?" he asked the 
Queen. 
"I'm sure I do not know," replied the royal lady, "but you might try her with a 
kiss." 
So one of the nicest young men sent a kiss to the Princess, and the King tied it 
to the end of the line and put it in the lake. The sinker carried it down 
through the sugar syrup until the line was just before the sweet, red lips of 
the pretty Princess. She took the bait at once, as the Queen had guessed, and 
the King pulled up the line with the Princess at the end of it until he finally 
landed her on the shore. 
Then all the people shouted for joy and the Queen took the Princess Truella home 
to change her clothes, for they were very sticky. "What does the Prince Jollikin 
like best?" asked the King. 
"A laugh!" replied a dozen at once, for everyone knew the Prince's failing. Then 
one of the girls laughed quite hard, and the King tied it to the end of the line 
and dropped it into the lake. The Prince caught the laugh at once and was 
quickly drawn fr om the syrup and likewise sent home to change his clothes. 
Then the King looked around on the people and asked, "What does the Chamberlain 
Nuphsed like best?" 
But they were all silent, for Nuphsed liked so many things it was difficult to 
say which he liked best. So again the King was obliged to go to the Wise Donkey 
in order to find out how he should bait the line to catch the royal chamberlain. 

The Wise Donkey happened to be busy that day over his own affairs and was 
annoyed at being consulted so frequently without receiving anything in return 
for his wisdom. But he pretended to consider the matter, as was his wont, and 
said, "I believe the ro yal chamberlain is fond of apples. Try to catch him with 
a red apple." 
At this the King and his people hunted all over the kingdom and at last found a 
tree with one solitary red apple growing on a little branch nearly at the top. 
But unfortunately someone had sawed off the trunk of the tree close up to the 
branches and had carried it away and chopped it up for kindling wood. For this 
reason there was no way to climb the tree to secure the apple. 
While the King and the people were considering how they might get into the tree, 
Prince Thinkabit came up to them and asked what they wanted. "We want the 
apple," replied the King, "but someone has cut away the tree trunk so that we 
cannot climb up." 
Prince Thinkabit rubbed the top of his head a minute to get his brain into good 
working order. It was a habit he had acquired. Then he walked to the bank of the 
river, which was near, and whistled three times. Immediately a school of fishes 
swam up to him, and one of the biggest cried out, "Good afternoon, Prince 
Thinkabit. What can we do for you?" 
"I wish to borrow a flying fish for a few minutes," replied the Prince. Scarcely 
had he spoken when a fish flew out of the river and perched upon his shoulder. 
Then he walked up to the tree and said to the fish, "Get me the apple." 
The flying fish at once flew into the tree and bit off the stem of the apple, 
which fell down and hit the King on the nose, for, unfortunately, he was 
standing exactly under it. Then the Prince thanked the flying fish and sent it 
back to the river, and the King, having first put a plaster over his nose, took 
the apple and started for the Crystal Lake, followed by all his people. 
But when the apple was fastened to the fishline and let down through the syrup 
to the royal chamberlain, Nuphsed refused to touch it. "He doesn't like it," 
said the King with a sigh, and he went again to the Wise Donkey. 
"Didn't he want the apple?" asked the donkey as if surprised. But you must know 
he was not surprised at all, as he had planned to get the apple for himself. 
"No indeed," said the King, taking it out of his pocket. The donkey took the 
apple, looked at it thoughtfully for a moment, and then ate it up and smacked 
his lips, for he was especially fond of apples. "What shall we do now?" asked 
the King. 
"I believe the thing Nuphsed likes best is a kind word. Bait the line with that, 
and you may catch him." 
So the King went again to the lake and, having put a kind word on the fish line, 
quickly succeeded in bringing the royal chamberlain to the shore in safety. You 
can well imagine poor Nuphsed was glad enough to be on dry land again after his 
long immersi on in the sugar syrup. And now that all had been rescued from the 
Crystal Lake, the King put a rope around the broken crust and stuck up a sign 
that said, "Danger!" so that no one else would fall in. After that the 
festivities began again, and as there were no further accidents, the King's 
birthday ended very happily after all. 
The Sixth Surprise. KING SCOWLEYOW AND HIS CAST-IRON MAN
Across the mountains at the north of the Valley of Mo there reigned a wicked 
King named Scowleyow, whose people lived in caves and mines and dug iron and tin 
out of the rocks and melted them into bars. These bars they then carried away 
and sold for mone y. King Scowleyow hated the Monarch of Mo and all his people 
because they lived so happily and cared nothing for money, and he would have 
sent his army into the Valley to destroy the merry people who dwelt there had he 
not been afraid of the sharp swords that grew on their trees, which they knew so 
well how to use against their foes. 
So King Scowlyow pondered for a long time how to destroy the Valley of Mo 
without getting hurt himself, and at last he hit on a plan he believed would 
succeed. He put all his mechanics to work and built a great man out of cast iron 
with machinery inside of him. When he was wound up, the Cast Iron Man could roar 
and roll his eyes and gnash his teeth and march across the Valley crushing trees 
and houses to the earth as he went. For the Cast Iron Man was as tall as a 
church and as heavy as iron could mak e him, and each of his feet was as big as 
a barn. 
It took a long time to build this man, as you may suppose, but King Scowleyow 
was so determined to ruin the pretty Valley of Mo that he made his men work 
night and day, and at last the Cast Iron Man was ready to be wound up and sent 
on his journey of des truction. They stood him on the top of the mountain with 
his face toward the Beautiful Valley and began to wind him up. It took a hundred 
men a whole week to do this, but at last he was tightly wound, and the wicked 
King Scowleyow stood ready to touch t he spring that made him go. 
"One, two, three!" said the King, and touched the spring with his finger. The 
Cast Iron Man gave so terrible a roar that he even frightened the men who had 
made him, and then he rolled his eyes, and they flashed fire, and gnashed his 
teeth till the nois e sounded like thunder. 
The next minute he raised one great foot and stepped forward, crushing fifty 
trees that stood in his path, and then away he went, striding down the mountain, 
destroying everything that stood in his way and nearing with every step the 
Beautiful Valley of Mo. 
The King and his people were having a game of ball that day, and the dog was 
acting as umpire. Suddenly, just as Prince Jollikin had made a home run and 
everybody was applauding him, a terrible roaring noise sounded in their ears, 
and they heard a great crashing of trees on the mountainside and saw a monstrous 
man approaching the Valley. 
The people were so frightened they stood perfectly still, being unable to move 
through surprise and terror; but the dog ran with all his might toward the 
mountain to see what was the matter. Just as the dog reached the foot of the 
mountain, the Cast Iro n Man came tramping along and stepped into the Valley, 
where he ruined in one instant a large bed of ladyfingers and a whole patch of 
ripe pumpkin pies. Indeed, the entire Valley would soon have been destroyed had 
not the Cast Iron Man stubbed his toe aga inst the dog and fallen flat on his 
face, where he lay roaring and gnashing his teeth, but unable to do any further 
harm. 
Presently the King and his people recovered from their fright and gathered 
around their prostrate foe, marveling at his great size and strength. "Had you 
not tripped him up," said the King to the dog, "this giant would certainly have 
destroyed my kingdo m. Who do you suppose was so wicked as to send this monster 
to crush us?" 
"It must have been King Scowleyow," declared the dog, "for no one else would 
care to harm you, and the giant came from the direction of the wicked King's 
country." 
"Yes," replied the monarch thoughtfully, "it must indeed have been Scowleyow, 
and it was a very unkind act, for we never harmed him in any way. But what shall 
we do with this great man? If he is left here, he will scare all the children 
with his roarin gs, and none of the ladies will care to walk near this end of 
the Valley. He is so heavy that not all of us together could lift him, and even 
if we succeeded, we have no place to put him where he would be out of the way." 
This was indeed true, so all the people sat down in a circle around the Cast 
Iron Man and thought upon the matter intently for the space of an hour. Then the 
monarch asked, solemnly, as became the importance of this occasion, "Has anyone 
thought of a wa y to get rid of him?" 
The people shook their heads gravely and thought deeply for another hour. At the 
end of that time the dog suddenly laughed and called out in a voice of loud that 
it startled them, "I have thought of a way!" 
"Good!" exclaimed the King. "Let us hear your plan." 
"You see," explained the dog, "the Cast Iron Man is now lying on his face. If we 
could only roll him over onto his back and then raise him to his feet again, he 
would be turned around and would march straight back to where he came from and 
do us no furt her harm." 
"That is a capital idea," replied the King. "But how can we roll him over or 
make him stand up?" 
That puzzled them all for a while, but by and by Prince Thinkabit, who was a 
very clever young man, announced his readiness to undertake the job. "First 
bring me a feather," commanded the Prince. 
The royal chamberlain hunted around and soon found for him a long, fluffy 
feather. Taking this in his hand, the Prince approached the Cast Iron Man and 
tickled him under the left arm with the end of the feather. "Ouch!" said the 
Cast Iron Man, giving a jump and rolling completely over so that he lay on his 
back. 
"Hurrah!" cried the people, clapping their hands with joy at this successful 
stratagem, "the Prince is a very wise Prince indeed!" 
Prince Thinkabit took off his hat and bowed politely to them in return for the 
compliment. Then he said, "Bring me a pin." 
So Nuphsed brought him a pin with a very sharp point, and the Prince took it and 
walked up to the Cast Iron Man and gave him a sharp prod in the back with the 
point of the pin. "Ouch!" again yelled the Cast Iron Man, giving at the same 
time such a great jump that he leaped square on his feet. But now, to their joy, 
they saw he was facing the mountains instead of the Valley. 
As soon as the Cast Iron Man stood up, the machinery began to work again, and he 
marched with great steps up the mountainside and over into the kingdom of the 
wicked Scowleyow, where he crushed the King and all his people and laid waste 
the land wherever he went. 
And that was their punishment for being envious of the good people of Mo. As to 
the fate of the Cast Iron Man, he was wound up so tightly that he kept walking 
straight on until he reached the sea, where he stepped into the water, went down 
to the bottom , and stuck fast in the mud. And I have no doubt he is there to 
this day. 
The Seventh Surprise. TIMTOM AND THE PRINCESS PATTYCAKE
Now of all of the monarch's daughters the most beautiful by far was the Princess 
Pattycake. The deep blue of her eyes made even the sky envious, and the moss 
roses blushed when they saw the delicate bloom on her cheeks. The long strands 
of her silken h air were brighter than sunbeams, while her ears were like two 
tiny pink shells from the seashore. Indeed, there was nothing in all the Valley 
so dainty and pretty as Princess Pattycake, and many young men would have loved 
her had they dared. But alas! The Princess had a most terrible temper and was 
never pleased with anything, so the young men, and even the old ones, were 
afraid to come near her. 
She scolded from morning till night; she stamped her pretty foot with rage when 
anyone spoke to her; and if ever her brothers tried to reason with her, she 
boxed their ears so soundly that they were glad to let her alone. Even the good 
Queen could not l ove Pattycake as she did her other children, and the King 
often sighed when he thought of the ugly disposition of his beautiful daughter. 
Of course, no one cared very much for her society, and she sat in her room all 
day long refusing to join the others in their sports and games, and becoming 
more moody and bad-tempered the older she grew. 
One day a young man came to the court to bring pickled peaches to his Majesty, 
the King. This youth's name was Timtom, and he lived so far away and came so 
seldom to court that never before had he seen the Princess Pattycake. When he 
looked into her sw eet blue eyes, he loved her at once for her beauty, and being 
both brave and bold, he went directly to the King and asked for Pattycake's hand 
in marriage. 
His Majesty was naturally surprised at so strange a request, so he said to the 
young man, "What does the Princess say? Does she love you?" 
"I do not know," replied Timtom, "for I have never spoken with her." 
"Well," said the King, much amazed at the ignorance and temerity of the youth, 
"go and speak to my daughter about the matter and then come and tell me what she 
replies." 
Timtom went at once to the room where Princess Pattycake was moodily sitting and 
said boldly, "I should like to marry you." 
"What!" screamed the Princess in a great rage. "Marry me! Go away this instant, 
you impudent boy, or I shall throw my shoe at your head!" 
Timtom was both surprised and shocked at this outburst, but he realized that the 
Princess had a remarkably bad temper. Still he was not moved from his purpose, 
for she was so pretty he decided not to abandon the attempt to win her. "Do not 
be angry, fo r I love you," he pleaded, looking bravely into Pattycake's blue 
eyes. 
"Love me?" echoed the surprised Princess. "That is not possible! Everyone else 
hates me." 
"They do not hate you," ventured Timtom. "It is your temper they hate." 
"But my temper and I are one," answered the Princess harshly as she stamped her 
foot. 
"Surely this is not so," returned the young man, "for certainly I love YOU, 
while your temper I do not like a bit. Don't you think you could love me?" 
"Perhaps I might if you could cure my bad temper, but my temper will not allow 
me to love anyone. In fact, I believe that unless you go away at once, I shall 
be obliged to box your ears!" 
There seemed to be no help for her, so Timtom left the room sadly, and going to 
the King told him what she had said. "Then that is the end of the matter," 
declared the King, "for no one can cure Pattycake of her bad temper." 
"I am resolved to try, nevertheless," replied Timtom, "and if I succeed, you 
must give me the Princess in marriage." 
"I will, and my blessing into the bargain," answered the King heartily. 
Then Timtom left the court and went back to his father's house, where he thought 
on the problem for a week and a day. At the end of that time he was no nearer 
solving it than he was before, but his mother, who had noticed that her boy was 
in trouble, ca me to him to ask the cause of his sad looks. Timtom told her all 
about the Princess Pattycake and of his love for her and the evil temper that 
would not be cured. 
His mother gave him her sympathy, and after some thought said to him, "You must 
go to the sorceress Maetta and ask her assistance. She is a good lady, and a 
friend to all the King's family. I am quite sure she will aid you if only you 
can find your way to the castle in which she lives." 
"Where is this castle?" asked Timtom, brightening up. 
"Away to the south in the midst of a thick wood," answered his mother. 
"Then," said he sturdily, "if this castle exists, I will surely find it, for to 
win Pattycake is my only hope of happiness." 
The next day he set out on his journey, filled with the hope of finding Maetta's 
castle and securing her assistance. Before he had gone very far, a snowstorm 
began to rage. Now the snowstorms in Mo are different from ours, for the snow is 
popcorn, and on this day it fell so thick and fast that poor Timtom had much 
difficulty in wading through it. He was obliged to stop frequently to rest, and 
ate a great deal of the popcorn that encumbered his path, for it was nicely 
buttered and salted. 
Finally, to his joy, it stopped snowing, and then he was able to walk along 
easily until he came to the River of Needles. When he looked on this river, he 
was nearly discouraged and could not think of a way to get across, for instead 
of water, the river flowed a perfect stream of sharp, glittering needles. 
Sitting down on the bank, he was wondering what he should do when to his 
astonishment a small but sharp and disagreeable voice said to him, "Where are 
you going, stranger?" 
Timtom looked down between his feet and saw a black spider which sat on a blade 
of grass and watched him curiously. "I am on my way to visit the sorceress 
Maetta," replied Timtom, "but I cannot get across the River of Needles." 
"They are very sharp and would make a thousand holes through you in an instant," 
remarked the spider thoughtfully. "But perhaps I can help you. If you are 
willing to grant me a favor in return, I will gladly build a bridge so you may 
cross the river in safety." 
"What is the favor?" he asked. 
"I have lost an eye, and you must ask the sorceress to give me a new one, for I 
can see but half as well as I could before." 
"I will gladly do this for you," said Timtom. 
"Very well, then I will build you a bridge," promised the spider, "but if you 
have not the eye with you when you return, I shall destroy the bridge and you 
will never be able to get home again." 
The young man agreed to this, for he was anxious to proceed. So the spider threw 
a web across the river, and then another and another, until it had made a bridge 
of spiderweb strong enough for Timtom to cross over. It bent and swayed when his 
weight wa s on the slender bridge, but it did not break, and after he was safe 
across he thanked the spider and renewed his promise to bring back the eye. Then 
he hurried away on his journey, for he had lost much time at the river. 
But to his dismay, the young man shortly came to a deep gulf that barred his way 
as completely as had the River of Needles. He peered down into it and saw it had 
no bottom, but opened away off at the other side of the world. Here was an 
obstacle which might well dishearten the boldest traveler, and Timtom was so 
grieved that he sat down on the brink and wept tears of disappointment. "What is 
troubling you?" asked a soft voice in his ear. 
Turning his head, the youth saw a beautiful white bird sitting beside him. "I 
wish to visit the castle of the sorceress Maetta on very important business," he 
replied, "but I cannot get over the gulf." 
"I could carry you over with ease," said the bird, "and shall gladly do so if in 
return you promise to grant me one favor." 
"What is the favor?" inquired Timtom. 
"I have forgotten my song through having a sore throat for a long time," replied 
the bird. "So try as I may, I cannot sing a single note. If you will agree to 
bring me a new song from the sorceress, I will take you over the gulf and bring 
you back when you return. But unless you bring the song, I shall not carry you 
over again." 
Timtom joyfully agreed to this bargain, and then, sitting on the bird's neck, he 
was borne safely across the deep gulf. After continuing his journey for an hour 
without further interruption, he saw before him the edge of a great wood and 
knew that in th e midst of this forest of trees was the castle of Maetta. 
He thought then that his difficulties were all over, and tramped bravely on 
until he reached the woods. What now, was the youth's horror on discovering on 
one side of his path a great lion crouched ready to spring on anyone who 
ventured to enter the woo d, while on the other side was a monstrous tiger 
likewise prepared to attack any intruder. The fierce beasts were growling 
fiercely, and their eyes glowed like balls of fire. 
Timtom gladly would have turned back had such a thing been possible, for his 
heart was full of fear. But he remembered that without the bird's song and the 
spider's eye he could never reach home again. He also thought of the pretty face 
of Princess Pat tycake, and this gave him courage. Resolving to perish if need 
be rather than fail in his adventure, the youth stepped boldly forward, and when 
he approached the snarling guardians of the forest he gave one bound and dashed 
into the woods. 
At the same moment the lion leaped at him from one side and the tiger from the 
other, and no doubt they would have devoured him had not Timtom's foot slipped 
just then and thrown him flat on the ground. The lion and the tiger therefore 
met in mid-air, an d each one thinking it had hold of Timtom, tried to tear him 
to pieces, with the result that in a few moments they had devoured each other 
instead of him. The youth now strode rapidly through the wood and was getting 
along famously when he came to a high wall of jasper that completely blocked his 
way. It was smooth as glass, and Timtom saw no way of climbing over it. 
While he stood wondering how he might overcome this new obstacle, a gray rabbit 
hopped out from the bushes and asked, "Where do you wish to go, stranger?" 
"To the castle of the sorceress Maetta," answered Timtom. 
"Well, perhaps I can assist you," said the rabbit. "I need a new tail badly, for 
my old one is merely a stump and no use at all in fly time. If you will be kind 
enough to get me a new tail from the sorceress Maetta--a long, nice, bushy 
tail--I will dig under the wall and so make a passage for you to the other 
side." 
"I shall be pleased to return the favor by bringing you the tail," declared 
Timtom eagerly. 
"Very well, then you shall see how fast I can work," returned the rabbit. 
Immediately it began digging away with its little paws, and in a very short time 
had made a hole large enough for Timtom to crawl under the wall. "If you do not 
bring the tail," said the rabbit in a warning voice, "I shall fill up the hole 
again so that you will be unable to get back." 
"Oh, I shall bring the tail, never fear," answered the youth, and hurried away 
toward the castle of Maetta, which was now visible through the trees. The castle 
was built of pure white marble and was very big and beautiful. It stood in a 
lovely garden f illed with blue roses and pink buttercups, where fountains of 
gold spouted showers of diamonds and rubies and emeralds and amethysts, all of 
which sparkled in the sun so gorgeously that it made Timtom's eyes ache just to 
look at them. 
However, he had not come to admire these things gorgeous and beautiful, though 
they were, but to win the Princess Pattycake; so he walked to the entrance of 
the castle, and seeing no one about entered the great doorway and passed 
through. He found himse lf in a passageway covered with mother-of-pearl, where 
many electric lights were hidden in shells of most exquisite tintings. At the 
other end of the passage was a door studded with costly gems. 
Timtom walked up to this door and knocked on it. Immediately it swung open, and 
the youth found himself in a chamber entirely covered with diamonds. In the 
center was a large diamond throne, and on this sat Maetta, clothed in a pure 
white gown, with a crown of diamonds on her brow and in her hand a golden 
scepter tipped with one enormous diamond that glowed like a ball of fire. Above 
the throne was a diamond-covered chandelier with hundreds of electric lights, 
and these made the Grand Chamber of Diamo nds glitter so brightly that Timtom 
was nearly blinded and had to shade his eyes with his hand. 
But after a few moments he grew accustomed to the brightness, and advancing to 
the throne fell on his knees before the sorceress and begged her earnestly to 
grant him her assistance. Maetta was the most beautiful woman in all the world, 
but she was like wise gracious and kind. So she smiled sweetly on the youth, 
bidding him in a voice like a silver bell to arise from his knees and sit before 
her. Timtom obeyed and looked around for a chair, but could see none in the 
room. The lady made a motion with he r scepter, and instantly at his side 
appeared a splendid diamond chair in which the young man seated himself, finding 
it remarkably comfortable. 
"Tell me what you desire," said the sorceress in her sweet voice. 
"I love the Princess Pattycake," replied Timtom without hesitation, "but she has 
so evil a disposition that she has refused to marry me unless I am able to cure 
her of her bad temper, which not only makes her miserable but ruins the pleasure 
of everyone about her. So, knowing your power and the kindness of your heart, I 
have been bold enough to seek your castle that I might crave your assistance, 
without which I cannot hope to accomplish my purpose." 
Maetta waved her scepter thrice above her head, and a golden pill dropped at 
Timtom's feet. "Your request is granted," she said. "If you can induce the 
Princess to swallow this pill, her evil temper will disappear, and I know she 
will love you dearly f or having cured her. Take great care of it, for if it 
should be lost, I cannot give you another. Do you wish me to grant any other 
request before you return to the court?" 
Then Timtom remembered the rabbit and the bird and the spider and told Maetta 
how he had promised to bring back a gift for each of them. So the kind sorceress 
gave him a nice, bushy tail for the rabbit and a very pretty song for the bird 
and a new, brig ht eye for the spider. These Timtom put in a little red box and 
placed the box carefully in his pocket. But the golden pill he tied into the 
corner of his handkerchief, for that was more precious than the rest. 
Having thanked the generous lady for her kindness and respectfully kissed the 
white hand she held out to him, Timtom left the Chamber of Diamonds and was soon 
proceeding joyfully on his homeward way. In a short time he reached the wall of 
jasper, but th e rabbit was not to be seen. So while he waited its coming, he 
lay down to rest and, being tired by the long journey, was soon fast asleep. And 
while he slept, a Sly Fox stole out from the wood and discovered Timtom lying on 
the ground. 
"Oho!" said the Sly Fox to himself. "This young man has been to visit the 
sorceress, and I'll warrant he has some fine gift from her in that little red 
box I see sticking out from his pocket. I must try to steal that box and see 
what is in it!" Then, while the youth slumbered unconscious of danger, the Sly 
Fox carefully drew the little red box from his pocket and, taking it in his 
mouth, ran off into the woods with it. 
Soon after this the rabbit came back, and when it saw Timtom lying asleep it 
awakened him and asked, "Where is my new tail?" 
"Oh, I have brought you a fine one," replied Timtom with a smile. "It is in this 
little red box." But when he searched for the box, he discovered it had been 
stolen. So great was his distress at the loss that the gray rabbit was sorry for 
him. "I sha ll never be able to get home again," he moaned, weeping tears of 
despair, "for all the gifts Maetta gave me are now lost forever!" 
"Never mind," said the rabbit. "I shall allow you to go under the wall without 
giving me the tail, for I know you tried to keep your promise. I suppose I can 
make this stubby tail do a while longer, since it is the only one I ever 
possessed. But bewar e when you come to the bird and the spider, for they will 
not be so kind to you as I am. The bird has no heart at all, and the spider's 
heart is hard as a stone. Still, I advise you to keep up your courage, for if 
you are brave and fearless, you may suc ceed in getting home after all. If you 
cannot cross the gulf and the River of Needles, you are welcome to come back and 
live with me." 
Hearing this, Timtom dried his eyes and thanked the kind rabbit, after which he 
crawled under the wall and resumed his journey. He became more cheerful as he 
trudged along, for the golden pill was safe in the corner of his handkerchief. 
When he came to the white bird and began to explain how it was he had lost the 
song and could not keep his promise, the bird became very angry and refused to 
listen to his excuses. Nor could he induce it to carry him again across the 
gulf. "I shall keep my word," decla red the bird stiffly, "for I warned you that 
if you returned without the song I should refuse to assist you further." 
Poor Timtom was at his wits' end to know what to do, so he sat down near the 
brink of the gulf and twirled his thumbs and tried to keep up his courage and 
think of some plan, while the white bird strutted around in a cold and stately 
manner. 
Now it seems that just about this time the Sly Fox reached his den and opened 
the little red box to see what was in it. The spider's eye, being small, rolled 
out into the moss and was lost. The fox thought he would put the bushy tail on 
himself and see if it would not add to his beauty, and while he did this the 
song escaped from the box and was blown by the wind directly to the spot where 
Timtom was sitting beside the gulf. He happened to hear the song coming, so he 
took off his hat and caught it, af ter which he called to the bird that he had 
found the song again. 
"Then I shall keep my promise," said the bird. "First, however, let me try the 
song and see if it is suited to my voice." So he tried the song and liked it 
fairly well. "It sounds something like a comic opera," said the bird, "but after 
all, it will s erve my purpose very nicely." 
A minute later Timtom rejoiced to find himself on the other side of the gulf, 
and so much nearer home. But when he came to the River of Needles, there was 
more trouble in store for him, for the spider became so angry at the loss of its 
eye that it tore down the spiderweb bridge and refused to build another. This 
was indeed discouraging to the traveler, and he sat down beside the river and 
looked longingly at the farther shore. The spider paid no attention to him, but 
curled up and went to sleep, and t he needles looked at him curiously out of 
their small eyes as they flowed by in an endless stream. 
After a time a wren came flying along, and when it noticed the look of despair 
on Timtom's face, the little creature perched on his shoulder and asked, "What 
is your trouble, young man?" 
Timtom related his adventures to the sympathetic wren, and when he came to the 
loss of the spider's eye and the refusal of the spiteful creature to allow him 
to cross the bridge, the wren exclaimed with every appearance of surprise, "A 
spider's eye, you say? Why, I believe that is what I have here in my claw!" 
"Where?" cried Timtom eagerly. 
The wren hopped into his lap and, carefully opening one of its tiny claws, 
disclosed the identical spider's eye which Maetta had given him. "That is 
wonderful!" exclaimed Timtom in amazement. "But where did you get it?" 
"I found it in the wood, hidden in the moss near the den of the Sly Fox. It is 
so bright and sparkling I thought I would take it home for my children to play 
with. But now, as you seem to want it so badly, I shall have much pleasure in 
restoring it to you." 
Timtom thanked the little wren most gratefully, and called to the spider to come 
and get its eye. When the spider tried the eye and found that it fitted 
perfectly and was even brighter than the old one, it became very polite to the 
young man and soon bu ilt the bridge again. 
Having passed over the glittering needles to safety, Timtom pushed forward on 
his way, being urged to haste by the delays he had suffered. When he reached the 
place where he had encountered the snowstorm, he found the birds had eaten all 
the popcorn, so he was able to proceed without interruption. At last he reached 
the Monarch of Mo's palace and demanded an audience with the Princess Pattycake. 
But the young lady, being in an especially bad temper, positively refused to see 
him. Having overcome so ma ny obstacles, Timtom did not intend to be thwarted by 
a sulky girl, so he walked boldly to the room where the Princess sat alone, 
everyone being afraid to go near her. 
"Good day, my dear Pattycake," he said pleasantly. "I have come to cure your bad 
temper." 
"I do not want to be cured!" cried the Princess angrily. "Go away at once, or I 
shall hurt you!" 
"I shall not go away until you have promised to marry me," replied Timtom 
firmly. At this, Pattycake began to scream with rage, and threw her shoe 
straight at his head. Timtom dodged the shoe and paid no attention to the 
naughty action, but continued t o look at the pretty Princess smilingly. Seeing 
this, Pattycake rushed forward and, seizing him by his hair, began to pull with 
all her strength. At the same time she opened her mouth to scream, and while it 
was open Timtom threw the golden pill down he r throat. 
Immediately the Princess released his hair and sank at his feet sobbing and 
trembling while she covered her pretty face with her hands to hide her blushes 
and shame. Timtom tenderly patted her bowed head and tried to comfort her, 
saying, "Do not weep, s weetheart, for the bad temper has left you at last, and 
now everyone will love you dearly." 
"Can you forgive me for having been so naughty?" asked Pattycake, looking up at 
him pleadingly from her sweet blue eyes. 
"I have forgiven you already," answered Timtom promptly, "for it was not you, 
but the temper that made you so naughty." 
The Princess Pattycake dried her tears and kissed Timtom, promising to marry 
him, and together they went to seek the King and Queen. Those good people were 
greatly delighted at the change in their daughter and consented at once to the 
betrothal. A week later there was a great feast in the Valley of Mo, and much 
rejoicing among the people, for it was the wedding day of Timtom and the 
Princess Pattycake. 
The Eighth Surprise. THE BRAVERY OF PRINCE JOLLIKIN
There is no country so delightful but that it suffers some disadvantages, and so 
it was with the Valley of Mo. At times the good people were obliged to leave 
their games and sports to defend themselves against a foe or some threatened 
disaster. But the re was one danger they never suspected which at last came upon 
them very suddenly. Away at the eastern end of the Valley was a rough plain 
composed entirely of loaf sugar covered with boulders of rock candy which were 
piled up in great masses reaching ne arly to the foot of the mountains, 
containing many caves and recesses. 
The people seldom came here, as there was nothing to tempt them, the rock candy 
being very hard and difficult to walk on. In one of the great hollows formed by 
the rock candy lived a monstrous Gigaboo completely shut in by the walls of its 
caverns. It had been growing and growing for so many years that it had attained 
an enormous size. 
For fear you may not know what a Gigaboo is, I shall describe this one. Its body 
was round, like that of a turtle, and on its back was a thick shell. From the 
center of the body rose a long neck much like that of a goose, with a most 
horrible-looking h ead perched on the top of it. This head was round as a ball 
and had four mouths on the sides of it and seven eyes set in a circle and 
projecting several inches from the head. The Gigaboo walked on ten short but 
thick legs, and in front of its body were two long arms tipped with claws like 
those of a lobster. So sharp and strong were these claws that the creature could 
pinch a tree in two easily. Its eyes were remarkably bright and glittering, one 
being red in color, another green, and the others yello w, blue, black, purple 
and crimson. 
It was a dreadful monster to see. Only no one had ever seen it, for it had grown 
up in the confinement of its cave. But one day the Gigaboo became so big and 
strong that in turning around it broke down the walls of the cavern, and finding 
itself at lib erty the monster walked out into the lovely Valley of Mo to see 
how much evil it could do. 
The first thing the Gigaboo came to was a large orchard of preserved apricots, 
and after eating a great quantity of the preserves it wilfully cut off the trees 
with its sharp claws and utterly ruined them. Why the Gigaboo should have done 
this I cannot tell, but scientists say these creatures are by nature destructive 
and love to ruin everything they come across. 
One of the people, being in the neighborhood, came on the monster and witnessed 
its terrible deeds, whereupon he ran in great terror to tell the King that the 
Gigaboo was on them and ready to destroy the entire valley. Although no one had 
ever before se en a Gigaboo or even heard of one, the news was so serious that 
in a short time the King and many of his people came to the place where the 
monster was, all having hastily armed themselves with swords and spears. 
But when they saw the Gigaboo, they were afraid and stood gazing at it in alarm 
without knowing what to do or how to attack it. "Who among us can hope to 
conquer this great beast?" asked the King in dismay. "Yet something must be 
done, or soon we shall not have a tree left standing in all the Valley of Mo." 
The people looked at one another in a frightened way, but no one volunteered his 
services or offered to advise the monarch what to do. At length Prince Jollikin, 
who had been watching the monster earnestly, stepped forward and offered to 
fight the Gigabo o alone. "In a matter of this kind," said he, "one man is as 
good as a dozen. So you will all stand back while I see where the beast can best 
be attacked." 
"Is your sword sharp?" asked his father, the King, anxiously. 
"It was the sharpest on the tree," replied the Prince. "If I fail to kill the 
monster, at least it cannot kill me, although it may cause me some annoyance. At 
any rate, our trees must be saved, so I will do the best I can." With this manly 
speech, he walked straight toward the Gigaboo, which, when it saw him 
approaching, raised and lowered its long neck and twirled its head around so 
that all the seven eyes might get a glimpse of its enemy. 
Now you must remember, when you read what follows, that no inhabitant of the 
Valley of Mo can ever be killed by anything. If one is cut to pieces, the pieces 
still live; and although this seems strange, you will find, if you ever go to 
this queer Valley , that it is true. Perhaps it was the knowledge of this fact 
that made Prince Jollikin so courageous. "If I can but manage to cut off that 
horrible head with my sword," thought he, "the beast will surely die." 
So the Prince rushed forward and made a powerful stroke at its neck, but the 
blow fell short and cut off instead one of the Gigaboo's ten legs. Quick as 
lightning the monster put out a claw and nipped the Prince's arm which held the 
sword, cutting it fr om its body. As the sword fell, the Prince caught it in his 
other hand and struck again, but the blow fell on the beast's shell and did no 
harm. 
The Gigaboo, now very angry, at once nipped off the Prince's left arm with one 
of its claws, and his head with the other. The arm fell on the ground and the 
head rolled down a little hill behind some bonbon bushes. The Prince, having 
lost both arms and his head as well, now abandoned the fight and turned to run, 
knowing it would be folly to resist the monster further. But the Gigaboo gave 
chase, and so swiftly did its nine legs carry it that soon it overtook the 
Prince and nipped off both his legs. 
Then, its seven eyes flashing with anger, the Gigaboo turned toward the rest of 
the people as if seeking a new enemy, but the brave Men of Mo, seeing the sad 
plight of their Prince and being afraid of the awful nippers on the beast's 
claws, decided to ru n away; which they did, uttering as they went loud cries of 
terror. But had they looked back they might not have gone so fast nor so far, 
for when the Gigaboo heard their cries it, in turn, became frightened, having 
been accustomed all its life to silenc e; so that it rushed back to its cavern 
of rock candy and hid itself among the boulders. 
When Prince Jollikin's head stopped rolling, he opened his eyes and looked about 
him, but could see no one, for the people and the Gigaboo had now gone. So, 
being unable to move, he decided to be quiet for a time, and this was not a 
pleasant thing for a n active young man like the Prince to do. To be sure, he 
could wiggle his ears a bit and wink his eyes, but that was the extent of his 
powers. After a few minutes, because he had a cheerful disposition and wished to 
keep himself amused, he began to whis tle a popular song, and then, becoming 
interested in the tune, he whistled it over again with variations. 
The Prince's left leg, lying a short distance away, heard his whistle and, 
recognizing the variations, at once ran up to the head. "Well," said the Prince, 
"here is a part of me, at any rate. I wonder where the rest of me can be." Just 
then, hearing t he sound of his voice, the right leg ran up to the head. "Where 
is my body?" asked the Prince. But the legs did not know. 
"Pick up my head and put it on top of my legs," continued the Prince, "then, 
with my eyes and your feet, we can hunt around until we find the rest of me." 
Obeying this command, the legs took the head and started off, and perhaps you 
can imagine how funn y the Prince's head looked perched on his legs, with 
neither body nor arms. After a careful search they found the body lying upon the 
ground at the foot of a shrimp-salad tree. But nothing more could be done 
without the arms, so they next searched for t hose, and having discovered them, 
the legs kicked them to where the body lay. 
The arms now took the head from the legs and put the legs on the body where they 
belonged. Then the right arm stuck the left arm in its place, after which the 
left arm picked up the right arm and placed it also where it belonged. Then all 
that remained was for the Prince to place his head on his shoulders, and there 
he was, as good as new! 
He picked up his sword and was feeling himself all over to see if he was put 
together right, when he chanced to look up and saw the Gigaboo again coming 
toward him. The beast had recovered from its fright, and tempted by its former 
success again venture d forth. But Prince Jollikin did not intend to be cut to 
pieces a second time. He quickly climbed a tree and hid himself among the 
branches. 
Presently the Gigaboo came to the tree and reached its head up to eat a 
cranberry tart. Quick as a flash the Prince swung his sword downward, and so 
true was his stroke that he cut off the monster's head with ease. Then the 
Gigaboo rolled over on its b ack and died, for wild and ferocious beasts may be 
killed in Mo as well as in other parts of the world. Having vanquished his 
enemy, Prince Jollikin climbed down from the tree and went to tell the people 
that the Gigaboo was dead. 
When they head this joyful news, they gave their Prince three cheers and loved 
him better than ever for his bravery. The King was so pleased that he presented 
his son with a tin badge set with diamonds, on the back of which was engraved 
the picture of a Gigaboo. Although Prince Jollikin was glad to be the hero of 
his nation and enjoyed the triumph of having been able to conquer his ferocious 
enemy, he did not escape some inconvenience. For, as the result of his 
adventure, he found himself very stiff i n the joints for seven days after his 
fight with the Gigaboo. 
The Ninth Surprise. THE WIZARD AND THE PRINCESS
Within the depths of the mountains which bordered the valley of Mo to the east 
lived a Wicked Wizard in a cavern of rubies. It was many, many feet below the 
surface of the earth and cut off entirely from the rest of the world save for 
one passage which led through dangerous caves and tunnels to the top of the 
highest mountain. So that, in order to get out of his cavern, the Wizard was 
obliged to come to this mountaintop and from there descend to the outside world. 

The Wizard was all alone, but he did not mind that, for his thoughts were always 
on his books and studies, and he seldom showed himself on the surface of the 
earth. But when he did go out everyone laughed at him, for this powerful 
magician was no taller than my knee, and was very old and wrinkled, so that he 
looked comical indeed beside an ordinary man. 
The Wizard was nearly as sensitive as he was wicked, and was sorry he had not 
grown as big as other people, so the laughter that always greeted him made him 
angry. At last he determined to find some magical compound that would make him 
grow bigger. He shut himself up in his cave and searched diligently amongst his 
books until, finally, he found a formula recommended by some dead-and-gone 
magician as sure to make anyone grow a foot each day so long as the dose was 
taken. Most of the ingredients were qui te easy to procure, being such as 
spiders' livers, kerosene oil and the teeth of canary birds, mixed together in a 
boiling cauldron. But the last item of the recipe was so unusual that it made 
the Wizard scratch his head in perplexity. It was the big to e of a young and 
beautiful princess. 
The Wizard thought on the matter for three days, but nowhere could he think of a 
young and beautiful princess who would willingly part with her big toe, even 
that he might grow to be as big as he wished. Then, as such a thing was not to 
be come by hones tly, the Wicked Wizard resolved to steal it. So he went through 
all the caves and passages until he came to the mountaintop. Standing on the 
point of a rock, he placed one hand on his chin and the other on the back of his 
neck, and then recited the foll owing magical incantation: 
"I wish to go 
To steal the big toe 
Of a princess I know, 
In order to grow 
Quite big. And so, 
I'LL CHANGE TO A CROW!" 
No sooner had he spoken the words than he changed into a Black Crow and flew 
away into the Valley of Mo, where he hid himself in a tall tree that grew near 
the King's palace. That morning, as the Princess Truella was lying late in bed 
with one of her da inty pink feet sticking out from under the covers, in through 
the window fluttered a Black Crow, which picked off her big toe and immediately 
flew away with it. 
The Princess awoke with a scream and was horrified to find her beautiful foot 
ruined by the loss of her biggest toe. When the King and Queen and the Princess 
and Princesses, having heard her outcry, came running in to see what was the 
matter, they were each and all very indignant at the theft. But search as they 
might, nowhere could they find the audacious Black Crow, nor the Princess' big 
toe, and the whole court was in despair. 
Finally, Timtom--who was now a Prince--suggested that Truella seek assistance 
from the kind sorceress Maetta, who had helped him out of his own difficulties. 
The Princess thought well of this idea and determined to undertake a journey to 
the castle. Sh e whistled for her favorite Stork, and soon the great bird came 
to her side. It was pure white and of an extraordinary size. When the Stork had 
been saddled, the Princess kissed her father and mother goodbye and seated 
herself on the bird's back, when i t instantly rose into the air and flew away 
toward the castle of Maetta. 
Traveling in this pleasant way, high in the air, the Princess crossed the River 
of Needles and the deep gulf and the dangerous wood and at last was set down 
safe at the castle gates. Maetta welcomed the pretty Princess very cordially and 
on being told o f her misfortune at once agreed to assist her. So the sorceress 
consulted the Oracle, which told her truly anything she wanted to know, and then 
said to the Princess, "Your toe is in the possession of the Wicked Wizard who 
lives in the ruby cave under th e mountains. In order to recover it, you must go 
yourself to seek it, but I warn you that the Wizard will put every obstacle in 
your path to prevent your finding the toe and taking it from him." 
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Truella. "I am afraid I shall never be able to get my toe 
from such a horrid man." 
"Have courage and trust in me," returned Maetta, "for I believe my powers are 
stronger than his. I shall now furnish you the weapons you must use to overcome 
him. Here is a magical umbrella, and in this basket which you must carry on your 
arm you will find a lump of putty, an iron ball, a mirror, a package of chewing 
gum and a magic veil, all of which will be very useful. Here also is a winged 
dagger, with which you must protect yourself if the Wizard attempts to harm you. 
With these enchanted weapons and a brave heart, I believe you will succeed. So 
kiss me, my child, and start on your journey." 
Truella thanked the kind sorceress, and mounting the saddle of her Stork, flew 
away toward the high mountain in which dwelt the Wicked Wizard. But the naughty 
man, by means of his black magic, saw her coming and sent such a fierce wind to 
blow against h er that it prevented the Stork from making any headway through 
the air. Therefore, in spite of his huge wings and remarkable strength, the 
brave bird was unable to get an inch nearer the mountain. 
When Truella saw this, she put up the umbrella and held it in front of the 
Stork, whereupon, being shielded from the wind, he flew easily to the mountain. 
The Princess now dismounted and, looking into the hole at the top of the 
mountain, discovered a fl ight of stairs leading downward. Taking her basket on 
her arm as she had been directed, Truella walked boldly down the steps until she 
came to a door. But then she shrank back in affright, for before the door coiled 
a great serpent, not quite a mile lon g and fully as large around as a stick of 
wood. The girl knew she must manage in some way to overcome this terrible 
creature, so when the serpent opened its mouth and raised its head to bite her, 
she reached within the basket and, finding the lump of put ty, threw it quickly 
into the serpent's mouth. The creature snapped its jaws together so suddenly 
that its teeth stuck fast in the putty, and this made it so furious that it 
wriggled around until it had tied itself into a hard knot and could wriggle no l 
onger. 
Seeing there was no further danger, the Princess passed the door and entered a 
large cave which was but dimly lighted. While she paused to allow her eyes to 
become accustomed to the darkness so she might see her way, a faint rustling 
sound reached her e ars, and a moment later there came toward her a hideous old 
woman, lean and bent, with wrinkled face and piercing black eyes. She had only 
one tooth, but that was of enormous size, being nearly as large as the tusk of 
an elephant, and it curved out of he r mouth and down under her chin, where it 
ended in a very sharp point. Her fingernails were a foot long, and they also 
were very sharp and strong. "What are you doing here?" asked the old woman in a 
harsh voice, while she moved her horrible fingers as i f about to scratch out 
Truella's eyes. 
"I came to see the Wizard," said the Princess calmly, "and if you will allow me 
to pass, I shall give you, in return for the favor, some delicious chewing gum." 

"Chewing gum!" croaked the old woman. "What is that?" 
"It is a dainty of which all ladies are very fond," replied Truella, taking the 
packet from her basket. "This is it." 
The old woman hesitated a moment, and then said, "Well, I'll try the chewing gum 
and see what it is like. There will be plenty of time to scratch out your eyes 
afterwards." She placed the gum in her mouth and tried to chew it, but when she 
shut her jaw s together, the great tusk went straight through her neck and came 
out at the back. The old hag gave a scream and put up her hands to pull out the 
tusk again, but so great was her excitement that in her haste she scratched out 
both her own eyes and could no longer see where the Princess was standing. 
So Truella ran through the cave and came to a door, on which she knocked. 
Instantly it flew open, and before her she saw another cave, this time brightly 
lighted, but filled with knives and daggers which were flying about in every 
direction. To enter t his cave was impossible, for the Princess saw she would 
immediately be pierced by dozens of the sharp daggers. So she hesitated for a 
time, now knowing how to proceed; but chancing to remember her basket, she took 
from it the iron ball, which she tossed into the center of the Cave of Daggers. 
At once the dangerous weapons began to strike against the ball, and as soon as 
they touched it they were broken and fell on the floor. In a short time every 
one of the knives and daggers had been spoiled by contac t with the iron ball, 
and Truella passed safely through the cave and came to another long stairway 
leading downward. At the bottom of this she reached the third cave and came upon 
a horrible monster. 
It had the body of a zebra, the legs of a rhinoceros, the neck of a giraffe, the 
head of a bulldog, and three corrugated tails. This monster at once began to 
growl and run toward her, showing its terrible teeth and lashing its three 
tails. The Princess snatched the mirror from her basket, and as the creature 
came near her, she held the glittering surface before its eyes. It gave one look 
into the mirror and fell lifeless at her feet, being frightened to death by its 
own reflection in the mirror. 
Truella now walked through several more caves and descended a long flight of 
stairs, which brought her to another door, on which was a sign that read, "A. 
WIZARD, Esq., Office hours: From 10:45 until a quarter to 11." 
The Princess, knowing that she had now reached the den of the Wizard who had 
stolen her big toe, knocked boldly on the door. "Come in!" called a voice. 
Truella obeyed, and found herself in a large cave, the walls of which were lined 
with rubies. In each of the four corners were big electric lights, and these, 
shining upon the rubies, filled the cave with a deep red glow. The Wizard 
himself sat at his desk in one of the corners, and when the Princess entered he 
looked up and exclaimed, "What! Is it you? Really, I did not expect to see you. 
How did you manage to pass the guards I placed within the caves and passageways 
to prevent your coming here?" 
"Oh, that was not difficult," answered Truella, "for you must know I am 
protected by a power stronger than your own." 
The Wizard was much annoyed at this reply, but he knew it was true and that only 
by cunning could he hope to oppose the pretty Princess. Still, he was resolved 
not to give up the big toe unless obliged to, for it was necessary to complete 
the magic compo und. "What do you want?" he asked after a moment's thought. 
"I want the toe you stole from me while I was asleep." 
The Wizard knew it was useless to deny the theft, so he replied, "Very well, 
take a chair and I will see if I can find it." 
But Truella feared the little man was deceiving her, so when he turned his back 
she took the magic veil from her basket and threw it over her head. Immediately 
it began unfolding until it covered her completely from head to foot. The Wizard 
walked over to a cupboard, which he opened, and while pretending to search for 
the toe he suddenly turned on a big faucet that was concealed under a shelf. At 
once the thunder rolled, the lightning flashed, and from the arched ceiling of 
the cavern drops of fire be gan to fall, coming thicker and thicker until a 
perfect shower of burning drops filled the room. These fell hissing upon 
Truella's veil, but could not penetrate it, for they all bounded off and were 
scattered upon the rocky floor, where they soon burned themselves out. Seeing 
this, the Wizard gave a sigh of disappointment and turned off the faucet, when 
the firedrops ceased to fall. 
"Please excuse this little interruption," he said as if he had not been the 
cause of it himself. "I'll find the toe in a few minutes. I must have mislaid it 
somewhere." But Truella suspected he was up to more mischief and was on her 
guard. She saw hi m stealthily press a button, and in the same instant a deep 
gulf opened in the floor of the cave halfway between the Princess and the 
Wizard. Truella did not know what this meant at first, unless it was to prevent 
her getting across the room to where her toe was. But soon she noticed that the 
gulf was moving toward her, slowly but steadily, and as it extended across the 
cave from wall to wall, it would in time be sure to reach the spot where she 
stood, when she would, of course, fall into it. 
When she saw her danger, the Princess became frightened and tried to escape 
through the door by which she had entered, but to her dismay she found it 
locked. Then she turned to look at the Wizard. The little man had perched 
himself upon a high stool an d was carelessly swinging his feet and laughing 
with glee at Truella's awful peril. He thought that at last he had certainly 
found a way to destroy her. The poor Princess looked again into the gulf, which 
was gradually getting nearer and nearer, and she shuddered at its vast depths. 
A cold wind began to sweep up from the abyss, and she heard mocking laughter and 
savage growls from below, as if evil spirits were eagerly waiting to seize her. 
Just as she was giving way to despair and the gulf had crept very close to her 
feet, Truella thought of her winged dagger. She drew it from her bosom, and 
pointing it toward her enemy, said, "Save me from the Wizard's art--Fly until 
you reach his heart. Foil his power and set me free. This is my command to 
thee!" 
In a flash the dagger flew from her hand and struck the Wizard full on his 
breast. With a loud cry he fell forward into the gulf, which in the same instant 
closed up with a crash. Then, when the rocks about her had ceased trembling from 
the shock, the door swung open, leaving the Princess at liberty to go where she 
pleased. She now searched the Wizard's cupboard until she found her toe, which 
had been safely hidden in a little ivory box. Truella stopped only long enough 
to put on her toe, and then sh e ran through the caves and up the stairways 
until she reached the top of the mountain again. There she found her Stork 
patiently awaiting her, and having seated herself on its back, she rode safely 
and triumphantly back to her father's palace. 
The King and Queen were delighted when she recounted to them the success of her 
adventure, but they shuddered when they learned of the fearful dangers their 
sweet little daughter had encountered. "It seems to me," said the good Queen, 
"that a big toe is scarcely worth all the trouble you have had in recovering 
it." 
"Perhaps not," replied the Princess thoughtfully, "but a big toe is very handy 
to have when you wish to dance, and after all, I succeeded in destroying the 
Wicked Wizard, which surely repays me for the trials I have been forced to 
undergo." 
The Tenth Surprise. THE DUCHESS BREDENBUTTA'S VISIT TO TURVYLAND
The Duchess Bredenbutta was forty-seventh cousin to the Monarch of Mo, and 
great-grandniece to the Queen, so you can readily see she was nearly related to 
the Princess Pattycake and had blue blood in her veins. She lived in a pretty 
house on the banks o f Rootbeer River, and one of her favorite amusements was to 
row on the river in her boat, which, although rather small, was light as a cork. 

One day, as usual, the Duchess went for a row on the river, expecting to return 
home in about an hour. But after floating a long distance down the stream, she 
fell asleep in the boat and did not awake until she felt a sudden shock. Then, 
sitting up and looking about her, she found to her alarm that the boat had 
drifted to the end of the Land of Mo and was in the rapids leading to the Great 
Hole in the ground where the river disappeared from view. Becoming very much 
frightened, Bredenbutta looked for t he oars of her boat that she might row to 
the bank, but she soon discovered that the oars had fallen overboard and were 
lost, leaving her without any means of saving herself. 
The poor Duchess now began to cry out, but no one heard her. Gradually the boat 
came nearer and nearer to the Great Hole, now bumping against the rocks and now 
spinning around with the current until at last it paused for an instant on the 
very brink of t he chasm down which the river fell. The girl seized the sides of 
the boat in a firm grasp, and the next moment it plunged headlong into the Hole. 

After the shock was over, Bredenbutta wiped the moisture from her eyes and 
looked to see where she was and what had become of her. She found that she had 
landed in a very remarkable country, and for a time could do nothing but gaze in 
wonder on the stra nge sights that met her view. The trees were all growing on 
their top branches, with their roots high in the air, and the houses rested on 
the tops of their chimneys, the smoke going into the ground and the doorsteps 
being at the tops of the buildings. A rabbit was flying around in the air, and a 
flock of skylarks walked on the ground as if they belonged there. 
Bredenbutta rubbed her eyes, for at first the girl thought she must be dreaming, 
but when she looked again everything was in the same unnatural position. To add 
to her amazement she now saw a queer creature coming toward her. She might have 
taken him f or a young man, only he was just the reverse of any young man 
Bredenbutta had ever seen. He stood upon his hands, which were clad in boots, 
and used his feet as we use our hands, seeming to be very handy with his toes. 
His teeth were in his ears, and he ate with them and heard with his mouth. He 
also smelled with his eyes and saw out of his nose, which was all very curious. 
When he walked, he ran, and when he ran, he stood still. He spoke when he was 
silent and remained dumb when he had anything to sa y. In addition to this, he 
wept real tears when he was pleased and laughed merrily whenever anything 
grieved him. 
It was no wonder the Duchess Bredenbutta stared in surprise when such an odd 
creature came up to her backward and looked at her solemnly from his pug nose. 
"Who are you?" asked Bredenbutta as soon as she could find breath to speak. 
The young man remained quiet and answered, "My name is Upsydoun." 
"I think you are," laughed Bredenbutta. 
"You think I am what?" demanded the young man, the voice coming from his ear. 
"Upside-down," she replied. 
At this the tears rolled down his cheeks with joy. "Why, it is YOU who are 
upside-down," he said. "How in the world did you get up here?" 
"Down here, you mean," corrected the Duchess with dignity. 
"I mean nothing of the kind," he said silently, while his nose twinkled with 
amusement. "This country is up, and not down." 
"What country is it?" inquired Bredenbutta, much perplexed by such an absurd 
statement. 
"Why, Turvyland, to be sure," was the answer. 
"Oh!" sighed Bredenbutta, but she was no wiser than before. 
"Now you are here," said Upsydoun, "you may come home with me and eat some 
dinner." 
"I shall be very glad to," answered the Duchess, who was really hungry. "Where 
do you live?" 
"Over there," replied Upsydoun, pointing to the south, "so stay where you are 
and follow me." Then he walked away on his hands in exactly the opposite 
direction from that he had indicated. Bredenbutta followed him, and shortly 
after encountered several other people of just the same queer appearance as her 
conductor. They looked out of their noses at her in great surprise, and without 
speaking asked Upsydoun who she was. 
"The Duchess Bredenbutta," he silently answered. "I found her where the Rootbeer 
River bubbles up. Isn't she a queer-looking creature?" 
"She is indeed," they all answered in a still chorus, and then they followed the 
girl out of curiosity as boys follow a band or a dancing bear. When they reached 
the house of Upsydoun, more than a hundred inhabitants of Turvyland were at 
Bredenbutta's h eels and Upsydoun's thumbs. She was welcomed very kindly, 
however, and the young man's mother kissed the Duchess with her left ear, an act 
which was considered a special mark of favor in Turvyland. 
"Would you like to stand up and rest yourself until dinner time?" asked the lady 
when the girl had entered the parlor. 
"No thank you," replied Bredenbutta, who was very tired. Being ignorant of their 
custom, she did not know these people usually stood up when the slept or rested. 
Her answer seemed to satisfy Upsydoun's mother, who thought when she said "no" 
she meant " yes." 
"You really don't look equal to lying down," she remarked pleasantly, "so you 
may stand until I call you to dinner, which will be in a long time." Then she 
excused herself and walked backward out of the window, which Bredenbutta noticed 
they all used in stead of doors. 
"Dear me," said the Duchess when she was left alone. "I am sure I shall never be 
able to understand these strange people. But I mean to sit down anyway, and if 
it really is a long time before dinner, I shall probably starve in the 
meantime." 
She had not rested more than a few minutes, however, before the lady again put 
her foot through the window and waving it invitingly toward her, exclaimed, "Go 
away to dinner." 
"Go away!" replied the Duchess in dismay. "Where shall I go to?" 
"Why, to me, of course," answered Upsydoun's mother, dumbly, but she winked her 
nose thoughtfully, as if she scarcely knew how to converse with her strange 
visitor. Surely Bredenbutta ought to know that when they said "go" in Turvyland, 
they meant "come ." 
In spite of her uncertainty, she followed her hostess, and when they entered the 
dining room the Duchess was shocked to see all the family stand on their heads 
on the chairs and pick up their knives and forks with their toes. She was more 
horrified, how ever, when they began to eat, for contrary to all custom these 
people placed their food in their ears. And they did it so calmly that she did 
not even remonstrate, remembering it must be their habit to eat in this way. 
She, herself, sat down in her chair in a proper manner and began to eat with the 
fork in her hand, and when the people of Turvyland saw this, they all shed tears 
of merriment. 
Just then the youngest child of the family began laughing, and the mother rushed 
to it as fast as her hands would carry her to see what was the matter. But the 
child had only put its foot into its pocket and could not get it out again. The 
mother soon managed to get it free, and then the child stopped laughing and 
began weeping as happily as any of the others. Bredenbutta was greatly 
bewildered at all this, but she ate heartily nevertheless, and after having 
begged her in vain to stand on her hands as they did, the family let her alone, 
being surprised to see how well she could use her hands. 
After dinner Upsydoun's sister played on the piano with her toes, while the 
others indulged in a dance, whirling around on their thumbs in a manner truly 
marvelous, and seeming by their tears to enjoy themselves very much. As the 
dance ended, a kitten c ame running into the room on its ears and the tip of its 
tail, and this looked so funny that Bredenbutta began laughing. But seeing she 
had frightened her kind friends, who wanted to send for a doctor, she refrained 
from laughing and asked gravely if she could not find a way to return to the 
Valley of Mo. 
"The only possible way of getting down there," replied Upsydoun, "is to jump 
into the Rootbeer River, but that would be dangerous, and none of our people 
have ever tried it." 
"Any danger," said the Duchess, "I will gladly brave, for otherwise I shall be 
obliged to spend my entire life down here among people whose ways are exactly 
opposite to my own. If you will kindly take me to the river, I shall lose no 
time in making an e ffort to return home." 
They goodnaturedly assented to do this, and walked backward with her until they 
came to the place where the river bubbled up. It really did bubble UP, 
Bredenbutta noticed, although she knew very well she had fallen DOWN the Great 
Hole. But then, everyt hing was topsy-turvy in this strange land. The girl found 
her little boat, which had stranded on the beach, and having placed it where she 
could push it into the river, she turned to say goodbye to the queer people of 
Turvyland. 
"I am glad to see you go," said Upsydoun without speaking, "for I like you. But 
you are a strange creature, and perhaps know what is best for you. Here are some 
oars for your boat, for I see you have none, and when you get down to your 
country you may need them." Bredenbutta joyfully accepted the oars, and placed 
them in her boat. Then the people of Turvyland all kissed her with their left 
ears and waved their toes in farewell, while the Duchess got into the boat and 
pulled it out into the river. 
Instantly she was in the midst of such a whirling of foam and rushing and 
roaring of root beer that she could neither see nor hear anything. Gasping for 
breath, the girl clung tightly to the sides of the boat, and in a few minutes it 
was all over, and th e boat bobbed up in the Valley of Mo, just above the Great 
Hole. Bredenbutta then seized the oars and rowed hard until there was no danger 
of her falling in again, and soon she had passed the rapids and was rowing 
safely up the river to her own home. 
Of course the Duchess was very glad again to be among the people who acted in a 
natural manner instead of the absurd fashion of her friends the Turvylanders. 
She resolved that whenever she rowed her boat upon the river again, she would be 
careful to kee p away from the Great Hole, for she realized that another visit 
to Upsydoun and his people would be very trying to her nerves. 
The Eleventh Surprise. PRINCE FIDDLECUMDOO AND THE GIANT
It happened one morning that the Monarch of Mo was not in his usual pleasant 
humor, and of course there was an excellent reason for this. At the back of his 
garden grew one tree that generally bore an abundant crop of animal crackers, 
and although the Ki ng and his court, being surfeited with all the dainties of 
the land, did not care much for these edibles, the younger inhabitants of Mo 
were especially fond of them, and yelled with delight whenever the King divided 
the crop of his tree among them. 
A few days before the King had examined the tree and found the animal crackers 
not quite ripe. Whereupon he had gone away and forgotten all about them. And in 
his absence they had ripened to a delicious light brown, and their forms had 
rounded out so t hat they hung as thickly together as peas in a pod. As they 
swung from their stems, swaying backward and forward in the light breeze, they 
waited and waited for someone to come and pick them. But no one came near the 
tree, and the animals grew cross and restless in consequence. 
"I wonder when we shall be gathered," remarked a hippopotamus cracker with a 
yawn. 
"Oh, you wonder, do you?" mockingly replied a camel cracker hanging near. "Do 
you really expect anyone to gather YOU, with your thick hide and clumsy legs? 
Why, the children would break their teeth on you at the first bite." 
"What!" screamed the hippopotamus in much anger. "Do you dare insult ME, you 
humpbacked beast of burden?" 
"Now then, now then!" interrupted a wolf cracker that hung from a stem just 
above them. "What's the use of fighting when we are so soon to be eaten?" 
But the camel cracker would not be appeased. "Thick-headed brute!" he yelled at 
the hippopotamus angrily. 
"Humpbacked idiot!" shrieked the other. 
At this the camel swung himself fiercely on his branch and bumped against the 
hippopotamus, knocking him off from the tree. The ground underneath was 
chocolate, and it was soft and sticky, not having dried since the last rain. So 
when the hippopotamus fell, he sank halfway into the ground, and his beautiful 
brown color was spattered with the muddy chocolate. At this vengeful deed on the 
part of the camel, all the other animals became furious. A full-grown goat 
cracker swung himself against the camel and knocked it, in turn, from its stem, 
and in falling on the ground it broke its hump off. Then a lion cracker knocked 
the goat down, and an elephant knocked a cat down, and soon the whole tree was 
in a violent commotion. The animals fought with each o ther so desperately that 
before long the entire treeful of animal crackers had fallen to the ground, 
where many lay broken and disfigured, and the remainder were sunk deep in the 
chocolate mud. 
So when the King, finally remembering his tree, came and looked on the sorry 
sight, it dampened his usual good spirits, and he heartily wished he had picked 
the quarrelsome crackers before they began to fight among themselves. While he 
stood thinking di smally on this, up came Prince Fiddlecumdoo and asked 
permission to go on a journey. "Where do you wish to go?" asked the King. 
"I am tired of this beautiful Valley," answered Fiddlecumdoo, "and as the 
bicycle tree beside the Crystal Lake is now hanging full of ripe wheels, I 
thought I would gather one and ride over into the next valley in search of 
adventure." You see, this Pri nce was the King's youngest son, and had been 
rather spoiled by petting, as youngest sons often are. 
"The next valley, my son, is inhabited by the great Hartilaf," said the King, 
"and should you meet him, he might do you an injury." 
"Oh, I am not afraid of Hartilaf," replied Fiddlecumdoo boldly. "If he should 
not be pleasant to me, I could run away from him on my wheel." 
"I don't know about that," responded the King. "There may be bicycle trees in 
the next valley as well as here, and it is always dangerous and foolish for 
anyone to leave this Valley, where there is everything that heart could wish. 
Instead of running a way in search of adventure, you would do better to remain 
at home and help your mother pick collar buttons and neckties for the family." 
"That is work," said Fiddlecumdoo sulkily, "and I hate work." 
"Yet somebody has to pick the collar buttons," returned the King, "or we should 
be unable to keep our collars on." 
"Then let Jollikin help my mother. I am horribly tired of this stupid place, and 
shall not be happy until I have traveled around and seen something more of the 
world." 
"Well, well! Go if you wish," answered the King impatiently. "But take care of 
yourself, for when you are away from this Valley, there will be no one to 
protect you from danger." 
"I can take care of myself," cried the Prince, "so do not worry about me." And 
he ran away quickly before his father had time to change his mind and withdrew 
his consent. He selected the best and ripest bicycle on the tree, and having 
mounted it, was s oon speeding away along the path to the mountains. 
When he reached the far eastern part of Mo, he came on a bush bearing a very 
good quality of violins, and this at once attracted Fiddlecumdoo, who was a most 
excellent violinist, being able to play correctly a great number of tunes. So he 
dismounted and selected from the bush a small violin that seemed to have a sweet 
tone. This he carried with him under his arm, thinking if he became lonesome he 
could amuse himself with the music. 
Shortly after resuming his journey, he came to the Maple Plains, a level stretch 
of country composed entirely of maple sugar. These plains were quite smooth and 
very pleasant to ride on, but so swiftly did his bicycle carry him that he soon 
crossed the plains and came on a river of pure maple syrup, so wide and deep 
that he could neither leap nor swim it. 
Dismounting from his bicycle, the Prince began looking for some means of 
crossing the river. No bridge was visible in either direction, and the bank was 
bare save for a few low bushes on which grew maple bonbons and maple caramels. 
But Prince Fiddlecum doo did not mean to be turned back by so small a matter as 
a river, so he scooped a hole in the maple sand and, having filled it with syrup 
from the river, lighted a match and began boiling it. After it had boiled for a 
time, the maple syrup became strin gy, and the Prince quickly threw a string of 
it across the river. It hardened almost immediately, and on this simple bridge 
the Prince rode over the stream. 
Once on the other side, he sped up the mountain and over the top into the next 
valley, where he stopped and began to look about him. He could see no roads in 
any direction, but away down at the foot of the valley was a monstrous house, so 
big you could easily put a small village inside it, including the church. This, 
Fiddlecumdoo thought, must be where the giant lived, and although he saw no one 
about the house, he decided to make a call and introduce himself to Mr. 
Hartilaf. So he rode slowly down th e valley, playing on his violin as he went, 
that the music might announce his coming. 
The giant Hartilaf was lying on the sofa in his sitting room, waiting for his 
wife to prepare the dinner, and he had nearly fallen asleep when the sound of 
Fiddlecumdoo's music fell on his ear. This was so unusual in his valley that the 
giant arose and went to the front door to see what caused it. The Prince had by 
this time nearly reached the house, and when the giant appeared, he was somewhat 
startled, as he had not expected to see anyone quite so big. But he took care 
not to show any fear, and taki ng off his hat he bowed politely to the giant and 
said, "This is Mr. Hartilaf, I suppose?" 
"That is my name," replied the giant, grinning at the small size of his visitor. 
"May I ask who you are?" 
"I am Prince Fiddlecumdoo, and I live in the next valley, which is called the 
Valley of Mo. Being determined to see something of the world, I am traveling for 
pleasure, and have just dropped in on you for a friendly call." 
"You are very welcome, I am sure," returned the giant. "If you will graciously 
step into my humble home, I shall be glad to entertain you at dinner." Prince 
Fiddlecumdoo bowed low and accepted the invitation, but when he endeavored to 
enter the house, he found the steps so big that even the first one was higher 
than his head, and he could not climb to the top of it. 
Seeing his difficulty, the giant carefully picked him up with one finger and his 
thumb and put him down in the palm of his other hand. "Do not leave my bicycle," 
said the Prince, "for should anything happen to it, I could not get home again." 
So the gia nt put the bicycle in his vest pocket, and then he entered the house 
and walked to the kitchen, where his wife was engaged in preparing the dinner. 
"Guess what I've found," said the giant to his wife, holding his hand doubled up 
so she could not see the Prince. 
"I'm sure I don't know," answered the woman. 
"But guess!" pleaded the giant. 
"Go away and don't bother me," she replied, bending over the stewpan, "or you 
won't have any dinner today." 
The giant, however, was in a merry mood, and for a joke he suddenly opened his 
hand and dropped the Prince down his wife's neck. "Oh, oh!" she screamed, trying 
to get at the place where the Prince had fallen, which was near the small of her 
back. "What is it? I'm sure it's some horrible crocodile, or dragon, or 
something that will bite me!" And the poor woman lay down on the carpet and 
began to kick her heels against the floor in terror. 
The giant roared with laughter, but the Prince, now being able to crawl out, 
scrambled from the lady's neck and, standing beside her head, he made a low bow 
and said, "Do not be afraid, Madam. It is only I. But I must say it was a very 
ungallant trick for your husband to play on you, to say nothing of my feelings 
in the matter." 
"So it was," she exclaimed, getting upon her feet again and staring curiously at 
Fiddlecumdoo. "But tell me who you are and where you came from." 
The giant, having enjoyed his laugh, now introduced the Prince to his wife, and 
as dinner was ready to serve, they sat down at the table together. Fiddlecumdoo 
got along very well at dinner, for the giant thoughtfully placed him on the top 
of the table, where he could walk around as he pleased. There being no knife nor 
fork small enough for him to use, the Prince took one of the giant's toothpicks, 
which was as big as a sword, and with this served himself from the various 
dishes that stood upon the tab le. 
When the meal was over, the giant lighted his pipe, the bowl of which was as big 
as a barrel, and asked Fiddlecumdoo if he would kindly favor them with some 
music. "Certainly," replied the Prince. 
"Please come into the kitchen," said the giantess, "for then I can listen to the 
music while I am washing the dishes." 
The Prince did not like to refuse this request, although at home he was not 
allowed to enter his mother's kitchen, so the giant carried him in and placed 
him on a high shelf, where Fiddlecumdoo seated himself on a spool of thread and 
began to play his vi olin. The big people enjoyed the music very much at first, 
for the Prince was a capital player. But soon came a disagreeable interruption. 
About a month before, the giant had caught several dancing bears in the 
mountains, and having brought them home, had made them into strings of sausages. 
These were hanging in graceful festoons from the beams of the kitchen ceiling, 
awaiting the time whe n they should be eaten. Now when the dancing-bear sausages 
heard the music of Fiddlecumdoo's violin, they could not resist dancing, for it 
is well known that sausages made from real dancing bears cannot remain quiet 
where there is music. The Prince was playing such a lively tune that presently 
the strings of sausage broke away from the ceiling and fell clattering to the 
floor, where they danced about furiously. Not being able to see where they were 
going, they bumped against the giant and his wife, thu mping them on their heads 
and backs and pounding them so severely that the woman became frightened and hid 
under the table, while the giant started to run away. 
Seeing their plight, Fiddlecumdoo stopped playing, and at once the sausages fell 
to the floor and lay still. "That was strange," said the giant as soon as he 
could catch his breath. "The bears evidently do not forget how to dance even 
after they are ch opped up into sausage meat. I must beg you to abandon your 
concert for the present, but before you visit us again we shall have eaten the 
sausages, and then you may play to your heart's content." 
"Had I known they were so lively," remarked the giantess as she crawled from 
beneath the table, "we should have eaten them before this." 
"That reminds me that I intended to have stewed polar bears for supper," 
continued the giant, "so I think I will walk over into Alaska and catch some." 
"Perhaps the Prince would prefer elephant pie," suggested the lady, "and in that 
case you might make a run into South America for elephants." 
"I have no choice in the matter," said the Prince, "never having eaten either. 
But is it not rather a long journey to Alaska or to South America?" 
"Not at all!" protested the giant. "I shall enjoy the walk and can easily be 
back by sundown. Won't you come with me?" he asked the boy. But Fiddlecumdoo did 
not like the idea of so long a journey and begged to be excused. The giantess 
brought her lor d a great bag to put the polar bears in, and he prepared to 
start. "I leave you to amuse my wife during my absence," he said to the Prince. 
"Pray make yourself entirely at home and use my castle as you would your own 
house, and if I have good luck you s hall eat a delicious polar bear stew for 
your supper." Then he slung the sack across his back and went away, whistling 
merrily. And so great were his strides that in less than a minute he was out of 
sight. 
"This is my busy day," said the giantess to Fiddlecumdoo, "and I fear I shall 
not be able to entertain you in a proper manner, for I must hasten to the 
laundry to wash the clothes. However, if you care to accompany me, we may 
converse together while I a m doing my work." 
"I shall take great pleasure in visiting your laundry," he replied, "for never 
before have I been in such a place. And surely it will be more agreeable to 
watch you at your work than to spend the day alone in these great rooms." 
"Come along, then," she said, and picking him up she placed him in the pocket of 
her apron, for she knew he would be unable to walk down the flight of stairs 
that led to the laundry. He was very comfortable in the pocket, which was just 
deep enough to a llow his head and shoulders to project from the top. Therefore 
he was able to see all that was going on while the lady was at work. He watched 
her wash and rinse the clothes, and was greatly interested in the operation, as 
it was all new to him. 
By and by the giantess brought an immense clothes wringer from a shelf, and 
having fastened it to the side of the big washtub, began to wring out the 
clothes. Prince Fiddlecumdoo had never seen a clothes wringer before, and so 
pleased was he with the no velty of it that he leaned far out of the pocket to 
watch it work. But unfortunately he lost his balance, and before he knew what 
had happened to him had fallen from the pocket and lay sprawling on one of the 
giant's shirts, which was just then passing t hrough the wringer. 
The woman did not notice his fall, and the next instant he was drawn between the 
two great rollers and came out on the other side as thin and flat as a sheet of 
paper. Then the giant's wife saw what she had done, and realizing how serious 
was the Prince 's condition, the good lady was much grieved over the accident. 
She picked Fiddlecumdoo up and tried to stand him on his feet, but he was so 
thin that at the least draft he fluttered like a flag, while a puff of wind 
would blow him completely over. "Dea r me!" exclaimed the woman sorrowfully. 
"Whatever can we do with you in that shape?" 
"I really do not know what will become of me," replied the Prince. "I am 
certainly no good in this condition. I cannot even walk across the room without 
toppling over. Can not you manage to push me together again?" 
The giantess tried to do this, but the Prince was so sharp that his edges hurt 
her hands, and all she could do was to fold him up and carry him into the 
drawing room, where she laid him carefully on the center table. Just before the 
giant returned from Alaska, bringing several fat polar bears in his bag, and 
scarcely had he set foot within the house before he inquired after his guest, 
the Prince. 
"You will find him on the drawing room table," said the giantess. "I 
accidentally ran him through the clothes wringer this afternoon, and the poor 
boy is as thin as a pie crust. So I folded him up and put him away until you 
returned." 
The giant immediately went to the table and unfolded Fiddlecumdoo, asking him 
how he felt. "Very miserable," answered the Prince, "for I cannot move at all 
when I am folded up. Where is my bicycle?" 
The giant searched all his pockets, but could not find it. "I must have lost in 
on my journey to Alaska," he said. 
"Then how am I ever to get home again?" asked the Prince. 
"That is a puzzle," the giant responded thoughtfully. "I do not see how you 
could ride on a bicycle even if you had one, and you certainly cannot walk far 
in your present condition." 
"Not if the wind blows," acknowledged the Prince. 
"Couldn't you go edgewise?" asked the giant after a moment's reflection. 
"I might try," answered Fiddlecumdoo hopefully. So the giant stood him up, and 
he tried to walk edgewise. But whenever a breath of wind struck him, he fell 
over at once, and several times he got badly crumpled up, so that the giant had 
to smooth him ou t again with his hands. 
"This certainly will not do at all," declared the giant, "for not only are you 
getting wrinkled, but you are liable to be blown away altogether. I have just 
thought of a plan to get you back into the Valley of Mo again, and when you are 
in your own coun try your friends may get you out of the scrape the best way 
they can." 
Hartilaf then made the Prince into a neat roll and tied a string around the 
middle to hold it in place. Then he tucked the roll under his arm and carried it 
to the top of the mountain that stood between the two valleys. Placing the 
Prince carefully on the ground, he started him rolling, and in a short time he 
had rolled down the mountainside into the Valley of Mo. At first the people were 
much frightened, not knowing what this strange thing could be that had come 
rolling into their midst. They stood around curiously looking at the roll but 
afraid to touch it, when suddenly Fiddlecumdoo began to cry out. And then, so 
fearful was the sound, they all ran away as fast as their legs could carry them. 

Prince Thinkabit, however, being more courageous than the rest, at last ventured 
to approach and cut the string that fastened the roll. Instantly it opened, and 
to their amazement the people saw what it was. "Upon my word, it is brother 
Fiddlecumdoo!" c ried Prince Thinkabit. "The giant must have stepped on him." 
"No indeed," said poor Fiddlecumdoo. "I've been run through a clothes wringer, 
which is much worse than being stepped on." With many expressions of pity, the 
kind people stood the Prince up and helped him to the palace, where the King was 
greatly shock ed at his sad plight. Fiddlecumdoo was so broad that the only 
thing he could sit down on was the sofa, and he was so thin that when Princess 
Pattycake sneezed, he was blown halfway across the room. At dinner he could eat 
nothing that was not sliced as t hin as a shaving, and so sad was his 
predicament that the King determined to ask the Wise Donkey what could be done 
to relieve his unfortunate son. 
After hearing all the particulars of the accident, the Donkey said, "Blow him 
up." 
"I did blow him up for being so careless," replied the King, "but it didn't make 
him any thicker." 
"What I mean," explained the Donkey, "is to bore a hole in the top of his head 
and blow air into him until he resumes his natural shape. Then, if he takes care 
of himself, he soon will be all right again." 
So the King returned to the palace and bored a hole in Fiddlecumdoo's head, and 
then pumped him full of air with a bicycle pump. When he had filled out into his 
natural shape, they put a plug in the hole and stopped it up, and after that 
Fiddlecumdoo co uld walk around as well as before his accident. His only danger 
now was that he might get punctured, and indeed his friends found him one day 
lying in the garden all flattened out again, the Prince having pricked his 
finger on a rosebush and thereby allo wed his air to escape. But they inflated 
him once again, and afterward he was more careful of himself. 
Fiddlecumdoo had such a horror of being flat that if his father ever wished to 
make him behave, he threatened to stick a pin into him, and that always had the 
desired effect. After several years, the Prince, being a hearty eater, filled up 
with solid fl esh and had no further use for the air pump, but his experience 
had made him so nervous that he never again visited the giant Hartilaf for fear 
of encountering another accident. 
The Twelfth Surprise. THE LAND OF THE CIVILIZED MONKEYS
I must now tell you of a very strange adventure that befell Prince Zingle, 
which, had it not turned out exactly as it did, might have resulted in making 
him a captive for life in a remarkable country. By consulting Smith's History of 
Prince Zingle, you will notice that from boyhood he had a great passion for 
flying kites, and unlike other boys he always undertook to make each kite larger 
than the last one. Therefore his kites grew in size and became larger and 
larger, until at length the Prince made one twice as tall as himself. 
When it was finished, he was very proud of this great kite, and took it out to a 
level place to see how well it would fly, being accompanied by many of the 
people of Mo, who took considerable interest in the Prince's amusement. There 
happened to be a st rong south wind blowing, and fearing the kite might get away 
from him, Zingle tied the string around his waist. It flew beautifully at first, 
but pulled so hard the Prince could scarcely hold it. 
At last, when the string was all let out, there came a sudden gust of wind, and 
in an instant poor Zingle was drawn into the air as easily as an ordinary kite 
draws its tail. Up and up he soared, and the kite followed the wind and carried 
him over many countries until the strength died out of the air, when the kite 
slowly settled toward the earth and landed the Prince in the top of a tall tree. 

He now untied the string from his waist and fastened it to a branch of the tree, 
as he did not wish to lose the kite after all his bother in making it. Then he 
began to climb down to the ground, but on reaching the lower branches he was 
arrested by a mo st curious sight. Standing on the ground and gazing up at him 
were a dozen monkeys, all very neatly dressed and all evidently filled with 
surprise at the Prince's sudden appearance in the tree. 
"What a very queer animal!" exclaimed an old monkey who wore a tall silk hat and 
had white kid gloves on his hands. Gold spectacles rested on his nose, and he 
pointed toward the Prince with a gold-headed cane. By his side was a little-girl 
monkey dress ed in pink skirts and a blue bonnet, and when she saw Zingle she 
clung to the old monkey's hand and seemed frightened. 
"Oh, grandpapa!" she cried. "Take me back to mama. I'm afraid the strange beast 
will bite me." 
Just then a big monkey wearing a blue coat with brass buttons and swinging a 
short club in his hand strutted up to them and said, "Don't be afraid, little 
one. The beast can't hurt you while I'm around!" And then he tipped his hat over 
his left ear and shook his club at the Prince as if he did not know what fear 
meant. 
Two monkeys who were dressed in red jackets and carried muskets in their hands 
then came running up, and having looked at Zingle with much interest, they 
called for someone to bring them a strong rope. "We will capture the brute and 
put him in the Zoo," said one of the soldier monkeys. 
"What kind of animal is it?" asked the other. 
"I do not know. But some of our college professors can doubtless tell, and even 
if they can't, they will give it some scientific name that will satisfy the 
people just as well." 
All this time Prince Zingle remained clinging to the branches of the tree. He 
could not understand a word of the monkey language, and therefore had no idea 
what they were talking about, but he judged from their actions that the monkeys 
were not friendly . When they brought a long and stout rope and prepared to 
throw one end of it over his head in order to capture him, he became angry and 
called out to them, "Stop, I command you! What is the meaning of this strange 
conduct? I am Prince Zingle, oldest s on of the Monarch of Mo, and since I have 
been blown into your country through an accident, I certainly deserve kind 
treatment at your hands." 
But this speech had no meaning in the ears of the monkeys, who said to each 
other, "Hear him bark! He jabbers away almost as if he could talk!" By this time 
a large crowd of monkeys had surrounded the tree, some being barefooted 
boy-monkeys and some la dy monkeys dressed in silken gowns and gorgeous rainment 
of the latest mode, and others men-monkeys of all sorts and conditions. There 
were dandified monkeys and sober-looking business monkeys as well as several who 
appeared to be politicians and officia ls of high degree. 
"Stand back, all of you!" shouted one of the soldiers. "We're going to capture 
this remarkable beast for the royal menagerie, and unless you stand out of the 
way, he may show fight and bite someone." So they moved back to a safe distance, 
and the soldi er monkey prepared to throw a rope. 
"Stop!" cried Zingle again. "Do you take me for a thief that you try to bind me? 
I am a prince of the royal blood, and unless you treat me respectfully, I shall 
have my father, the King, march his army on you and destroy your whole country." 

"He barks louder," said the soldier. "Look out for him, he may be dangerous." 
The next moment he threw the rope and caught poor Zingle around his arms and 
body so that he was helpless. Then the soldier monkey pulled hard on the rope, 
and Prince Zingle fell out of the tree to the ground. 
At first the monkeys all pressed backward, as if frightened, but their soldiers 
cried out, "We've got him. He can't bite now." 
Then one of them approached the Prince and punched him with a stick, saying, 
"Stand up!" Zingle did not understand the words, but he resented being prodded 
with the stick, so he sprang up and rushed on the soldier, kicking the stick 
from his hands, his own arms being bound by the rope. The monkeys screamed and 
rushed in every direction, but the other soldier came behind the Prince and 
knocked him down with the butt of his gun. Then he tied his legs with another 
rope, and seeing him thus bound the crow d of monkeys, which had scattered and 
fallen over one another in their efforts to escape, came creeping back and 
looked on him with fear and trembling. 
"We've subdued him at last," remarked the soldier who had been kicked. "But he's 
a very fierce animal, and I shall take him to the Zoo and lock him in one of the 
strongest cages." So they led poor Zingle away to where the Royal Zoological 
Gardens were l ocated, and there they put him into a big cage with iron bars, 
the door being fastened with two great padlocks. Before very long, every monkey 
in the country learned that a strange beast had been captured and brought to the 
Zoo, and soon a large crowd ha d gathered before Zingle's cage to examine him. 
"Isn't he sweet!" said a lady monkey who held a green parasol over her head and 
wore a purple veil on her face. 
"Sweet!" grunted a man-monkey standing beside her. "He's the ugliest-looking 
brute I ever saw! Scarcely has any hair on him at all, and no tail, and very 
little chin. I wonder where on earth the creature came from?" 
"It may be one of those beings from which our race is descended," said another 
onlooker. "The professors say we evolved from some primitive creature of this 
sort." 
"Heaven forbid!" cried a dandy-monkey whose collar was so high that it kept 
tipping his hat over his eyes. "If I thought such a creature as that was one of 
my forefathers, I should commit suicide at once." 
Zingle had been sitting on the floor of his cage and wondering what was to 
become of him in this strange country of monkeys, and now, to show his 
authority, one of the keepers took a long stick and began to poke the Prince to 
make him stand up. "Stop th at!" shouted the angry captive, and catching hold of 
the stick, he jerked it from the keeper's hand and struck him a sharp blow on 
the head with it. 
All the lady monkeys screamed at this, and the men-monkeys exclaimed, "What an 
ugly disposition the beast has!" 
The children-monkeys began to throw peanuts between the bars of the cage, and 
Zingle, who had become very hungry, picked them up and ate them. This act so 
pleased the little monkeys that they shouted with laughter. At last two 
solemn-looking monkeys wi th gray hair and wearing long black coats and white 
neckties came up to the cage, where they were greeted with much respect by the 
other monkeys. "So this is the strange animal," said one of the newcomers, 
putting on his spectacles and looking sharply at the captive. "Do you recognize 
the species, Professor?" 
The other aged monkey also regarded the Prince critically before he answered, "I 
cannot say I have ever seen a specimen of this genus before. But one of our 
textbooks mentions an obscure animal called Homo Peculiaris, and I have no doubt 
this is one of that family. I shall write an article on the creature and claim 
he is a Homo, and without doubt the paper will create quite a stir in the 
scientific world." 
"See here," suddenly demanded Prince Zingle, standing up and shaking the bars of 
his cage, "are you going to give me anything to eat? Or do you expect me to live 
on peanuts forever?" 
Not knowing what he said, none of the monkeys paid any attention to this 
question. But one of the professor-monkeys appeared to listen attentively and 
then remarked to his friend, "There seems to be a smoothness and variety of 
sound in his speech that i ndicates that he possesses some sort of language. Had 
I time to study this brute, I might learn his method of communicating with his 
fellows. Indeed, there is a possibility that he may turn out to be the missing 
link." 
However, the professor not yet having learned his language, Prince Zingle was 
obliged to remain hungry. The monkeys threw several cocoanuts into the cage, but 
the prisoner did not know what kind of fruit these were, so after several 
attempts to bite the hard shell, he decided they were not good to eat. Day after 
day now passed away, and although crowds of monkeys came to examine Zingle in 
his cage, the poor Prince grew very pale and thin for lack of proper food, while 
the continuance of his unhappy imp risonment made him sad and melancholy. "Could 
I but escape and find my way back to my father's valley," he moaned wearily, "I 
should be willing to fly small kites forever afterward." 
Often he begged them to let him go, but the monkeys gruffly commanded him to 
"stop his jabbering" and poked him with long sticks having sharp points, so that 
the Prince's life became one of great misery. At the end of about two weeks a 
happy relief came to Zingle, for then a baby hippopotamus was captured and 
brought to the Royal Zoo, and after this the monkeys left the Prince's cage and 
crowded around that of the new arrival. 
Finding himself thus deserted, Prince Zingle began to seek a means of escape 
from his confinement. His first attempt was to break the iron bars, but soon he 
found they were too big and strong. Then he shook the door with all his 
strength, but the big p adlocks held firm and could not be broken. Then the 
prisoner gave way to despair and threw himself on the floor of the cage, weeping 
bitterly. 
Suddenly he heard a great shout from the direction of the cage where the baby 
hippopotamus was confined, and rising to his feet, the Prince walked to the bars 
and attempted to look out and discover what was causing the excitement. To his 
astonishment, h e found he was able to thrust his head between two of the iron 
bars, having grown so thin through hunger and abuse that he was much smaller 
than when the monkeys had first captured him. He realized at once that if his 
head would pass between the bars, hi s body could be made to do so likewise. So 
he struggled bravely and at last succeeded in squeezing his body between the 
bars and leaping safely to the ground. 
Finding himself at liberty, the Prince lost no time in running to the tree where 
he had left his kite. But on the way some of the boy-monkeys discovered him and 
raised a great cry, which soon brought hundreds of his enemies in pursuit. 
Zingle had a goo d start, however, and soon reached the tree. Quickly he climbed 
up the trunk and branches until he had gained the limb where the string of his 
kite was still fastened, Untying the cord, he wound it around his waist several 
times, and then, finding a stro ng north wind blowing, he skillfully tossed the 
kite into the air. At once it filled and mounted to the sky, lifting Zingle from 
the tree and carrying him with perfect ease. 
It was fortunate he got away at that moment, for several of the monkeys had 
scrambled up the tree after him and were almost near enough to seize him by the 
legs when, to their surprise, he shot into the air. Indeed, so amazed were they 
by this remarkabl e escape of their prisoner that the monkeys remained staring 
into the air until Prince Zingle had become a little speck in the sky above them 
and finally disappeared. That was the last our Prince ever saw of the strange 
country of the monkeys, for the wi nd carried his kite straight back to the 
Valley of Mo. When Zingle found himself above his father's palace, he took out 
his pocketknife and cut the string of the kite and immediately fell 
head-foremost into a pond of custard that lay in the back yard, wh ere he dived 
through a floating island of whipped cream and disappeared from view. 
Nuphsed, who was sitting on the bank of the custard lake, was nearly frightened 
into fits by the sight, and he ran to tell the King that a new meteor had fallen 
and ruined one of his floating islands. Thereupon the monarch and several of his 
courtiers ru shed out and found Prince Zingle swimming ashore, and the King was 
so delighted at seeing his lost son again that he clasped him joyfully in his 
arms. 
The next moment he regretted this act, for his best ermine robe was smeared its 
whole length with custard and would need considerable cleaning before it would 
be fit to wear again. The Prince and the King soon changed their clothes, and 
then there was m uch rejoicing throughout the land. Of course the first thing 
Zingle asked for was something to eat, and before long he was sitting before a 
table heaped with all sorts of good things, plucked fresh from the trees. 
The people crowded around him, demanding the tale of his adventures, and their 
surprise was only equaled by their horror when they learned he had been captured 
by a band of monkeys and shut up in a cage because he was thought to be a 
dangerous wild beast . Experience is said to be an excellent teacher, although a 
very cruel one. Prince Zingle had now seen enough of foreign countries to remain 
contented with his own beautiful Valley, and although it was many years before 
he again attempted to fly a kite, it was noticed that when he at last did 
indulge in that sport, the kite was of a very small size. 
The Thirteenth Surprise. THE STOLEN PLUM PUDDING
THE FATE OF THE WISE MEN 
The King's plum pudding crop had for some time suffered from the devastations of 
a secret enemy. Each day as he examined the vines, he found more and more of the 
plum pudding missing, and finally the monarch called his Wise Men together and 
asked them w hat he should do. The Wise Men immediately shut their eyes and 
pondered so long over the problem that they fell fast asleep. While they slept, 
still more of the plum pudding was stolen. When they awoke, the King was justly 
incensed and told the Wise Men that unless they discovered the thief within 
three days, he would give them no cake with their ice cream. 
This terrible threat at last aroused them to action, and after consulting 
together they declared that in their opinion it was the Fox that had stolen the 
pudding. Hearing this, the King ordered out his soldiers, who soon captured the 
Fox and brought him to the palace, where the King sat in state, surrounded by 
his Wise Men. "So ho, Master Fox!" exclaimed the King. "We have caught you at 
last." 
"So it seems," returned the Fox calmly. "May I ask your Majesty why I am thus 
torn from my home, from my wife and children, and brought before you like any 
common criminal?" 
"You have stolen the plum pudding," answered the King. 
"I beg your Majesty's pardon for contradicting you, but I have stolen nothing," 
declared the Fox. "I can easily prove my innocence. When was the plum pudding 
taken?" 
"A great deal of it was taken this morning while the Wise Men slept," said the 
King. 
"Then I cannot be the thief," replied the Fox, "as you will admit when you have 
heard my story." 
"Ah! Have you a story to tell?" inquired the King, who dearly loved to hear 
stories. 
"It is a short story, your Majesty, but it will prove clearly that I have not 
taken your pudding." 
"Then tell it," commanded the King. "It is far from my wish to condemn anyone 
who is innocent." 
The Wise Men then placed themselves in comfortable positions, and the King 
crossed his legs and put his hands in his pockets, while the Fox sat before them 
on his haunches and spoke as follows. THE FOX'S STORY 
"It has been unusually damp in my den of late, so that both my family and myself 
have suffered much. First my wife became ill, and then I was afflicted with a 
bad cold, and in both cases it settled in our throats. Then my four children, 
who are all of an age, began to complain of sore throats, so that my den became 
a regular hospital. We tried all the medicines we knew of, but they did no good 
at all. My wife finally begged me to go to consult Doctor Prairiedog, who lives 
in a hole in the ground away t oward the south. So one morning I said goodbye to 
my family and ran swiftly to where the doctor lives. 
"Finding no one outside the hole to whom I might apply for admission, I walked 
boldly in, and having followed a long, dark tunnel for some distance, I suddenly 
came to a door. 'Come in!' said a voice, so in I walked and found myself in a 
very beautiful r oom lighted by forty-eight fireflies, which sat in a row on a 
rail running all around the apartment. In the center of the room was a table 
made of clay and painted in bright colors, and seated at this table with his 
spectacles on his nose was the famous Doctor Prairiedog, engaged in eating a 
dish of stewed snails. 
"'Good morning,' said the Doctor. 'Will you have some breakfast?' 
"'No thank you,' I replied, for the snails were not to my liking. 'I wish to 
procure some medicine for my children, who are suffering from sore throats.' 
"'How do you know their throats are sore?' inquired the Doctor. 
"'It hurts them to swallow,' I replied. 
"'Then tell them not to swallow,' said the Doctor, and went on eating. 
"'Sir!' I exclaimed. 'If they did not swallow, they would starve to death.' 
"'That is true,' remarked the Doctor. 'We must think of something else.' After a 
moment of silence, he cried out, 'Ha! I have it! Go home and cut off their 
necks, after which you must turn them inside out and hang them on the bushes in 
the sun. When the necks are thoroughly cured in the sun, turn them right-side 
out again and place them on your children's shoulders. Then they will find it 
does not hurt them to swallow.' 
"I thanked the great Doctor and returned home, where I did as he had told me. 
For the last three days the necks of not only my children but of my wife and 
myself, as well, have been hanging on the bushes to be cured; so we could not 
possibly have eaten your plum pudding. Indeed, it was only an hour ago when I 
finished putting the neck on the last of my children, and at that moment your 
soldiers came and arrested me." 
When the Fox ceased speaking, the King was silent for a while. Then he asked, 
"Were the necks all cured?" 
"Oh yes," replied the Fox. "The sun cured them nicely." 
"You see," remarked the King, turning to his Wise Men, "the Fox has proved his 
innocence. You were wrong, as usual, in accusing him. I shall now send him home 
with six baskets of cherry phosphate as a reward for his honesty. If you have 
not discovered the thief by the time I return, I shall keep my threat and stop 
your allowance of cake." 
Then the Wise Men fell atrembling and put their heads together, counseling with 
one another. When the King returned, they said, "Your Majesty, it must have been 
the Bullfrog." 
So the King sent his soldiers, who captured the Bullfrog and brought him to the 
palace. "Why have you stolen the plum pudding?" demanded the King in a stern 
voice. 
"I! Steal your plum pudding!" exclaimed the Frog indignantly. "Surely you must 
be mistaken! I am not at all fond of plum pudding, and besides, I have been very 
busy at home during the past week." 
"What have you been doing?" asked the King. 
"I will tell you, for then you will know I am innocent of this theft." 
So the Bullfrog squatted on a footstool and after blinking solemnly at the King 
and his Wise Men for a moment, spoke as follows: 
THE FROG'S STORY 
"Some time ago my wife and I hatched out twelve little tadpoles. They were the 
sweetest children parents ever looked on. Their heads were all very large and 
round, and their tails were long and feathery, while their skins were as black 
and shiny as cou ld be. We were proud of them, my wife and I, and took great 
pains to train our children properly that they might become respectable frogs in 
time and be a credit to us. 
"We lived in a snug little hole under the bank of the river, and in front of our 
dwelling was a large stone on which we could sit and watch the baby tadpoles 
grow. Although they loved best to lie in the mud at the bottom of the river, we 
knew that exerc ise is necessary to the proper development of a tadpole; so we 
decided to teach our youngsters to swim. We divided them into two lots, my wife 
training six of the children while I took charge of the other six. We drilled 
them to swim in single file, in column of twos and in line of battle, but I must 
acknowledge they were quite stupid, being so young, and unless we told them when 
to stop, they would keep on swimming until they bumped themselves into a bank or 
a stone. 
"One day, about a week ago, while teaching our children to swim, we started them 
all going in single file, one after the other. They swam in a straight line that 
was very pretty to see, and my wife and I sat on the flat stone and watched them 
with much pride. Unfortunately, at that very moment, a large fish swam into our 
neighborhood and lay on the bottom of the river to rest. It was one of those 
fishes that hold their great mouths wide open, and I was horrified when I saw 
the advancing line of tadpol es headed directly toward the gaping mouth of the 
monster fish. I croaked as loudly as I could for them to stop, but either they 
failed to hear me or they would not obey. The next moment all the line of 
swimming tadpoles had entered the fish's mouth and were lost to our view. Mrs. 
Frog threw herself into my arms with a cry of anguish, exclaiming 'Oh, what 
shall we do? Our children are lost to us forever!' 
"'Do not despair,' I answered, although I was myself greatly frightened. 'We 
must try to prevent the fish from swimming away with our loved ones. If we can 
keep him here, some way may yet be found to rescue the children.' Up to this 
time the big fish h ad remained motionless, but there was an expression of 
surprise in its round eyes as if it did not know what to make of the lively 
inhabitants of its stomach. Mrs. Frog thought for a moment and then said, 'A 
short distance away is an old fishline and ho ok lying at the bottom of the 
river where some boys lost it while fishing one day. If we could only--' 
"'Fetch it at once,' I interrupted. 'With its aid we shall endeavor to capture 
the fish.' She hastened away, soon returning with the line, which had a large 
hook on one end. I tied the other end firmly about the flat stone, and then, 
advancing cautious ly from behind that the fish might not see me, I stuck the 
iron hook through its right gill. The monster gave a sudden flop that sent me 
head over heels a yard away. Then it tried to swim down the stream. But the hook 
and line held fast, and soon the f ish realized it was firmly caught, after 
which it wisely abandoned the struggle. 
"Mrs. Frog and I now sat down to watch the result, and the time of waiting was 
long and tedious. After several weary days, however, the great fish lay over on 
its side and expired, and soon after there hopped from its mouth the sweetest 
little green fr og you ever laid eyes on. Another and another followed, until 
twelve of them stood beside us; and then my wife exclaimed, 'They are our 
children, the tadpoles! They have lost their tails and their legs have grown 
out, but they are our own little ones, n evertheless!' 
"Indeed, this was true, for tadpoles always become frogs when a few days old. 
The children told us they had been quite comfortable inside the great fish, but 
they were now hungry, for young frogs always have wonderful appetites. So Mrs. 
Frog and I set to work to feed them and had just finished this pleasant task 
when your soldiers came to arrest me. I assure your Majesty this is the first 
time I have been out of the water for a week. And now, if you will permit me to 
depart, I will hop back home and see how the youngsters are growing." 
When the Bullfrog had ceased speaking, the King turned toward the Wise Men and 
said angrily, "It seems you are wrong again, for the Frog is innocent. Your 
boasted wisdom appears to me very like folly, but I will give you one more 
chance. If you fail to discover the culprit next time, I shall punish you far 
more severely than I at first promised." The King now gave the Bullfrog a 
present of a red silk necktie and also sent a bottle of perfumery to Mrs. Frog. 
The soldiers at once released the prisoner , who joyfully hopped away toward the 
river. 
The Wise Men now rolled their eyes toward the ceiling and twirled their thumbs 
and thought as hard as they could. At last they told the King they had decided 
the Yellow Hen was undoubtedly responsible for the theft of the plum pudding. So 
the King sent his soldiers, who searched throughout the Valley and at last 
captured the Yellow Hen and brought her into the royal presence. "My Wise Men 
say you have stolen my plum pudding," said his Majesty. "If this is true, I am 
going to punish you severely." 
"But it is not true," answered the Yellow Hen, "for I have just returned from a 
long journey." 
"Where have you been?" inquired the King. 
"I will tell you," she replied, and after arranging a few of her feathers that 
the rough hands of the soldiers had mussed, the Yellow Hen spoke as follows: 
THE YELLOW HEN'S STORY 
"All my life I have been accustomed to hatching out thirteen eggs, but the last 
time there were twelve eggs in the nest when I got ready to set. Being 
experienced in these matters, I knew it would never do to set on twelve eggs, so 
I asked the Red Roost er for his advice. He considered the question carefully, 
and finally told me he had seen a very nice, large egg lying on the rocks near 
the sugar mountain. 'If you wish,' said he, 'I will get it for you.' 
"'I am very sorry to trouble you, yet certainly I need thirteen eggs,' I 
answered. The Red Rooster is an accommodating fowl, so away he flew and shortly 
returned with a large, white egg under his wing. This egg I put with the other 
twelve, and then I se t faithfully on my nest for three weeks, at the end of 
which time I hatched out my chickens. Twelve of them were as yellow and fluffy 
as any mother could wish. But the one that came from the strange egg was black 
and awkward and had a large bill and sha rp claws. Still thinking he was one of 
my children, despite his deformity, I gave him as much care as any of them, and 
soon he outgrew the others and became very big and strong. 
"The Red Rooster shook his head and said bluntly, 'That chick will be a great 
trouble to you, for it looks to me strangely like one of our enemies, the 
Hawks.' 'What!' I exclaimed reproachfully. 'Do you think one of my darling 
children could possibly be a Hawk? I consider that remark almost an insult, Mr. 
Rooster!' The Red Rooster said nothing more, but he kept away from my big, black 
chick as if really afraid of it. 
"To my great grief, this chick suddenly developed a very bad temper, and one day 
I was obliged to reprove it for grabbing the food away from its brothers. 
Suddenly it began screaming with anger, and the next moment it sprang on me, 
digging its sharp cla ws into my back. While I struggled to free myself, he flew 
far up into the air, carrying me with him and uttering loud cries that filled me 
with misgivings. For I now realized, when it was too late, that his voice 
sounded exactly like the cry of a Hawk! 
"Away and away he flew over mountains and valleys and rivers and lakes, until at 
last as I looked down I saw a man pointing a gun at us. A moment later he shot, 
and the black chick gave a scream of pain, at the same time releasing his hold 
of me so that I fell over and over and finally fluttered to the ground. Then I 
found I had escaped one danger only to encounter another, for as I reached the 
ground, the man seized me and carried me under his arm to his home. Entering the 
house, he said to his wife, 'Here is a nice, fat hen for our breakfast.' 
"'Put her in the coop,' replied the woman. 'After supper I will cut off her head 
and pick the feathers from her body.' This frightened me greatly, as you may 
suppose, and when the man placed me in the coop I nearly gave way to despair. 
But finding myse lf alone, I plucked up courage and began looking for a way to 
escape. To my great joy, I soon discovered that one of the slats of the coop was 
loose, and having pushed it aside, I was not long in gaining my liberty. Once 
free, I ran away from the place a s fast as possible, but did not know in which 
direction to go, the country being strange to me. So I fluttered on, half 
running and half flying, until I reached the place where an army of soldiers was 
encamped. If these men saw me, I feared they would a lso wish to eat me for 
breakfast, so I crept into the mouth of a big cannon, thinking I should escape 
attention and be safe until morning. Soon I fell asleep, and so sound was my 
slumber that the next thing I heard was the conversation of some soldiers w ho 
stood beside the cannon. 
"'It's nearly sunrise,' said one. 'You must fire the salute. Is the cannon 
loaded?' 'Oh yes,' answered the other. 'What shall I shoot at?' 'Fire into the 
air, for then you will not hurt anyone,' said the first soldier. By this time I 
was trembling with fear and had decided to creep out of the cannon and take the 
chance of being caught, when suddenly 'Bang!' went the big gun, and I shot into 
the air with a rush like that of a whirlwind. The noise nearly deafened me, and 
my nerves were so shattered that for a time I was helpless. I felt myself go up 
and up into the air until soon I was far above the clouds. Then I recovered my 
wits, and when I began to come down again, I tried to fly. I knew the Valley of 
Mo must be somewhere to the west, so I flew i n that direction until I found 
myself just over the Valley, when I allowed myself to flutter to the ground. 
"It seems my troubles were not over, for before I had fully recovered my breath 
after this long flight, your soldiers seized me and brought me here. I am 
accused of stealing your plum pudding, but in truth, your Majesty, I have been 
away from your kingd om for some days, and am therefore wholly innocent." The 
Yellow Hen had scarce finished this story when the King flew into a violent rage 
at the deceptions of his Wise Men, and turning to his soldiers he ordered them 
to arrest the Wise Men and cast them into prison. 
Having given the unfortunate Hen a pair of gold earrings that fitted her ears 
and matched her complexion, the King sent her home with many apologies for 
having accused her wrongfully. Then his Majesty seated himself in an easy chair 
and pondered how bes t to punish the foolish Wise Men. "I would rather have one 
really Wise Man," he said to himself, "than fifty of these, who pretend to be 
wise and are not." 
That gave him an idea, so the next morning he ordered the Wise Men taken to the 
royal kitchen, where all were run through the meat chopper until they were 
ground as fine as mincemeat. Having thoroughly mixed them, the King stirred in a 
handful of salt a nd then made them into one man, which the cook baked in the 
oven until it was well done. "Now," said the King, "I have one Wise Man instead 
of several foolish ones. Perhaps he can tell me who stole the plum pudding." 
"Certainly," replied the Wise Man. "That is quite easy. It was the Purple 
Dragon." 
"Good," cried the monarch. "I have discovered the truth at last!" 
And so he had, as you will find by reading the next surprise. 
The Fourteenth Surprise. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE PURPLE DRAGON
THE END OF THE PURPLE DRAGON 
Scarcely had the King spoken when some of his soldiers came rushing with news 
that they had seen the Purple Dragon eating plum pudding in the royal garden. 
"What did you do about it?" asked the monarch. 
"We did nothing," they answered, "for had we interfered with its repast, the 
Dragon would probably have eaten us for dessert." 
"That's true," remarked the King. "Yet something must be done to protect us from 
this monster. For many years it has annoyed us by eating our choicest crops and 
nothing we can do seems of any avail to save us from its ravages." 
"If we were able to destroy the Dragon," said Prince Thinkabit, "we should be 
doing our country the greatest possible service." 
"We have often tried to destroy it," replied the King, "but the beast always 
manages to get the best of the fight, having wonderful strength and great 
cunning. However, let us hold a council of war and see what is suggested." So a 
council of war was ca lled, the Wise Man, all the Princes and Noblemen, the Dog 
and the Wise Donkey being assembled to talk the matter over. 
"I advise that you build a high wall around the Dragon," said the Wise Man. 
"Then it will be unable to get out and will starve to death." 
"It is strong enough to break down the wall," said the King. 
"I suggest you dig a great hole in the ground," remarked the Donkey. "Then the 
Dragon will fall into it and perish." 
"It is too clever to fall into the hole," said the King. 
"The best thing to do," declared Timtom, "is to cut off its legs, for then it 
could not walk into our garden." 
"The scales on its legs are too hard and thick," said the King. "We have tried 
this and failed." 
"We might take a red-hot iron and put the Dragon's eyes out," ventured Prince 
Jollikin. 
"Its eyes are glass," replied the King with a sigh, "and the iron would have no 
effect on them." 
"Suppose we tie a tin can to its tail," suggested the Dog. "The rattling of the 
can would so frighten the Dragon that it would run out of the country." 
"Its tail is so long," answered the King gloomily, "that the Dragon could not 
hear the can rattle." Then they all remained silent for a time, thinking so hard 
that their heads began to ache, but no one seemed able to think of the right 
thing to do. 
Finally the King himself made a proposition. "One thing we might attempt with 
some hope of success," said his Majesty. "Should it fail, we cannot be worse off 
than we are at present. My idea is for us to go in a great body to the castle of 
the Dragon and pull out its teeth with a pair of forceps. Having no teeth, the 
monster will be harmless to annoy us in any way, and since we seem unable to 
kill it, I believe this is the best way out of our difficulty." 
The King's plan pleased everyone, and met with shouts of approval. The council 
then adjourned, and all the members went to prepare for the fight with the 
Purple Dragon. First the blacksmith made a large pair of forceps to pull the 
Dragon's teeth with. The handles of the forceps were so long that fifty men 
could take hold of them at one time. Then the people armed themselves with 
swords and spears and marched in a great body to the castle of the Purple 
Dragon. 
This remarkable beast, which for so long had kept the Valley of Mo in constant 
terror, was standing on the front porch of its castle when the army arrived. It 
looked at the crowd of people in surprise and said, "Are you not weary with your 
attempts to d estroy me? What selfish people you must be! Whenever I eat 
anything that belongs to you, there is a great row and immediately you come here 
to fight me. These battles are unpleasant to all of us. The best thing for you 
to do is to return home and behav e yourselves, for I am not in the least afraid 
of you." 
Neither the King nor his people replied to these taunts. They simply brought 
forward the big pair of forceps and reached them toward the Dragon. This 
movement astonished the monster, who, never having been to a dentist in his 
life, had no idea what the strange instrument was for. "Surely you cannot think 
to hurt me with that iron thing," it called out in derision. And then the Dragon 
laughed at the idea of anyone attempting to injure it. But when the Dragon 
opened its mouth to laugh, the King opened the jaws of the forceps, quickly 
closing them again on one of the monster's front teeth. 
"Pull!" cried the King, and fifty men seized the handles of the forceps and 
began to pull with all their strength. But pull as they might, the tooth would 
not come out, and this was the reason: The teeth of Dragons are different from 
ours, for they go t hrough the jaw and are clinched on the other side. 
Therefore, no amount of pulling will draw them out. The King did not know this 
fact, but thought the tooth must have a long root, so he called again, "Pull, my 
brave men, pull!" 
And they pulled so hard that the Dragon was nearly pulled from the porch of its 
castle. To avoid this danger, the cunning beast wound the end of its tail around 
a post of the porch and tied a hard knot in it. "Pull!" shouted the King for the 
third time . Then a surprising thing happened. Anyone who knows anything at all 
about Dragons is aware that these beasts stretch as easily as if made of india 
rubber. Therefore the strong pulling of the fifty men resulted in the Dragon 
being pulled from its footho ld, and as its tail was fastened to the post, its 
body began to stretch out. 
The King and his people, thinking the tooth was being pulled, started down the 
hill, the forceps still clinging fast to the monster's big front tooth. And the 
farther they went, the more the Dragon's body stretched out. "Keep going!" cried 
the King. " We mustn't let go now!" And away marched the fifty men, and farther 
and farther stretched the body of the Dragon. 
Still holding fast to the forceps, the King and his army marched into the Valley 
and away across it and up the hills on the other side, not even stopping to take 
breath. When they came to the mountains and the forests and could go no farther, 
they looke d back, and behold! the Dragon had stretched out so far that it was 
now no bigger around than a fiddle string! 
"What shall we do now?" asked the fifty men, who were perspiring with the long 
pull and the march across the Valley. 
"I'm sure I don't know," replied the panting King. "Let us tie this end of the 
beast around a tree. Then we can think what is best to be done." So they tied 
that end of the Dragon to a big tree and sat down to rest, being filled with 
wonder that the m ighty Purple Dragon was now no larger around than a piece of 
twine. 
"The wicked creature will never bother us again," said the King. "Yet it was 
only by accident we found a way to destroy it. The question now is, what shall 
we do with this long, thin Dragon? If we leave it here, it will trip anyone who 
stumbles agains t it." 
"I shall use it for fiddle strings," said Prince Fiddlecumdoo, "for the crop 
failed this year and I have none for my violin. Let us cut the Dragon up into 
the proper sizes and store the strings in the royal warehouse for general use." 
The King and the people heartily approved this plan. So the Prince brought a 
pair of shears and cut the Dragon into equal lengths to use on his violin. Thus 
the wicked monster was made good use of at last, for the strings had an 
excellent tone. 
And that was not only the end of the Purple Dragon, but there were two other 
ends of him, one tied to a tree in the mountains and the other fastened to a 
post of the castle. That same day the Monarch of Mo gave a magnificent feast to 
all his people to c elebrate the destruction of their greatest foe, and ever 
afterward the gardens of the Beautiful Valley were free from molestation. 
THE END