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diff --git a/28552.txt b/28552.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..779b5d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/28552.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4268 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Twinkle and Chubbins, by L. Frank (Lyman +Frank) Baum, Illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Twinkle and Chubbins + Their Astonishing Adventures in Nature-Fairyland + + +Author: L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum + + + +Release Date: April 10, 2009 [eBook #28552] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWINKLE AND CHUBBINS*** + + +E-text prepared by Michael Gray + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 28552-h.htm or 28552-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/5/5/28552/28552-h/28552-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/5/5/28552/28552-h.zip) + + + + + +TWINKLE AND CHUBBINS + +Their Astonishing Adventures +in Nature-Fairyland + +by + +LAURA BANCROFT + +Illustrated by Maginal Wright Enright + + + + + + + +Publishers +The Reilly & Britton Co. +Chicago + +Copyright, 1911 +by +The Reilly & Britton Co. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE +I Mr. Woodchuck.................9 +II Bandit Jim Crow..............69 +III Prarie-Dog Town.............133 +IV Prince Mud-Turtle...........195 +V Twinkle's Enchantment.......257 +VI Sugar-Loaf Mountain.........321 + + + + +List of Chapters + + PAGE +I The Trap............................11 +II Mr. Woodchuck Captures a Girl.......18 +III Mr. Woodchuck Scolds Tinkle.........26 +IV Mrs. Woodchuck and Her Family ......35 +V Mr. Woodchuck Argues the Question...43 +VI Twinkle is Taken to the Judge.......50 +VII Twinkle is Condemned................56 +VIII Twinkle Remembers...................66 + + + +Chapter I +The Trap + +"THERE'S a woodchuck over on the side hill that is eating my clover," said +Twinkle's father, who was a farmer. + +"Why don't you set a trap for it?" asked Twinkle's mother. + +"I believe I will," answered the man. + +So, when the midday dinner was over, the farmer went to the barn and got +a steel trap, and carried it over to the clover-field on the hillside. + +Twinkle wanted very much to go with him, but she had to help mamma wash +the dishes and put them away, and then brush up the dining-room and put +it in order. But when the work was done, and she had all the rest of the +afternoon to herself, she decided to go over to the woodchuck's hole and +see how papa had set the trap, and also discover if the woodchuck had +yet been caught. + +So the little girl took her blue-and-white sun-bonnet, and climbed over +the garden fence and ran across the corn-field and through the rye until +she came to the red-clover patch on the hill. + +She knew perfectly well where the woodchuck's hole was, for she had +looked at it curiously many times; so she approached it carefully and +found the trap set just in front of the hole. If the woodchuck stepped +on it, when he came out, it would grab his leg and hold him fast; and +there was a chain fastened to the trap, and also to a stout post driven +into the ground, so that when the woodchuck was caught he couldn't run +away with the trap. + +But although the day was bright and sunshiny, and just the kind of day +woodchucks like, the clover-eater had not yet walked out of his hole to +get caught in the trap. + +So Twinkle lay down in the clover-field, half hidden by a small bank in +front of the woodchuck's hole, and began to watch for the little animal +to come out. Her eyes could see right into the hole, which seemed to +slant upward into the hill instead of downward; but of course she +couldn't see very far in, because the hole wasn't straight, and grew +black a little way from the opening. + +It was somewhat wearisome, waiting and watching so long, and the warm +sun and the soft chirp of the crickets that hopped through the clover +made Twinkle drowsy. She didn't intend to go to sleep, because then she +might miss the woodchuck; but there was no harm in closing her eyes just +one little minute; so she allowed the long lashes to droop over her +pretty pink cheeks--just because they felt so heavy, and there was no +way to prop them up. + +Then, with a start, she opened her eyes again, and saw the trap and the +woodchuck hole just as they were before. Not quite, though, come to look +carefully. The hole seemed to be bigger than at first; yes, strange as +it might seem, the hole was growing bigger every minute! She watched it +with much surprise, and then looked at the trap, which remained the same +size it had always been. And when she turned her eyes upon the hole once +more it had not only become very big and high, but a stone arch appeared +over it, and a fine, polished front door now shut it off from the +outside world. She could even read a name upon the silver door-plate, +and the name was this: + +Mister Woodchuck + + + +Chapter II +Mister Woodchuck Captures a Girl + +"WELL, I declare!" whispered Twinkle to herself; "how could all that have +happened?" + +On each side of the door was a little green bench, big enough for two to +sit upon, and between the benches was a doorstep of white marble, with a +mat lying on it. On one side Twinkle saw an electric door-bell. + +While she gazed at this astonishing sight a sound of rapid footsteps was +heard, and a large Jack-Rabbit, almost as big as herself, and dressed in +a messenger-boy's uniform, ran up to the woodchuck's front door and rang +the bell. + +Almost at once the door opened inward, and a curious personage stepped +out. + +Twinkle saw at a glance that it was the woodchuck himself,--but what a +big and queer woodchuck it was! + +He wore a swallow-tailed coat, with a waistcoat of white satin and fancy +knee-breeches, and upon his feet were shoes with silver buckles. On his +head was perched a tall silk hat that made him look just as high as +Twinkle's father, and in one paw he held a gold-headed cane. Also he +wore big spectacles over his eyes, which made him look more dignified +than any other woodchuck Twinkle had ever seen. + +When this person opened the door and saw the Jack-Rabbit messenger-boy, +he cried out: + +"Well, what do you mean by ringing my bell so violently? I suppose +you're half an hour late, and trying to make me think you're in a +hurry." + +The Jack-Rabbit took a telegram from its pocket and handed it to the +woodchuck without a word in reply. At once the woodchuck tore open the +envelope and read the telegram carefully. + +"Thank you. There's no answer," he said; and in an instant the +Jack-Rabbit had whisked away and was gone. + +"Well, well," said the woodchuck, as if to himself, "the foolish farmer +has set a trap for me, it seems, and my friends have sent a telegram to +warn me. Let's see--where is the thing?" + +He soon discovered the trap, and seizing hold of the chain he pulled the +peg out of the ground and threw the whole thing far away into the field. + +"I must give that farmer a sound scolding," he muttered, "for he's +becoming so impudent lately that soon he will think he owns the whole +country." + +But now his eyes fell upon Twinkle, who lay in the clover staring up at +him; and the woodchuck gave a laugh and grabbed her fast by one arm. + +"Oh ho!" he exclaimed; "you're spying upon me, are you?" + +"I'm just waiting to see you get caught in the trap," said the girl, +standing up because the big creature pulled upon her arm. She wasn't +much frightened, strange to say, because this woodchuck had a +good-humored way about him that gave her confidence. + +"You would have to wait a long time for that," he said, with a laugh +that was a sort of low chuckle. "Instead of seeing me caught, you've got +caught yourself. That's turning the tables, sure enough; isn't it?" + +"I suppose it is," said Twinkle, regretfully. "Am I a prisoner?" + +"You might call it that; and then, again, you mightn't," answered the +woodchuck. "To tell you the truth, I hardly know what to do with you. +But come inside, and we'll talk it over. We musn't be seen out here in +the fields." + +Still holding fast to her arm, the woodchuck led her through the door, +which he carefully closed and locked. Then they passed through a kind of +hallway, into which opened several handsomely furnished rooms, and out +again into a beautiful garden at the back, all filled with flowers and +brightly colored plants, and with a pretty fountain playing in the +middle. A high stone wall was built around the garden, shutting it off +from all the rest of the world. + +The woodchuck led his prisoner to a bench beside the fountain, and told +her to sit down and make herself comfortable. + + + +Chapter III +Mister Woodchuck Scolds Twinkle + +TWINKLE was much pleased with her surroundings, and soon discovered +several gold-fishes swimming in the water at the foot of the fountain. + +"Well, how does it strike you?" asked the woodchuck, strutting up and +down the gravel walk before her and swinging his gold-headed cane rather +gracefully. + +"It seems like a dream," said Twinkle. + +"To be sure," he answered, nodding. "You'd no business to fall asleep in +the clover." + +"Did I?" she asked, rather startled at the suggestion. + +"It stands to reason you did," he replied. "You don't for a moment think +this is real, do you?" + +"It _seems_ real," she answered. "Aren't you the woodchuck?" + +"_Mister_ Woodchuck, if you please. Address me properly, young lady, or +you'll make me angry." + +"Well, then, aren't you Mister Woodchuck?" + +"At present I am; but when you wake up, I won't be," he said. + +"Then you think I'm dreaming?" + +"You must figure that out for yourself," said Mister Woodchuck. + +"What do you suppose made me dream?" + +"I don't know." + +"Do you think it's something I've eaten?" she asked anxiously. + +"I hardly think so. This isn't any nightmare, you know, because there's +nothing at all horrible about it so far. You've probably been reading +some of those creepy, sensational story-books." + +"I haven't read a book in a long time," said Twinkle. + +"Dreams," remarked Mister Woodchuck, thoughtfully, "are not always to be +accounted for. But this conversation is all wrong. When one is dreaming +one doesn't talk about it, or even know it's a dream. So let's speak of +something else." + +"It's very pleasant in this garden," said Twinkle. "I don't mind being +here a bit." + +"But you can't stay here," replied Mister Woodchuck, "and you ought to +be very uncomfortable in my presence. You see, you're one of the +deadliest enemies of my race. All you human beings live for or think of +is how to torture and destroy woodchucks." + +"Oh, no!" she answered. "We have many more important things than that to +think of. But when a woodchuck gets eating our clover and the +vegetables, and spoils a lot, we just have to do something to stop it. +That's why my papa set the trap." + +"You're selfish," said Mister Woodchuck, "and you're cruel to poor +little animals that can't help themselves, and have to eat what they can +find, or starve. There's enough for all of us growing in the broad +fields." + +Twinkle felt a little ashamed. + +"We have to sell the clover and the vegetables to earn our living," she +explained; "and if the animals eat them up we can't sell them." + +"We don't eat enough to rob you," said the woodchuck, "and the land +belonged to the wild creatures long before you people came here and +began to farm. And really, there is no reason why you should be so +cruel. It hurts dreadfully to be caught in a trap, and an animal +captured in that way sometimes has to suffer for many hours before the +man comes to kill it. We don't mind the killing so much. Death doesn't +last but an instant. But every minute of suffering seems to be an hour." + +"That's true," said Twinkle, feeling sorry and repentant. "I'll ask papa +never to set another trap." + +"That will be some help," returned Mister Woodchuck, more cheerfully, +"and I hope you'll not forget the promise when you wake up. But that +isn't enough to settle the account for all our past sufferings, I assure +you; so I am trying to think of a suitable way to punish you for the +past wickedness of your father, and of all other men that have set +traps." + +"Why, if you feel that way," said the little girl, "you're just as bad +as we are!" + +"How's that?" asked Mister Woodchuck, pausing in his walk to look at +her. + +"It's as naughty to want revenge as it is to be selfish and cruel," she +said. + +"I believe you are right about that," answered the animal, taking off +his silk hat and rubbing the fur smooth with his elbow. "But woodchucks +are not perfect, any more than men are, so you'll have to take us as you +find us. And now I'll call my family, and exhibit you to them. The +children, especially, will enjoy seeing the wild human girl I've had the +luck to capture." + +"Wild!" she cried, indignantly. + +"If you're not wild now, you will be before you wake up," he said. + + + +Chapter IV +Mrs. Woodchuck and Her Family + +BUT Mister Woodchuck had no need to call his family, for just as he +spoke a chatter of voices was heard and Mrs. Woodchuck came walking down +a path of the garden with several young woodchucks following after her. + +The lady animal was very fussily dressed, with puffs and ruffles and +laces all over her silk gown, and perched upon her head was a broad +white hat with long ostrich plumes. She was exceedingly fat, even for a +woodchuck, and her head fitted close to her body, without any neck +whatever to separate them. Although it was shady in the garden, she held +a lace parasol over her head, and her walk was so mincing and airy that +Twinkle almost laughed in her face. + +The young woodchucks were of several sizes and kinds. One little +woodchuck girl rolled before her a doll's baby-cab, in which lay a +woodchuck doll made of cloth, in quite a perfect imitation of a real +woodchuck. It was stuffed with something soft to make it round and fat, +and its eyes were two glass beads sewn upon the face. A big boy +woodchuck wore knickerbockers and a Tam o' Shanter cap and rolled a +hoop; and there were several smaller boy and girl woodchucks, dressed +quite as absurdly, who followed after their mother in a long train. + +"My dear," said Mister Woodchuck to his wife, "here is a human creature +that I captured just outside our front door." + +"Huh!" sneered the lady woodchuck, looking at Twinkle in a very haughty +way; "why will you bring such an animal into our garden, Leander? It +makes me shiver just to look at the horrid thing!" + +"Oh, mommer!" yelled one of the children, "see how skinny the beast is!" + +"Hasn't any hair on its face at all," said another, "or on its paws!" + +"And no sign of a tail!" cried the little woodchuck girl with the doll. + +"Yes, it's a very strange and remarkable creature," said the mother. +"Don't touch it, my precious darlings. It might bite." + +"You needn't worry," said Twinkle, rather provoked at these speeches. "I +wouldn't bite a dirty, greasy woodchuck on any account!" + +"Whoo! did you hear what she called us, mommer? She says we're greasy +and dirty!" shouted the children, and some of them grabbed pebbles from +the path in their paws, as if to throw them at Twinkle. + +"Tut, tut! don't be cruel," said Mister Woodchuck. "Remember the poor +creature is a prisoner, and isn't used to good society; and besides +that, she's dreaming." + +"Really?" exclaimed Mrs. Woodchuck, looking at the girl curiously. + +"To be sure," he answered. "Otherwise she wouldn't see us dressed in +such fancy clothes, nor would we be bigger than she is. The whole thing +is unnatural, my dear, as you must admit." + +"But _we_'re not dreaming; are we, Daddy?" anxiously asked the boy with +the hoop. + +"Certainly not," Mister Woodchuck answered; "so this is a fine +opportunity for you to study one of those human animals who have always +been our worst enemies. You will notice they are very curiously made. +Aside from their lack of hair in any place except the top of the head, +their paws are formed in a strange manner. Those long slits in them make +what are called fingers, and their claws are flat and dull--not at all +sharp and strong like ours." + +"I think the beast is ugly," said Mrs. Woodchuck. "It would give me the +shivers to touch its skinny flesh." + +"I'm glad of that," said Twinkle, indignantly. "You wouldn't have _all_ +the shivers, I can tell you! And you're a disagreeable, ign'rant +creature! If you had any manners at all, you'd treat strangers more +politely." + +"Just listen to the thing!" said Mrs. Woodchuck, in a horrified tone. +"Isn't it wild, though!" + + + +Chapter V +Mr. Woodchuck Argues the Question + +"REALLY," Mister Woodchuck said to his wife, "you should be more +considerate of the little human's feelings. She is quite intelligent and +tame, for one of her kind, and has a tender heart, I am sure." + +"I don't see anything intelligent about her," said the girl woodchuck. + +"I guess I've been to school as much as you have," said Twinkle. + +"School! Why, what's that?" + +"Don't you know what school is?" cried Twinkle, much amused. + +"We don't have school here," said Mister Woodchuck, as if proud of the +fact. + +"Don't you know any geography?" asked the child. + +"We haven't any use for it," said Mister Woodchuck; "for we never get +far from home, and don't care a rap what state bounds Florida on the +south. We don't travel much, and studying geography would be time +wasted." + +"But don't you study arithmetic?" she asked; "don't you know how to do +sums?" + +"Why should we?" he returned. "The thing that bothers you humans most, +and that's money, is not used by us woodchucks. So we don't need to +figure and do sums." + +"I don't see how you get along without money," said Twinkle, +wonderingly. "You must have to buy all your fine clothes." + +"You know very well that woodchucks don't wear clothes, under ordinary +circumstances," Mister Woodchuck replied. "It's only because you are +dreaming that you see us dressed in this way." + +"Perhaps that's true," said Twinkle. "But don't talk to me about not +being intelligent, or not knowing things. If you haven't any schools +it's certain I know more than your whole family put together!" + +"About some things, perhaps," acknowledged Mister Woodchuck. "But tell +me: do you know which kind of red clover is the best to eat?" + +"No," she said. + +"Or how to dig a hole in the ground to live in, with different rooms and +passages, so that it slants up hill and the rain won't come in and drown +you?" + +"No," said Twinkle. + +"And could you tell, on the second day of February (which is woodchuck +day, you know), whether it's going to be warm weather, or cold, during +the next six weeks?" + +"I don't believe I could," replied the girl. + +"Then," said Mister Woodchuck, "there are some things that we know that +you don't; and although a woodchuck might not be of much account in one +of your schoolrooms, you must forgive me for saying that I think you'd +make a mighty poor woodchuck." + +"I think so, too!" said Twinkle, laughing. + +"And now, little human," he resumed, after looking at his watch, "it's +nearly time for you to wake up; so if we intend to punish you for all +the misery your people has inflicted on the woodchucks, we won't have a +minute to spare." + +"Don't be in a hurry," said Twinkle. "I can wait." + +"She's trying to get out of it," exclaimed Mrs. Woodchuck, scornfully. +"Don't you let her, Leander." + +"Certainly not, my dear," he replied; "but I haven't decided how to +punish her." + +"Take her to Judge Stoneyheart," said Mrs. Woodchuck. "He will know what +to do with her." + + + +Chapter VI +Twinkle is Taken to the Judge + +AT this the woodchuck children all hooted with joy, crying: "Take her, +Daddy! Take her to old Stoneyheart! Oh, my! won't he give it to her, +though!" + +"Who is Judge Stoneyheart?" asked Twinkle, a little uneasily. + +"A highly respected and aged woodchuck who is cousin to my wife's +grandfather," was the reply. "We consider him the wisest and most +intelligent of our race; but, while he is very just in all things, the +judge never shows any mercy to evil-doers." + +"I haven't done anything wrong," said the girl. + +"But your father has, and much wrong is done us by the other farmers +around here. They fight my people without mercy, and kill every +woodchuck they can possibly catch." + +Twinkle was silent, for she knew this to be true. + +"For my part," continued Mister Woodchuck, "I'm very soft-hearted, and +wouldn't even step on an ant if I could help it. Also I am sure you have +a kind disposition. But you are a human, and I am a woodchuck; so I +think I will take you to old Stoneyheart and let him decide your fate." + +"Hooray!" yelled the young woodchucks, and away they ran through the +paths of the garden, followed slowly by their fat mother, who held the +lace parasol over her head as if she feared she would be sunstruck. + +Twinkle was glad to see them go. She didn't care much for the woodchuck +children, they were so wild and ill-mannered, and their mother was even +more disagreeable than they were. As for Mister Woodchuck, she did not +object to him so much; in fact, she rather liked to talk to him, for his +words were polite and his eyes pleasant and kindly. + +"Now, my dear," he said, "as we are about to leave this garden, where +you have been quite secure, I must try to prevent your running away when +we are outside the wall. I hope it won't hurt your feelings to become a +real prisoner for a few minutes." + +Then Mister Woodchuck drew from his pocket a leather collar, very much +like a dog-collar, Twinkle thought, and proceeded to buckle it around +the girl's neck. To the collar was attached a fine chain about six feet +long, and the other end of the chain Mister Woodchuck held in his hand. + +"Now, then," said he, "please come along quietly, and don't make a +fuss." + +He led her to the end of the garden and opened a wooden gate in the +wall, through which they passed. Outside the garden the ground was +nothing but hard, baked earth, without any grass or other green thing +growing upon it, or any tree or shrub to shade it from the hot sun. And +not far away stood a round mound, also of baked earth, which Twinkle at +once decided to be a house, because it had a door and some windows in +it. + +There was no living thing in sight--not even a woodchuck--and Twinkle +didn't care much for the baked-clay scenery. + +Mister Woodchuck, holding fast to the chain, led his prisoner across the +barren space to the round mound, where he paused to rap softly upon the +door. + + + +Chapter VII +Twinkle is Condemned + +"COME in!" called a voice. + +Mister Woodchuck pushed open the door and entered, drawing Tinkle after +him by the chain. + +In the middle of the room sat a woodchuck whose hair was grizzled with +old age. He wore big spectacles upon his nose, and a round knitted cap, +with a tassel dangling from the top, upon his head. His only garment was +an old and faded dressing-gown. + +When they entered, the old woodchuck was busy playing a game with a +number of baked-clay dominoes, which he shuffled and arranged upon a +baked-mud table; nor did he look up for a long time, but continued to +match the dominoes and to study their arrangement with intense interest. + +Finally, however, he finished the game, and then he raised his head and +looked sharply at his visitors. + +"Good afternoon, Judge," said Mister Woodchuck, taking off his silk hat +and bowing respectfully. + +The judge did not answer him, but continued to stare at Twinkle. + +"I have called to ask your advice," continued Mister Woodchuck. "By good +chance I have been able to capture one of those fierce humans that are +the greatest enemies of peaceful woodchucks." + +The judge nodded his gray head wisely, but still answered nothing. + +"But now that I've captured the creature, I don't know what to do with +her," went on Mister Woodchuck; "although I believe, of course, she +should be punished in some way, and made to feel as unhappy as her +people have made us feel. Yet I realize that it's a dreadful thing to +hurt any living creature, and as far as I'm concerned I'm quite willing +to forgive her." With these words he wiped his face with a red silk +handkerchief, as if really distressed. + +"She's dreaming," said the judge, in a sharp, quick voice. + +"Am I?" asked Twinkle. + +"Of course. You were probably lying on the wrong side when you went to +sleep." + +"Oh!" she said. "I wondered what made it." + +"Very disagreeable dream, isn't it?" continued the judge. + +"Not so very," she answered. "It's interesting to see and hear +woodchucks in their own homes, and Mister Woodchuck has shown me how +cruel it is for us to set traps for you." + +"Good!" said the judge. "But some dreams are easily forgotten, so I'll +teach you a lesson you'll be likely to remember. You shall be caught in +a trap yourself." + +"Me!" cried Twinkle, in dismay. + +"Yes, you. When you find how dreadfully it hurts you'll bear the traps +in mind forever afterward. People don't remember dreams unless the +dreams are unusually horrible. But I guess you'll remember this one." + +He got up and opened a mud cupboard, from which he took a big steel +trap. Twinkle could see that it was just like the trap papa had set to +catch the woodchucks, only it seemed much bigger and stronger. + +The judge got a mallet and with it pounded a stake into the mud floor. +Then he fastened the chain of the trap to the stake, and afterward +opened the iron jaws of the cruel-looking thing and set them with a +lever, so that the slightest touch would spring the trap and make the +strong jaws snap together. + +"Now, little girl," said he, "you must step in the trap and get caught." + +"Why, it would break my leg!" cried Twinkle. + +"Did your father care whether a woodchuck got its leg broken or not?" +asked the judge. + +"No," she answered, beginning to be greatly frightened. + +"Step!" cried the judge, sternly. + +"It will hurt awfully," said Mister Woodchuck; "but that can't be +helped. Traps are cruel things, at the best." + +Twinkle was now trembling with nervousness and fear. + +"Step!" called the judge, again. + +"Dear me!" said Mister Woodchuck, just then, as he looked earnestly into +Twinkle's face, "I believe she's going to wake up!" + +"That's too bad," said the judge. + +"No, I'm glad of it," replied Mister Woodchuck. + +And just then the girl gave a start and opened her eyes. + +She was lying in the clover, and before her was the opening of the +woodchuck's hole, with the trap still set before it. + + + +Chapter VIII +Twinkle Remembers + +"PAPA," said Twinkle, when supper was over and she was nestled snugly in +his lap, "I wish you wouldn't set any more traps for the woodchucks." + +"Why not, my darling?" he asked in surprise. + +"They're cruel," she answered. "It must hurt the poor animals dreadfully +to be caught in them." + +"I suppose it does," said her father, thoughtfully. "But if I don't trap +the woodchucks they eat our clover and vegetables." + +"Never mind that," said Twinkle, earnestly. "Let's divide with them. God +made the woodchucks, you know, just as He made us, and they can't plant +and grow things as we do; so they have to take what they can get, or +starve to death. And surely, papa, there's enough to eat in this big and +beautiful world, for all of God's creatures." + +Papa whistled softly, although his face was grave; and then he bent down +and kissed his little girl's forehead. + +"I won't set any more traps, dear," he said. + +And that evening, after Twinkle had been tucked snugly away in bed, her +father walked slowly through the sweet-smelling fields to the +woodchuck's hole; there lay the trap, showing plainly in the bright +moonlight. He picked it up and carried it back to the barn. It was never +used again. + + +THE END + + + +BANDIT JIM CROW + + + +BANDIT JIM CROW + + + +List of Chapters + + PAGE +I Jim Crow Becomes a Pet.....................73 +II Jim Crow Runs Away.........................81 +III Jim Crow Finds a New Home..................86 +IV Jim Crow Becomes a Robber..................97 +V Jim Crow Meets Policeman Blue Jay.........105 +VI Jim Crow Fools the Policeman..............113 +VII Jim Crow is Punished......................121 +VIII Jim Crow has Time to Repent His Sins......129 + + + +Chapter I +Jim Crow Becomes a Pet + +ONE day, when Twinkle's father was in the corn-field, he shot his gun at +a flock of crows that were busy digging up, with their long bills, the +kernels of corn he had planted. But Twinkle's father didn't aim very +straight, for the birds screamed at the bang of the gun and quickly flew +away--all except one young crow that fluttered its wings, but couldn't +rise into the air, and so began to run along the ground in an effort to +escape. + +The man chased the young crow, and caught it; and then he found that one +of the little lead bullets had broken the right wing, although the bird +seemed not to be hurt in any other way. + +It struggled hard, and tried to peck the hands that held it; but it was +too young to hurt any one, so Twinkle's father decided he would carry it +home to his little girl. + +"Here's a pet for you, Twinkle," he said, as he came into the house. "It +can't fly, because its wing is broken; but don't let it get too near +your eyes, or it may peck at them. It's very wild and fierce, you know." + +Twinkle was delighted with her pet, and at once got her mother to +bandage the broken wing, so that it would heal quickly. + +The crow had jet black feathers, but there was a pretty purplish and +violet gloss, or sheen, on its back and wings, and its eyes were bright +and had a knowing look in them. They were hazel-brown in color, and the +bird had a queer way of turning his head on one side to look at Twinkle +with his right eye, and then twisting it the other side that he might +see her with his left eye. She often wondered if she looked the same to +both eyes, or if each one made her seem different. + +She named her pet "Jim Crow" because papa said that all crows were +called Jim, although he never could find out the reason. But the name +seemed to fit her pet as well as any, so Twinkle never bothered about +the reason. + +Having no cage to keep him in, and fearing he would run away, the girl +tied a strong cord around one of Jim Crow's legs, and the other end of +the cord she fastened to the round of a chair--or to the table-leg--when +they were in the house. The crow would run all around, as far as the +string would let him go; but he couldn't get away. And when they went +out of doors Twinkle held the end of the cord in her hand, as one leads +a dog, and Jim Crow would run along in front of her, and then stop and +wait. And when she came near he'd run on again, screaming "Caw! Caw!" at +the top of his shrill little voice. + +He soon came to know he belonged to Twinkle, and would often lie in her +lap or perch upon her shoulder. And whenever she entered the room where +he was he would say, "Caw--caw!" to her, in pleading tones, until she +picked him up or took some notice of him. + +It was wonderful how quickly a bird that had always lived wild and free +seemed to become tame and gentle. Twinkle's father said that was because +he was so young, and because his broken wing kept him from flying in the +air and rejoining his fellows. But Jim Crow wasn't as tame as he seemed, +and he had a very wicked and ungrateful disposition, as you will +presently learn. + +For a few weeks, however, he was as nice a pet as any little girl could +wish for. He got into mischief occasionally, and caused mamma some +annoyance when he waded into a pan of milk or jumped upon the dinner +table and ate up papa's pumpkin pie before Twinkle could stop him. But +all pets are more or less trouble, at times, so Jim Crow escaped with a +few severe scoldings from mamma, which never seemed to worry him in the +least or make him a bit unhappy. + + + +Chapter II +Jim Crow Runs Away + +AT last Jim got so tame that Twinkle took the cord off his leg and let +him go free, wherever he pleased. So he wandered all over the house and +out into the yard, where he chased the ducks and bothered the pigs and +made himself generally disliked. He had a way of perching upon the back +of old Tom, papa's favorite horse, and chattering away in Tom's ear +until the horse plunged and pranced in his stall to get rid of his +unwelcome visitor. + +Twinkle always kept the bandage on the wounded wing, for she didn't know +whether it was well yet, or not, and she thought it was better to be on +the safe side. But the truth was, that Jim Crow's wing had healed long +ago, and was now as strong as ever; and, as the weeks passed by, and he +grew big and fat, a great longing came into his wild heart to fly again-- +far, far up into the air and away to the lands where there were forests +of trees and brooks of running water. + +He didn't ever expect to rejoin his family again. They were far enough +away by this time. And he didn't care much to associate with other +crows. All he wanted was to be free, and do exactly as he pleased, and +not have some one cuffing him a dozen times a day because he was doing +wrong. + +So one morning, before Twinkle was up, or even awake, Jim Crow pecked at +the bandage on his wing until he got the end unfastened, and then it +wasn't long before the entire strip of cloth was loosened and fell to +the ground. + +Now Jim fluttered his feathers, and pruned them with his long bill where +they had been pressed together, and presently he knew that the wing +which had been injured was exactly as strong and well as the other one. +He could fly away whenever he pleased. + +The crow had been well fed by Twinkle and her mamma, and was in splendid +health. But he was not at all grateful. With the knowledge of his +freedom a fierce, cruel joy crept into his heart, and he resumed the +wild nature that crows are born with and never lay aside as long as they +live. + +Having forgotten in an instant that he had ever been tame, and the pet +of a gentle little girl, Jim Crow had no thought of saying good-bye to +Twinkle. Instead, he decided he would do something that would make these +foolish humans remember him for a long time. So he dashed into a group +of young chickens that had only been hatched a day or two before, and +killed seven of them with his strong, curved claws and his wicked black +beak. When the mother hen flew at him he pecked at her eyes; and then, +screaming a defiance to all the world, Jim Crow flew into the air and +sailed away to a new life in another part of the world. + + + +Chapter III +Jim Crow Finds a New Home + +I'LL not try to tell you of all the awful things this bad crow did +during the next few days, on his long journey toward the South. + +Twinkle almost cried when she found her pet gone; and she really did cry +when she saw the poor murdered chickens. But mamma said she was very +glad to have Jim Crow run away, and papa scowled angrily and declared he +was sorry he had not killed the cruel bird when he shot at it in the +corn-field. + +In the mean time the runaway crow flew through the country, and when he +was hungry he would stop at a farm-house and rob a hen's nest and eat +the eggs. It was his knowledge of farm-houses that made him so bold; but +the farmers shot at the thieving bird once or twice, and this frightened +Jim Crow so badly that he decided to keep away from the farms and find a +living in some less dangerous way. + +And one day he came to a fine forest, where there were big and little +trees of all kinds, with several streams of water running through the +woods. + +"Here," said Jim Crow, "I will make my home; for surely this is the +finest place I am ever likely to find." + +There were plenty of birds in this forest, for Jim could hear them +singing and twittering everywhere among the trees; and their nests hung +suspended from branches, or nestled in a fork made by two limbs, in +almost every direction he might look. And the birds were of many kinds, +too: robins, thrushes, bullfinches, mocking-birds, wrens, yellowtails +and skylarks. Even tiny humming-birds fluttered around the wild +flowers that grew in the glades; and in the waters of the brooks waded +long-legged herons, while kingfishers sat upon overhanging branches and +waited patiently to seize any careless fish that might swim too near +them. Jim Crow decided this must be a real paradise for birds, because +it was far away from the houses of men. So he made up his mind to get +acquainted with the inhabitants of the forest as soon as possible, and +let them know who he was, and that he must be treated with proper +respect. + +In a big fir-tree, whose branches reached nearly to the ground, he saw a +large gathering of the birds, who sat chattering and gossiping +pleasantly together. So he flew down and joined them. + +"Good morning, folks," he said; and his voice sounded to them like a +harsh croak, because it had become much deeper in tone since he had +grown to his full size. + +The birds looked at him curiously, and one or two fluttered their wings +in a timid and nervous way; but none of them, little or big, thought +best to make any reply. + +"Well," said Jim Crow, gruffly, "what's the matter with you fellows? +Haven't you got tongues? You seemed to talk fast enough a minute ago." + +"Excuse me," replied a bullfinch, in a dignified voice; "we haven't the +honor of your acquaintance. You are a stranger." + +"My name's Jim Crow," he answered, "and I won't be a stranger long, +because I'm going to live here." + +They all looked grave at this speech, and a little thrush hopped from +one branch to another, and remarked: + +"We haven't any crows here at all. If you want to find your own folks +you must go to some other place." + +"What do I care about my own folks?" asked Jim, with a laugh that made +the little thrush shudder. "I prefer to live alone." + +"Haven't you a mate?" asked a robin, speaking in a very polite tone. + +"No; and I don't want any," said Jim Crow. "I'm going to live all by +myself. There's plenty of room in this forest, I guess." + +"Certainly," replied the bullfinch. "There is plenty of room for you here +if you behave yourself and obey the laws." + +"Who's going to make me?" he asked, angrily. + +"Any decent person, even if he's a crow, is bound to respect the law," +answered the bullfinch, calmly. + +Jim Crow was a little ashamed, for he didn't wish to acknowledge he +wasn't decent. So he said: + +"What are your laws?" + +"The same as those in all other forests. You must respect the nests and +the property of all other birds, and not interfere with them when +they're hunting for food. And you must warn your fellow-birds whenever +there is danger, and assist them to protect their young from prowling +beasts. If you obey these laws, and do not steal from or interfere with +your neighbors, you have a right to a nest in our forest." + +"To be quite frank with you, though," said the robin, "we prefer your +room to your company." + +"I'm going to stay," said the crow. "I guess I'm as good as the rest of +you; so you fellows just mind your own business and I'll mind mine." + +With these words he left them, and when he had mounted to a position +above the trees he saw that one tall, slim pine was higher than all the +rest, and that at its very top was a big deserted nest. + + + +Chapter IV +Jim Crow Becomes a Robber + +IT looked like a crow's nest to Jim, so he flew toward the pine tree and +lit upon a branch close by. One glance told him that at some time it +really must have been the home of birds of his kind, who for some reason +had abandoned it long ago. The nest was large and bulky, being made of +strong sticks woven together with fine roots and grasses. It was rough +outside, but smooth inside, and when Jim Crow had kicked out the dead +leaves and twigs that had fallen into it, he decided it was nearly as +good as new, and plenty good enough for a solitary crow like him to live +in. So with his bill he made a mark on the nest, that every bird might +know it belonged to him, and felt that at last he had found a home. + +During the next few days he made several attempts to get acquainted with +the other birds, but they were cold and distant, though very polite to +him; and none of them seemed to care for his society. + +No bird ever came near his nest, but he often flew down to the lower +trees and perched upon one or another of them, so gradually the birds of +the forest got used to seeing him around, and paid very little attention +to his actions. + +One day Mrs. Wren missed two brown eggs from her nest, and her little +heart was nearly broken with grief. It took the mocking bird and the +bullfinch a whole afternoon to comfort her, while Mr. Wren hopped around +in nearly as much distress as his wife. No animals had been seen in the +forest who would do this evil thing, so no one could imagine who the +thief might be. + +Such an outrage was almost unknown in this pleasant forest, and it made +all the birds nervous and fearful. A few days later a still greater +horror came upon them, for the helpless young children of Mrs. Linnet +were seized one morning from their nest, while their parents were absent +in search of food, and were carried away bodily. Mr. Linnet declared +that on his way back to his nest he had seen a big black monster leaving +it, but had been too frightened to notice just what the creature looked +like. But the lark, who had been up very early that morning, stated that +he had seen no one near that part of the forest except Jim Crow, who had +flown swiftly to his nest in the tall pine-tree. + +This was enough to make all the birds look upon Jim Crow with grave +suspicion, and Robin Redbreast called a secret meeting of all the birds +to discuss the question and decide what must be done to preserve their +nests from the robber. Jim Crow was so much bigger and fiercer than any +of the others that none dared accuse him openly or venture to quarrel +with him; but they had a good friend living not far away who was not +afraid of Jim Crow or any one else, so they finally decided to send for +him and ask his assistance. + +The starling undertook to be the messenger, and as soon as the meeting +was over he flew away upon his errand. + +"What were all you folks talking about?" asked the crow, flying down and +alighting upon a limb near to those who had not yet left the place of +meeting. + +"We were talking about you," said the thrush, boldly; "and you wouldn't +care at all to know what we said, Mister Jim Crow." + +Jim looked a trifle guilty and ashamed at hearing this, but knowing they +were all afraid of him he burst out into a rude laugh. + +"Caw! caw! caw!" he chuckled hoarsely; "what do I care what you say +about me? But don't you get saucy, my pretty thrush, or your friends +will miss you some fine morning, and never see you again." + +This awful threat made them all silent, for they remembered the fate of +poor Mrs. Linnet's children, and very few of the birds now had any doubt +but that Jim Crow knew more about the death of those helpless little +ones than he cared to tell. + +Finding they would not talk with him, the crow flew back to his tree, +where he sat sullenly perched upon a branch near his nest. And they were +very glad to get rid of him so easily. + + + +Chapter V +Jim Crow Meets Policeman Blue Jay + +NEXT morning Jim Crow woke up hungry, and as he sat lazily in his big +nest, he remembered that he had seen four pretty brown eggs, speckled +with white, in the nest of the oriole that lived at the edge of the +forest. + +"Those eggs will taste very good for breakfast," he thought. "I'll go at +once and get them; and if old Mammy Oriole makes a fuss, I'll eat her, +too." + +He hopped out of his nest and on to a branch, and the first thing his +sharp eye saw was a big and strange bird sitting upon the tree just +opposite him and looking steadily in his direction. + +Never having lived among other birds until now, the crow did not know +what kind of bird this was, but as he faced the new-comer he had a sort +of shiver in his heart that warned him to beware an enemy. Indeed, it +was none other than the Blue Jay that had appeared so suddenly, and he +had arrived that morning because the starling had told him of the thefts +that had taken place, and the Blue Jay is well known as the policeman of +the forest and a terror to all evil-doers. + +In size he was nearly as big as Jim Crow himself, and he had a large +crest of feathers on the top of his head that made him look even more +fierce--especially when he ruffled them up. His body was purplish blue +color on the back and purplish gray below, and there was a collar of +black feathers running all around his neck. But his wings and tail were +a beautiful rich blue, as delightful in color as the sky on a fine May +morning; so in personal appearance Policeman Blue Jay was much handsomer +than Jim Crow. But it was the sharp, stout beak that most alarmed the +crow, and had Jim been wiser he would have known that before him was the +most deadly foe of his race, and that the greatest pleasure a Blue Jay +finds in life is to fight with and punish a crow. + +But Jim was not very wise; and so he imagined, after his first terror +had passed away, that he could bully this bird as he had the others, and +make it fear him. + +"Well, what are you doing here?" he called out, in his crossest voice, +for he was anxious to get away and rob the oriole's nest. + +The Blue Jay gave a scornful, chattering laugh as he answered: + +"That's none of your business, Jim Crow." + +"Take care!" warned the crow; "you'll be sorry if you don't treat me +with proper respect." + +The Blue Jay winked solemnly, in a way that would have been very comical +to any observer other than the angry crow. + +"Don't hurt me--please don't!" he said, fluttering on the branch as if +greatly frightened. "My mother would feel dreadful bad if anything +happened to me." + +"Well, then, behave yourself," returned the crow, strutting proudly +along a limb and flopping his broad wings in an impressive manner. For +he was foolish enough to think he had made the other afraid. + +But no sooner had he taken flight and soared into the air than the Blue +Jay darted at him like an arrow from a bow, and before Jim Crow could +turn to defend himself the bill of his enemy struck him full in the +breast. Then, with a shriek of shrill laughter, the policeman darted +away and disappeared in the forest, leaving the crow to whirl around in +the air once or twice and then sink slowly down, with some of his own +torn feathers floating near him as witnesses to his defeat. + +The attack had dazed and astonished him beyond measure; but he found he +was not much hurt, after all. Crows are tougher than most birds. Jim +managed to reach one of the brooks, where he bathed his breast in the +cool water, and soon he felt much refreshed and more like his old self +again. + +But he decided not to go to the oriole's nest that morning, but to +search for grabs and beetles amongst the mosses beneath the oak-trees. + + + +Chapter VI +Jim Crow Fools the Policeman + +FROM that time on Policeman Blue Jay made his home in the forest, +keeping a sharp eye upon the actions of Jim Crow. And one day he flew +away to the southward and returned with Mrs. Blue Jay, who was even more +beautiful than her mate. Together they built a fine nest in a tree that +stood near to the crow's tall pine, and soon after they had settled down +to housekeeping Mrs. Blue Jay began to lay eggs of a pretty brown color +mottled with darker brown specks. + +Had Jim Crow known what was best for him he would have flown away from +this forest and found himself a new home. Within a short flight were +many bits of woodland where a crow might get a good living and not be +bothered by blue jays. But Jim was obstinate and foolish, and had made +up his mind that he never would again be happy until he had been +revenged upon his enemy. + +He dared no longer rob the nests so boldly as he had before, so he +became sly and cunning. He soon found out that the Blue Jay could not +fly as high as he could, nor as fast; so, if he kept a sharp lookout for +the approach of his foe, he had no trouble in escaping. But if he went +near to the nests of the smaller birds, there was the blue policeman +standing guard, and ready and anxious to fight at a moment's notice. It +was really no place for a robber at all, unless the robber was clever. + +One day Jim Crow discovered a chalkpit among the rocks at the north of +the forest, just beyond the edge of trees. The chalk was soft and in +some places crumbled to a fine powder, so that when he had rolled +himself for a few minutes in the dust all his feathers became as white +as snow. This fact gave to Jim Crow a bright idea. No longer black, but +white as a dove, he flew away to the forest and passed right by +Policeman Blue Jay, who only noticed that a big white bird had flown +amongst the trees, and did not suspect it was the thieving crow in a +clever disguise. + +Jim found a robin's nest that was not protected, both the robin and his +wife being away in search of food. So he ate up the eggs and kicked the +nest to pieces and then flew away again, passing the Blue Jay a second +time all unnoticed. + +When he reached a brook he washed all the chalk away from his feathers +and then returned to his nest as black as ever. + +All the birds were angry and dismayed when they found what had happened, +but none could imagine who had robbed the robins. Mrs. Robin, who was +not easily discouraged, built another nest and laid more eggs in it; but +the next day a second nest in the forest was robbed, and then another +and another, until the birds complained that Policeman Blue Jay did not +protect them at all. + +"I can't understand it in the least," said the policeman, "for I have +watched carefully, and I know Jim Crow has never dared to come near to +your trees." + +"Then some one else is the robber," declared the thrush fussily. + +"The only stranger I have noticed around here is a big white bird," +replied the Blue Jay, "and white birds never rob nests or eat eggs, as +you all know very well." + +So they were no nearer the truth than before, and the thefts continued; +for each day Jim Crow would make himself white in the chalk-pit, fly +into the forest and destroy the precious eggs of some innocent little +bird, and afterward wash himself in some far-away brook, and return to +his nest chuckling with glee to think he had fooled the Blue Jay so +nicely. + +But the Blue Jay, although stupid and unsuspecting at first, presently +began to get a little wisdom. He remembered that all this trouble had +commenced when the strange white bird first arrived in the forest; and +although it was doubtless true that white birds never eat eggs and have +honest reputations, he decided to watch this stranger and make sure that +it was innocent of the frightful crimes that had so aroused the dwellers +in the forest. + + + +Chapter VII +Jim Crow is Punished + +SO one day Policeman Blue Jay hid himself in some thick bushes until he +saw the big white bird fly by, and then he followed quietly after it, +flitting from tree to tree and keeping out of sight as much as possible, +until at last he saw the white bird alight near a bullfinch's nest and +eat up all the eggs it contained. + +Then, ruffling his crest angrily, Policeman Blue Jay flew to attack the +big white robber, and was astonished to find he could not catch it. For +the white bird flew higher into the air than he could, and also flew +much faster, so that it soon escaped and passed out of sight. + +"It must be a white crow," thought the Blue Jay; "for only a crow can +beat me at flying, and some of that race are said to be white, although +I have never seen one." + +So he called together all the birds, and told them what he had seen, and +they all agreed to hide themselves the next day and lie in wait for the +thief. + +By this time Jim Crow thought himself perfectly safe, and success had +made him as bold as he was wicked. Therefore he suspected nothing when, +after rolling himself in the chalk, he flew down the next day into the +forest to feast upon birds' eggs. He soon came to a pretty nest, and was +just about to rob it, when a chorus of shrill cries arose on every side +of him and hundreds, of birds--so many that they quite filled the air-- +flew straight at the white one, pecking him with their bills and +striking him with their wings; for anger had made even the most timid of +the little birds fierce, and there were so many of them that they gave +each other courage. + +Jim Crow tried to escape, but whichever way he might fly his foes +clustered all around him, getting in his way so that he could not use +his big wings properly. And all the time they were pecking at him and +fighting him as hard as they could. Also, the chalk was brushed from his +feathers, by degrees, and soon the birds were able to recognize their +old enemy the crow, and then, indeed, they became more furious than +ever. + +Policeman Blue Jay was especially angry at the deception practiced upon +him, and if he could have got at the crow just then he would have killed +it instantly. But the little birds were all in his way, so he was forced +to hold aloof. + +Filled with terror and smarting with pain, Jim Crow had only one +thought: to get to the shelter of his nest in the pine-tree. In some way +he managed to do this, and to sink exhausted into the hollow of his +nest. But many of his enemies followed him, and although the thick +feathers of his back and wings protected his body, Jim's head and eyes +were at the mercy of the sharp bills of the vengeful birds. + +When at last they left him, thinking he had been sufficiently punished, +Jim Crow was as nearly dead as a bird could be. But crows are tough, and +this one was unlucky enough to remain alive. For when his wounds had +healed he had become totally blind, and day after day he sat in his +nest, helpless and alone, and dared not leave it. + + + +Chapter VIII +Jim Crow Has Time to Repent His Sins + +"WHERE are you going, my dear?" asked the Blue Jay of his wife. + +"I'm going to carry some grubs to Jim Crow," she answered. "I'll be back +in a minute." + +"Jim Crow is a robber and a murderer!" said the policeman, harshly. + +"I know," she replied, in a sweet voice; "but he is blind." + +"Well, fly along," said her husband; "but hurry back again." + +And the robin-redbreast and his wife filled a cup-shaped flower with +water from the brook, and then carried it in their bills to the +pine-tree, without spilling a drop. + +"Where are you going?" asked the oriole, as they passed. + +"We're just taking some water to Jim Crow," replied Mrs. Robin. + +"He's a thief and a scoundrel!" cried the oriole, indignantly. + +"That is true." said Mrs. Robin, in a soft, pitiful voice; "but he is +blind." + +"Let me help you." exclaimed the oriole. "I'll carry this side of the +cup, so it can't tip." + +So Jim Crow, blind and helpless, sat in his nest day after day and week +after week, while the little birds he had so cruelly wronged brought him +food and water and cared for him as generously as they could. + +And I wonder what his thoughts were--don't you? + + + +PRAIRIE-DOG TOWN + + + +PRARIE-DOG TOWN + + + +List of Chapters PAGE +I The Picnic...........................137 +II Prairie-Dog Town.....................145 +III Mr. Bowko, the Mayor.................150 +IV Presto Digi, the Magician............158 +V The Home of the Puff-Pudgys..........166 +VI Teenty and Weenty....................174 +VII The Mayor Gives a Luncheon...........181 +VIII On Top of the Earth Again............189 + + + +Chapter I +The Picnic + +ON the great western prairies of Dakota is a little town called Edgeley, +because it is on the edge of civilization--a very big word which means +some folks have found a better way to live than other folks. The Edgeley +people have a good way to live, for there are almost seventeen wooden +houses there, and among them is a school-house, a church, a store and a +blacksmith-shop. If people walked out their front doors they were upon +the little street; if they walked out the back doors they were on the +broad prairies. That was why Twinkle, who was a farmer's little girl, +lived so near the town that she could easily walk to school. + +She was a pretty, rosy-cheeked little thing, with long, fluffy hair, and +big round eyes that everybody smiled into when they saw them. It was +hard to keep that fluffy hair from getting tangled; so mamma used to tie +it in the back with a big, broad ribbon. And Twinkle wore calico slips +for school days and gingham dresses when she wanted to "dress up" or +look especially nice. And to keep the sun from spotting her face with +freckles, she wore sunbonnets made of the same goods as her dresses. + +Twinkle's best chum was a little boy called Chubbins, who was the only +child of the tired-faced school-teacher. Chubbins was about as old as +Twinkle; but he wasn't so tall and slender for his age as she was, being +short and rather fat. The hair on his little round head was cut close, +and he usually wore a shirt-waist and "knickers," with a wide straw hat +on the back of his head. Chubbins's face was very solemn. He never said +many words when grown folks were around, but he could talk fast enough +when he and Twinkle were playing together alone. + +Well, one Saturday the school had a picnic, and Twinkle and Chubbins +both went. On the Dakota prairies there are no shade-trees at all, and +very little water except what they they get by boring deep holes in the +ground; so you may wonder where the people could possibly have a picnic. +But about three miles from the town a little stream of water (which they +called a "river," but we would call only a brook) ran slow and muddy +across the prairie; and where the road crossed it a flat bridge had been +built. If you climbed down the banks of the river you would find a nice +shady place under the wooden bridge; and so here it was that the picnics +were held. + +All the village went to the picnic, and they started bright and early in +the morning, with horses and farm-wagons, and baskets full of good +things to eat, and soon arrived at the bridge. + +There was room enough in its shade for all to be comfortable; so they +unhitched the horses and carried the baskets to the river bank, and +began to laugh and be as merry as they could. + +Twinkle and Chubbins, however, didn't care much for the shade of the +bridge. This was a strange place to them, so they decided to explore it +and see if it was any different from any other part of the prairie. +Without telling anybody where they were going, they took hold of hands +and trotted across the bridge and away into the plains on the other +side. + +The ground here wasn't flat, but had long rolls to it, like big waves on +the ocean, so that as soon as the little girl and boy had climbed over +the top of the first wave, or hill, those by the river lost sight of +them. + +They saw nothing but grass in the first hollow, but there was another +hill just beyond, so they kept going, and climbed over that too. And now +they found, lying in the second hollow, one of the most curious sights +that the western prairies afford. + +"What is it?" asked Chubbins, wonderingly. + +"Why, it's a Prairie-Dog Town," said Twinkle. + + + +Chapter II +Prarie-Dog Town + +LYING in every direction, and quite filling the little hollow, were +round mounds of earth, each one having a hole in the center. The mounds +were about two feet high and as big around as a wash-tub, and the edges +of the holes were pounded hard and smooth by the pattering feet of the +little creatures that lived within. + +"Isn't it funny!" said Chubbins, staring at the mounds. + +"Awful," replied Twinkle, staring too. "Do you know, Chub, there are +an'mals living in every single one of those holes?" + +"What kind?" asked Chubbins. + +"Well, they're something like squirrels, only they _aren't_ squirrels," +she explained. "They're prairie-dogs." + +"Don't like dogs," said the boy, looking a bit uneasy. + +"Oh, they're not dogs at all," said Twinkle; "they're soft and fluffy, +and gentle." + +"Do they bark?" he asked. + +"Yes; but they don't bite." + +"How d' you know, Twink?" + +"Papa has told me about them, lots of times. He says they're so shy that +they run into their holes when anybody's around; but if you keep quiet +and watch, they'll stick their heads out in a few minutes." + +"Let's watch," said Chubbins. + +"All right," she agreed. + +Very near to some of the mounds was a raised bank, covered with soft +grass; so the children stole softly up to this bank and lay down upon +it in such a way that their heads just stuck over the top of it, +while their bodies were hidden from the eyes of any of the folks of +Prairie-Dog Town. + +"Are you comferble, Chub?" asked the little girl. + +"Yes." + +"Then lie still and don't talk, and keep your eyes open, and perhaps the +an'mals will stick their heads up." + +"All right," says Chubbins. + +So they kept quiet and waited, and it seemed a long time to both the boy +and the girl before a soft, furry head popped out of a near-by hole, and +two big, gentle brown eyes looked at them curiously. + + + +Chapter III +Mr. Bowko, the Mayor + +"DEAR me!" said the prairie-dog, speaking almost in a whisper; "here are +some of those queer humans from the village." + +"Let me see! Let me see!" cried two shrill little voices, and the wee +heads of two small creatures popped out of the hole and fixed their +bright eyes upon the heads of Twinkle and Chubbins. + +"Go down at once!" said the mother prairie-dog. "Do you want to get +hurt, you naughty little things?" + +"Oh, they won't get hurt," said another deeper voice, and the children +turned their eyes toward a second mound, on top of which sat a plump +prairie-dog whose reddish fur was tipped with white on the end of each +hair. He seemed to be quite old, or at least well along in years, and he +had a wise and thoughtful look on his face. + +"They're humans," said the mother. + +"True enough; but they're only human children, and wouldn't hurt your +little ones for the world," the old one said. + +"That's so!" called Twinkle. "All we want, is to get acquainted." + +"Why, in that case," replied the old prairie-dog, "you are very welcome +in our town, and we're glad to see you." + +"Thank you," said Twinkle, gratefully. It didn't occur to her just then +that it was wonderful to be talking to the little prairie-dogs just as +if they were people. It seemed very natural they should speak with each +other and be friendly. + +As if attracted by the sound of voices, little heads began to pop out of +the other mounds--one here and one there--until the town was alive with +the pretty creatures, all squatting near the edges of their holes and +eyeing Chubbins and Twinkle with grave and curious looks. + +"Let me introduce myself," said the old one that had first proved +friendly. "My name is Bowko, and I'm the Mayor and High Chief of +Prairie-Dog Town." + +"Don't you have a king?" asked Twinkle. + +"Not in this town," he answered. "There seems to be no place for kings +in this free United States. And a Mayor and High Chief is just as good +as a king, any day." + +"I think so, too," answered the girl. + +"Better!" declared Chubbins. + +The Mayor smiled, as if pleased. + +"I see you've been properly brought up," he continued; "and now let me +introduce to you some of my fellow-citizens. This," pointing with one +little paw to the hole where the mother and her two children were +sitting, "is Mrs. Puff-Pudgy and her family--Teenty and Weenty. Mr. +Puff-Pudgy, I regret to say, was recently chased out of town for saying +his prayers backwards." + +"How could he?" asked Chubbins, much surprised. + +"He was always contrary," answered the Mayor, with a sigh, "and wouldn't +do things the same way that others did. His good wife, Mrs. Puff-Pudgy, +had to scold him all day long; so we finally made him leave the town, +and I don't know where he's gone to." + +"Won't he be sorry not to have his little children any more?" asked +Twinkle, regretfully. + +"I suppose so; but if people are contrary, and won't behave, they must +take the consequences. This is Mr. Chuckledorf," continued the Mayor, +and a very fat prairie-dog bowed to them most politely; "and here is +Mrs. Fuzcum; and Mrs. Chatterby; and Mr. Sneezeley, and Doctor Dosem." + +All these folks bowed gravely and politely, and Chubbins and Twinkle +bobbed their heads in return until their necks ached, for it seemed as +if the Mayor would never get through introducing the hundreds of +prairie-dogs that were squatting around. + +"I'll never be able to tell one from the other," whispered the girl; +"'cause they all look exactly alike." + +"Some of 'em's fatter," observed Chubbins; "but I don't know which." + + + +Chapter IV +Presto Digi, the Magician + +"AND now, if you like, we will be pleased to have you visit some of our +houses," said Mr. Bowko, the Mayor, in a friendly tone. + +"But we can't!" exclaimed Twinkle. "We're too big," and she got up and +sat down upon the bank, to show him how big she really was when compared +with the prairie-dogs. + +"Oh, that doesn't matter in the least," the Mayor replied. "I'll have +Presto Digi, our magician, reduce you to our size." + +"Can he?" asked Twinkle, doubtfully. + +"Our magician can do anything," declared the Mayor. Then he sat up and +put both his front paws to his mouth and made a curious sound that was +something like a bark and something like a whistle, but not exactly like +either one. + +Then everybody waited in silence until a queer old prairie-dog slowly +put his head out of a big mound near the center of the village. + +"Good morning, Mr. Presto Digi," said the Mayor. + +"Morning!" answered the magician, blinking his eyes as if he had just +awakened from sleep. + +Twinkle nearly laughed at this scrawny, skinny personage; but by good +fortune, for she didn't wish to offend him, she kept her face straight +and did not even smile. + +"We have two guests here, this morning," continued the Mayor, addressing +the magician, "who are a little too large to get into our houses. So, as +they are invited to stay to luncheon, it would please us all if you +would kindly reduce them to fit our underground rooms." + +"Is _that_ all you want?" asked Mr. Presto Digi, bobbing his head at the +children. + +"It seems to me a great deal," answered Twinkle. "I'm afraid you never +could do it." + +"Wow!" said the magician, in a scornful voice that was almost a bark. "I +can do that with one paw. Come here to me, and don't step on any of our +mounds while you're so big and clumsy." + +So Twinkle and Chubbins got up and walked slowly toward the magician, +taking great care where they stepped. Teenty and Weenty were frightened, +and ducked their heads with little squeals as the big children passed +their mound; but they bobbed up again the next moment, being curious to +see what would happen. + +When the boy and girl stopped before Mr. Presto Digi's mound, he began +waving one of his thin, scraggy paws and at the same time made a +gurgling noise that was deep down in his throat. And his eyes rolled and +twisted around in a very odd way. + +Neither Twinkle nor Chubbins felt any effect from the magic, nor any +different from ordinary; but they knew they were growing smaller, +because their eyes were getting closer to the magician. + +"Is that enough?" asked Mr. Presto, after a while. + +"Just a little more, please," replied the Mayor; "I don't want them to +bump their heads against the doorways." + +So the magician again waved his paw and chuckled and gurgled and +blinked, until Twinkle suddenly found she had to look up at him as he +squatted on his mound. + +"Stop!" she screamed; "if you keep on, we won't be anything at all!" + +"You're just about the right size," said the Mayor, looking them over +with much pleasure, and when the girl turned around she found Mr. Bowko +and Mrs. Puff-Pudgy standing beside her, and she could easily see that +Chubbins was no bigger than they, and she was no bigger than Chubbins. + +"Kindly follow me," said Mrs. Puff-Pudgy, "for my little darlings are +anxious to make your acquaintance, and as I was the first to discover +you, you are to be my guests first of all, and afterward go to the +Mayor's to luncheon." + + + +Chapter V +The Home of the Puff-Pudgys + +SO Twinkle and Chubbins, still holding hands, trotted along to the +Puff-Pudgy mound, and it was strange how rough the ground now seemed to +their tiny feet. They climbed up the slope of the mound rather clumsily, +and when they came to the hole it seemed to them as big as a well. Then +they saw that it wasn't a deep hole, but a sort of tunnel leading down +hill into the mound, and Twinkle knew if they were careful they were not +likely to slip or tumble down. + +Mrs. Puff-Pudgy popped into the hole like a flash, for she was used to +it, and waited just below the opening to guide them. So, Twinkle slipped +down to the floor of the tunnel and Chubbins followed close after her, +and then they began to go downward. + +"It's a little dark right here," said Mrs. Puff-Pudgy; "but I've ordered +the maid to light the candles for you, so you'll see well enough when +you're in the rooms." + +"Thank you," said Twinkle, walking along the hall and feeling her way by +keeping her hand upon the smooth sides of the passage. "I hope you won't +go to any trouble, or put on airs, just because we've come to visit +you." + +"If I do," replied Mrs. Puffy-Pudgy, "it's because I know the right way +to treat company. We've always belonged to the 'four hundred,' you know. +Some folks never know what to do, or how to do it, but that isn't the +way with the Puff-Pudgys. Hi! you, Teenty and Weenty--get out of here +and behave yourselves! You'll soon have a good look at our visitors." + +And now they came into a room so comfortable and even splendid that +Twinkle's eyes opened wide with amazement. + +It was big, and of a round shape, and on the walls were painted very +handsome portraits of different prairie-dogs of the Puff-Pudgy family. +The furniture was made of white clay, baked hard in the sun and +decorated with paints made from blue clay and red clay and yellow clay. +This gave it a gorgeous appearance. There was a round table in the +middle of the room, and several comfortable chairs and sofas. Around the +walls were little brackets with candles in them, lighting the place very +pleasantly. + +"Sit down, please," said Mrs. Puff-Pudgy. "You'll want to rest a minute +before I show you around." + +So Twinkle and Chubbins sat upon the pretty clay chairs, and Teenty and +Weenty sat opposite them and stared with their mischievous round eyes as +hard as they could. + +"What nice furniture," exclaimed the girl. + +"Yes," replied Mrs. Puff-Pudgy, looking up at the picture of a sad-faced +prairie-dog; "Mr. Puff-Pudgy made it all himself. He was very handy at +such things. It's a shame he turned out so obstinate." + +"Did he build the house too?" + +"Why, he dug it out, if that's what you mean. But I advised him how to +do it, so I deserve some credit for it myself. Next to the Mayor's, it's +the best house in town, which accounts for our high social standing. +Weenty! take your paw out of your mouth. You're biting your claws +again." + +"I'm not!" said Weenty. + +"And now," continued Mrs. Puff-Pudgy, "if you are rested, I'll show you +through the rest of our house." + +So, they got up and followed her, and she led the children through an +archway into the dining-room. Here was a cupboard full of the cunningest +little dishes Twinkle had ever seen. They were all made of clay, baked +hard in the sun, and were of graceful shapes, and nearly as smooth and +perfect as our own dishes. + + + +Chapter VI +Teenty and Weenty + +ALL around the sides of the dining-room were pockets, or bins, in the +wall; and these were full of those things the prairie-dogs are most fond +of eating. Clover-seeds filled one bin, and sweet roots another; dried +mulberry leaves--that must have come from a long distance--were in +another bin, and even kernels of yellow field corn were heaped in one +place. The Puff-Pudgys were surely in no danger of starving for some +time to come. + +"Teenty! Put back that grain of wheat," commanded the mother, in a +severe voice. + +Instead of obeying, Teenty put the wheat in his mouth and ate it as +quickly as possible. + +"The little dears are _so_ restless," Mrs. Puff-Pudgy said to Twinkle, +"that it's hard to manage them." + +"They don't behave," remarked Chubbins, staring hard at the children. + +"No, they have a share of their father's obstinate nature," replied Mrs. +Puff-Pudgy. "Excuse me a minute and I'll cuff them; It'll do them good." + +But before their mother could reach them, the children found trouble of +their own. Teenty sprang at Weenty and began to fight, because his +brother had pinched him, and Weenty fought back with all his might and +main. They scratched with their claws and bit with their teeth, and +rolled over and over upon the floor, bumping into the wall and upsetting +the chairs, and snarling and growling all the while like two puppies. + +Mrs. Puff-Pudgy sat down and watched them, but did not interfere. + +"Won't they hurt themselves?" asked Twinkle, anxiously. + +"Perhaps so," said the mother; "but if they do, it will punish them for +being so naughty. I always let them fight it out, because they are so +sore for a day or two afterward that they have to keep quiet, and then I +get a little rest." + +Weenty set up a great howling, just then, and Teenty drew away from his +defeated brother and looked at him closely. The fur on both of them was +badly mussed up, and Weenty had a long scratch on his nose, that must +have hurt him, or he wouldn't have howled so. Teenty's left eye was +closed tight, but if it hurt him he bore the pain in silence. + +Mrs. Puff-Pudgy now pushed them both into a little room and shut them +up, saying they must stay there until bedtime; and then she led Twinkle +and Chubbins into the kitchen and showed them a pool of clear water, in +a big clay basin, that had been caught during the last rain and saved +for drinking purposes. The children drank of it, and found it cool and +refreshing. + +Then they saw the bedrooms, and learned that the beds of prairie-dogs +were nothing more than round hollows made in heaps of clay. These +animals always curl themselves up when they sleep, and the round hollows +just fitted their bodies; so, no doubt, they found them very +comfortable. + +There were several bedrooms, for the Puff-Pudgy house was really very +large. It was also very cool and pleasant, being all underground and not +a bit damp. + +After they had admired everything in a way that made Mrs. Puff-Pudgy +very proud and happy, their hostess took one of the lighted candles from +a bracket and said she would now escort them to the house of the +Honorable Mr. Bowko, the Mayor. + + + +Chapter VII +The Mayor Gives a Luncheon + +"DON'T we have to go upstairs and out of doors?" asked Twinkle. + +"Oh, no," replied the prairie-dog, "we have halls connecting all the +different houses of importance. Just follow me, and you can't get lost." + +They might easily have been lost without their guide, the little girl +thought, after they had gone through several winding passages. They +turned this way and that, in quite a bewildering manner, and there were +so many underground tunnels going in every direction that it was a +wonder Mrs. Puff-Pudgy knew which way to go. + +"You ought to have sign-posts," said Chubbins, who had once been in a +city. + +"Why, as for that, every one in the town knows which way to go," +answered their guide; "and it isn't often we have visitors. Last week a +gray owl stopped with us for a couple of days, and we had a fine ball in +her honor. But you are the first humans that have ever been entertained +in our town, so it's quite an event with us." A few minutes later she +said: "Here we are, at the Mayor's house," and as they passed under a +broad archway she blew out her candle, because the Mayor's house was so +brilliantly lighted. + +"Welcome!" said Mr. Bowko, greeting the children with polite bows. "You +are just in time, for luncheon is about ready and my guests are waiting +for you." + +He led them at once into a big dining-room that was so magnificently +painted with colored clays that the walls were as bright as a June +rainbow. + +"How pretty!" cried Twinkle, clapping her hands together in delight. + +"I'm glad you like it," said the Mayor, much pleased. "Some people, who +are lacking in good taste, think it's a little overdone, but a Mayor's +house should be gorgeous, I think, so as to be a credit to the +community. My grandfather, who designed and painted this house, was a +very fine artist. But luncheon is ready, so pray be seated." + +They sat down on little clay chairs that were placed at the round table. +The Mayor sat on one side of Twinkle and Mrs. Puff-Pudgy on the other, +and Chubbins was between the skinny old magician and Mr. Sneezeley. +Also, in other chairs sat Dr. Dosem, and Mrs. Chatterby, and Mrs. +Fuzcum, and several others. It was a large company, indeed, which showed +that the Mayor considered this a very important occasion. + +They were waited upon by several sleek prairie-dog maids in white aprons +and white caps, who looked neat and respectable, and were very graceful +in their motions. + +Neither Twinkle nor Chubbins was very hungry, but they were curious to +know what kind of food the prairie-dogs ate, so they watched carefully +when the different dishes were passed around. Only grains and vegetables +were used, for prairie-dogs do not eat meat. There was a milk-weed soup +at first; and then yellow corn, boiled and sliced thin. Afterward they +had a salad of thistle leaves, and some bread made of barley. The +dessert was a dish of the sweet, dark honey made by prairie-bees, and +some cakes flavored with sweet and spicy roots that only prairie-dogs +know how to find. + +The children tasted of several dishes, just to show their politeness; +but they couldn't eat much. Chubbins spent most of his time watching Mr. +Presto Digi, who ate up everything that was near him and seemed to be as +hungry after the luncheon as he had been before. + +Mrs. Puff-Pudgy talked so much about the social standing and dignity of +the Puff-Pudgys that she couldn't find time to eat much, although she +asked for the recipe of the milk-weed soup. But most of the others +present paid strict attention to the meal and ate with very good +appetites. + + + +Chapter VIII +On Top of the Earth Again + +AFTERWARD they all went into the big drawing-room, where Mrs. Fuzcum +sang a song for them in a very shrill voice, and Mr. Sneezeley and Mrs. +Chatterby danced a graceful minuet that was much admired by all present. + +"We ought to be going home," said Twinkle, after this entertainment was +over. "I'm afraid our folks will worry about us." + +"We regret to part with you," replied the Mayor; "but, if you really +think you ought to go, we will not be so impolite as to urge you to +stay." + +"You'll find we have excellent manners," added Mrs. Puff-Pudgy. + +"I want to get big again," said Chubbins. + +"Very well; please step this way," said the Mayor. + +So they all followed him through a long passage until they began to go +upward, as if climbing a hill. And then a gleam of daylight showed just +ahead of them, and a few more steps brought them to the hole in the +middle of the mound. + +The Mayor and Mrs. Puff-Pudgy jumped up first, and then they helped +Twinkle and Chubbins to scramble out. The strong sunlight made them +blink their eyes for a time, but when they were able to look around they +found one or more heads of prairie-dogs sticking from every mound. + +"Now, Mr. Presto Digi," said the Mayor, when all the party were standing +on the ground, "please enlarge our friends to their natural sizes +again." + +"That is very easy," said the magician, with a sigh. "I really wish, Mr. +Mayor, that you would find something for me to do that is difficult." + +"I will, some time," promised the Mayor. "Just now, this is all I can +require of you." + +So the magician waved his paw and gurgled, much in the same way he had +done before, and Twinkle and Chubbins began to grow, and swell out until +they were as large as ever, and the prairie-dogs again seemed very small +beside them. + +"Good-bye," said the little girl, "and thank you all, very much, for +your kindness to us." + +"Good-bye!" answered a chorus of small voices, and then all the +prairie-dogs popped into their holes and quickly disappeared. + +Twinkle and Chubbins found they were sitting on the green bank again, at +the edge of Prairie-Dog Town. + +"Do you think we've been asleep, Chub?" asked the girl. + +"'Course not," replied Chubbins, with a big yawn. "It's easy 'nough to +know that, Twink, 'cause I'm sleepy now!" + + +THE END + + + +PRINCE MUD-TURTLE + + + +PRINCE MUD-TURTLE + + +List of Chapters PAGE +I Twinkle Captures the Turtle.....................199 +II Twinkle Discovers the Turtle can Talk...........207 +III The Turtle Tells of the Corrugated Giant........214 +IV Prince Turtle Remembers His Magic...............223 +V Twinkle Promises to be Brave....................232 +VI Twinkle Meets the Corrugated Giant..............239 +VII Prince Mud-Turtle Becomes Prince Melga..........244 +VIII Twinkle Receives a Medal........................250 + + + +Chapter I +Twinkle Captures the Turtle + +ONE hot summer day Twinkle went down into the meadow to where the brook +ran tinkling over its stones or rushed and whirled around the curves of +the banks or floated lazily through the more wide and shallow parts. It +wasn't much of a brook, to tell the facts, for there were many places +where an active child could leap across it. But it was the only brook +for miles around, and to Twinkle it was a never-ending source of +delight. Nothing amused or refreshed the little girl more than to go +wading on the pebbly bottom and let the little waves wash around her +slim ankles. + +There was one place, just below the pasture lot, where it was deeper; +and here there were real fishes swimming about, such as "horned aces" +and "chubs" and "shiners"; and once in a while you could catch a +mud-turtle under the edges of the flat stones or in hollows beneath the +banks. The deep part was not very big, being merely a pool, but Twinkle +never waded in it, because the water would come quite up to her waist, +and then she would be sure to get her skirts wet, which would mean a +good scolding from mamma. + +To-day she climbed the fence in the lane, just where the rickety wooden +bridge crossed the brook, and at once sat down upon the grassy bank and +took off her shoes and stockings. Then, wearing her sun-bonnet to shield +her face from the sun, she stepped softly into the brook and stood +watching the cool water rush by her legs. + +It was very nice and pleasant; but Twinkle never could stand still for +very long, so she began to wade slowly down the stream, keeping in the +middle of the brook, and being able to see through the clear water all +the best places to put her feet. + +Pretty soon she had to duck her head to pass under the fence that +separated the meadow from the pasture lot; but she got through all +right, and then kept on down the stream, until she came close to the +deep pool. She couldn't wade through this, as I have explained; so she +got on dry land and crept on her hands and knees up to the edge of the +bank, so as not to scare the fishes, if any were swimming in the pool. + +By good luck there were several fishes in the pool to-day, and they +didn't seem to notice that Twinkle was looking at them, so quiet had she +been. One little fellow shone like silver when the sunshine caught his +glossy sides, and the little girl watched him wiggling here and there +with much delight. There was also a big, mud-colored fish that lay a +long time upon the bottom without moving anything except his fins and +the tip of his tail, and Twinkle also discovered a group of several +small fishes not over an inch long, that always swam together in a +bunch, as if they belonged to one family. + +The girl watched these little creatures long and earnestly. The pool was +all of the world these simple fishes would ever know. They were born +here, and would die here, without ever getting away from the place, or +even knowing there was a much bigger world outside of it. + +After a time the child noticed that the water had become a little muddy +near the edge of the bank where she lay, and as it slowly grew clear +again she saw a beautiful turtle lying just under her head and against +the side of the bank. It was a little bigger around than a silver +dollar, and instead of its shell being of a dull brown color, like that +of all other mud-turtles she had seen, this one's back was streaked with +brilliant patches of yellow and red. + +"I must get that lovely turtle!" thought Twinkle; and as the water was +shallow where it lay she suddenly plunged in her hand, grabbed the +turtle, and flung it out of the water on to the bank, where it fell upon +its back, wiggling its four fat legs desperately in an attempt to turn +over. + + + +Chapter II +Twinkle Discovers the Turtle Can Talk + +AT this sudden commotion in their water, the fishes darted away and +disappeared in a flash. But Twinkle didn't mind that, for all her +interest was now centered in the struggling turtle. + +She knelt upon the grass and bent over to watch it, and just then she +thought she heard a small voice say: + +"It's no use; I can't do it!" and then the turtle drew its head and legs +between the shells and remained still. + +"Good gracious!" said Twinkle, much astonished. Then, addressing the +turtle, she asked: + +"Did you say anything, a minute ago?" + +There was no reply. The turtle lay as quiet as if it were dead. Twinkle +thought she must have been mistaken; so she picked up the turtle and +held it in the palm of her hand while she got into the water again and +waded slowly back to where she had left her shoes and stockings. + +When she got home she put the mud-turtle in a tub which her papa had +made by sawing a barrel in two. Then she put a little water into the tub +and blocked it up by putting a brick under one side, so that the turtle +could either stay in the water or crawl up the inclined bottom of the +tub to where it was dry, whichever he pleased. She did this because +mamma said that turtles sometimes liked to stay in the water and +sometimes on land, and Twinkle's turtle could now take his choice. He +couldn't climb up the steep sides of the tub and so get away, and the +little girl thoughtfully placed crumbs of bread and fine bits of meat, +where the turtle could get them whenever he felt hungry. + +After that, Twinkle often sat for hours watching the turtle, which would +crawl around the bottom of the tub, and swim in the little pool of water +and eat the food placed before him in an eager and amusing way. + +At times she took him in her hand and examined him closely, and then the +mud-turtle would put out its little head and look at her with its bright +eyes as curiously as the girl looked at him. + +She had owned her turtle just a week, when she came to the tub one +afternoon and held him in her hand, intending to feed her pet some +scraps of meat she had brought with her. But as soon as the turtle put +out its head it said to her, in a small but distinct voice: + +"Good morning, Twinkle." + +She was so surprised that the meat dropped from her hand, and she nearly +dropped the turtle, too. But she managed to control her astonishment, +and asked, in a voice that trembled a little: + +"Can you talk?" + +"To be sure," replied the turtle; "but only on every seventh day--which +of course is every Saturday. On other days I cannot talk at all." + +"Then I really must have heard you speak when I caught you; didn't I?" + +"I believe you did. I was so startled at being captured that I spoke +before I thought, which is a bad habit to get into. But afterward I +resolved not to answer when you questioned me, for I didn't know you +then, and feared it would be unwise to trust you with my secret. Even +now I must ask you not to tell any one that you have a turtle that knows +how to talk." + + + +Chapter III +The Turtle Tells of the Corrugated Giant + +"WHY, it's wonderful!" said Twinkle, who had listened eagerly to the +turtle's speech. + +"It would be wonderful, indeed, if I were but a simple turtle," was the +reply. + +"But aren't you a turtle?" + +"Of course, so far as my outward appearance goes, I'm a common little +mud-turtle," it answered; "and I think you will agree with me that it +was rather clever in the Corrugated Giant to transform me into such a +creature." + +"What's a Corrulated Giant?" asked Twinkle, with breathless interest. + +"The Corrugated Giant is a monster that is full of deep wrinkles, +because he has no bones inside him to hold his flesh up properly," said +the turtle. "I hated this giant, who is both wicked and cruel, I assure +you; and this giant hated me in return. So, when one day I tried to +destroy him, the monster transformed me into the helpless little being +you see before you." + +"But who were you before you were transformed?" asked the girl. + +"A fairy prince named Melga, the seventh son of the fairy Queen +Flutterlight, who rules all the fairies in the north part of this land." + +"And how long have you been a turtle?" + +"Fourteen years," replied the creature, with a deep sigh. "At least, I +think it is fourteen years; but of course when one is swimming around in +brooks and grubbing in the mud for food, one is apt to lose all track of +time." + +"I should think so, indeed," said Twinkle. "But, according to that, +you're older than I am." + +"Much older," declared the turtle. "I had lived about four hundred years +before the Corrugated Giant turned me into a turtle." + +"Was your head gray?" she asked; "and did you have white whiskers?" + +"No, indeed!" said the turtle. "Fairies are always young and beautiful +in appearance, no matter how many years they have lived. And, as they +never die, they're bound to get pretty old sometimes, as a matter of +course." + +"Of course!" agreed Twinkle. "Mama has told me about the fairies. But +must you always be a mud-turtle?" + +"That will depend on whether you are willing to help me or not," was the +answer. + +"Why, it sounds just like a fairy tale in a book!" cried the little +girl. + +"Yes," replied the turtle, "these things have been happening ever since +there were fairies, and you might expect some of our adventures would +get into books. But are you willing to help me? That is the important +thing just now." + +"I'll do anything I can," said Twinkle. + +"Then," said the turtle, "I may expect to get back to my own form again +in a reasonably short time. But you must be brave, and not shrink from +such a little thing as danger." + +That made Twinkle look solemn. + +"Of course I don't want to get hurt," she said. "My mama and papa would +go di_struc_ted if anything happened to me." + +"Something will happen, _sure,_" declared the turtle; "but nothing that +happens will hurt you in the least if you do exactly as I tell you." + +"I won't have to fight that Carbolated Giant, will I?" Twinkle asked +doubtfully. + +"He isn't carbolated; he's corrugated. No, you won't have to fight at +all. When the proper time comes I'll do the fighting myself. But you may +have to come with me to the Black Mountains, in order to set me free." + +"Is it far?" she asked. + +"Yes; but it won't take us long to go there," answered the turtle. "Now, +I'll tell you what to do and, if you follow my advice no one will ever +know you've been mixed up with fairies and strange adventures." + +"And Collerated Giants," she added. + +"Corrugated," he corrected. "It is too late, this Saturday, to start +upon our journey, so we must wait another week. But next Saturday +morning do you come to me bright and early, as soon as you've had +breakfast, and then I'll tell you what to do." + +"All right," said Twinkle; "I won't forget." + +"In the mean time, do give me a little clean water now and then. I'm a +mud-turtle, sure enough; but I'm also a fairy prince, and I must say I +prefer clean water." + +"I'll attend to it," promised the girl. + +"Now put me down and run away," continued the turtle. "It will take me +all the week to think over my plans, and decide exactly what we are to +do." + + + +Chapter IV +Prince Turtle Remembers His Magic + +TWINKLE was as nervous as she could be during all the week that followed +this strange conversation with Prince Turtle. Every day, as soon as +school was out, she would run to the tub to see if the turtle was still +safe--for she worried lest it should run away or disappear in some +strange manner. And during school hours it was such hard work to keep +her mind on her lessons that teacher scolded her more than once. + +The fairy imprisoned in the turtle's form had nothing to say to her +during this week, because he would not be allowed to talk again until +Saturday; so the most that Twinkle could do to show her interest in the +Prince was to give him the choicest food she could get and supply him +with plenty of fresh, clean water. + +At last the day of her adventure arrived, and as soon as she could get +away from the breakfast table Twinkle ran out to the tub. There was her +fairy turtle, safe as could be, and as she leaned over the tub he put +out his head and called "Good morning!" in his small, shrill voice. + +"Good morning," she replied. + +"Are you still willing and ready to assist me?" asked the turtle. + +"To be sure," said Twinkle. + +"Then take me in your hand," said he. + +So she picked him out of the tub and placed him upon her hand. And the +turtle said: + +"Now pay strict attention, and do exactly as I tell you, and all will be +well. In the first place, we want to get to the Black Mountains; so you +must repeat after me these words: '_Uller; aller; iller; oller!_'" + +"Uller; aller; iller; oller!" said Twinkle. + +The next minute it seemed as though a gale of wind had struck her. It +blew so strongly against her eyes that she could not see; so she covered +her face with one arm while with the other hand she held fast to the +turtle. Her skirts fluttered so wildly that it seemed as if they would +tear themselves from her body, and her sun-bonnet, not being properly +fastened, was gone in a minute. + +But it didn't last long, fortunately. After a few moments the wind +stopped, and she found she could breathe again. Then she looked around +her and drew another long breath, for instead of being in the back yard +at home she stood on the side of a beautiful mountain, and spread before +her were the loveliest green valleys she had ever beheld. + +"Well, we're here," said the turtle, in a voice that sounded as if he +were well pleased. "I thought I hadn't forgotten my fairy wisdom." + +"Where are we?" asked the child. + +"In the Black Mountains, of course," was the reply. "We've come a good +way, but it didn't take us long to arrive, did it?" + +"No, indeed," she answered, still gazing down the mountain side at the +flower-strewn grass-land of the valleys. + +"This," said the turtle, sticking his little head out of the shell as +far as it would go, "is the realm of the fairies, where I used to dwell. +Those beautiful palaces you see yonder are inhabited by Queen +Flutterlight and my people, and that grim castle at your left, standing +on the side of the mountain, is where the Corrugated Giant lives." + +"I don't see anything!" exclaimed Twinkle; "that is, nothing but the +valleys and the flowers and grass." + +"True; I had forgotten that these things are invisible to your mortal +eyes. But it is necessary that you should see all clearly, if you are +going to rescue me from this terrible form and restore me to my natural +shape. Now, put me down upon the ground, for I must search for a +particular plant whose leaf has a magic virtue." + +So Twinkle put him down, and the little turtle began running around here +and there, looking carefully at the different plants that grew amongst +the grass on the mountain side. But his legs were so short and his +shell-covered body so heavy, that he couldn't move very fast; so +presently he called for her to pick him up again, and hold him close to +the ground while she walked among the plants. She did this, and after +what seemed a long search the turtle suddenly cried out: + +"Stop! Here it is! This is the plant I want." + +"Which--this?" asked the girl, touching a broad green leaf. + +"Yes. Pluck the leaf from the stem and rub your eyelids with it." + +She obeyed, and having rubbed her lids well with the leaf, she again +opened her eyes and beheld the real Fairyland. + + + +Chapter V +Twinkle Promises to Be Brave + +IN the center of the valley was a great cluster of palaces that appeared +to be built of crystal and silver and mother-of-pearl, and golden +filigree-work. So dainty and beautiful were these fairy dwellings that +Twinkle had no doubt for an instant but that she gazed upon fairyland. +She could almost see, from the far mountain upon which she stood, the +airy, gauze-winged forms of the fairies themselves, floating gently +amidst their pretty palaces and moving gracefully along the jeweled +streets. + +But another sight now attracted her attention--a big, gray, ugly looking +castle standing frowning on the mountain side at her left. It overlooked +the lovely city of palaces like a dark cloud on the edge of a blue sky, +and the girl could not help giving a shudder as she saw it. All around +the castle was a high fence of iron spikes. + +"That fence is enchanted," said the turtle, as if he knew she was +looking at it; "and no fairy can pass it, because the power to prevent +it has been given to the giant. But a mortal has never been forbidden to +pass the fence, for no one ever supposed that a mortal would come here +or be able to see it. That is the reason I have brought you to this +place, and the reason why you alone are able to help me." + +"Gracious!" cried Twinkle; "must I meet the Carbonated Giant?" + +"He's corrugated," said the turtle. + +"I know he's something dreadful," she wailed, "because he's so hard to +pronounce." + +"You will surely have to meet him," declared the turtle; "but do not +fear, I will protect you from all harm." + +"Well, a Corralated Giant's a mighty big person," said the girl, +doubtfully, "and a mud-turtle isn't much of a fighter. I guess I'll go +home." + +"That is impossible," declared the turtle. "You are too far from home +ever to get back without my help, so you may as well be good and +obedient." + +"What must I do?" she asked. + +"We will wait until it is nearly noon, when the giant will put his pot +on the fire to boil his dinner. We can tell the right time by watching +the smoke come out of his chimney. Then you must march straight up to +the castle and into the kitchen where the giant is at work, and throw me +quickly into the boiling kettle. That is all that you will be required +to do." + +"I never could do it!" declared Twinkle. + +"Why not?" + +"You'd be scalded to death, and then I'd be a murderer!" + +"Nonsense!" said the turtle, peevishly. "I know what I'm doing, and if +you obey me I'll not be scalded but an instant; for then I'll resume my +own form. Remember that I'm a fairy, and fairies can't be killed so +easily as you seem to think." + +"Won't it hurt you?" she inquired. + +"Only for a moment; but the reward will be so great that I won't mind an +instant's pain. Will you do this favor for me?" + +"I'll try," replied Twinkle, gravely. + +"Then I will be very grateful," said Prince Turtle, "and agree to +afterward send you home safe and sound, and as quickly as you came." + + + +Chapter VI +Twinkle Meets the Corrugated Giant + +"AND now, while we are waiting," continued the fairy turtle, "I want to +find a certain flower that has wonderful powers to protect mortals from +any injury. Not that I fear I shall be unable to take care of you, but +it's just as well to be on the safe side." + +"Better," said Twinkle, earnestly. "Where's the flower?" + +"We'll hunt for it," replied the turtle. + +So holding him in her hand in such a way that he could see all the +flowers that grew, the girl began wandering over the mountain side, and +everything was so beautiful around her that she would have been quite +contented and happy had not the gray castle been before her to remind +her constantly that she must face the terrible giant who lived within +it. + +They found the flower at last--a pretty pink blossom that looked like a +double daisy, but must have been something else, because a daisy has no +magic power that I ever heard of. And when it was found, the turtle told +her to pick the flower and pin it fast to the front of her dress; which +she did. + +By that time the smoke began to roll out of the giant's chimney in big +black clouds; so the fairy turtle said the giant must be getting dinner, +and the pot would surely be boiling by the time they got to the castle. + +Twinkle couldn't help being a little afraid to approach the giant's +stronghold, but she tried to be brave, and so stepped along briskly +until she came to the fence of iron spikes. + +"You must squeeze through between two of the spikes," said the turtle. + +She didn't think it could possibly be done; but to her surprise it was +quite easy, and she managed to squeeze through the fence without even +tearing her dress. Then she walked up a great driveway, which was lined +with white skulls of many sheep which the giant had eaten, to the front +door of the castle, which stood ajar. + +"Go in," said the turtle; so she boldly entered and passed down a high +arched hall toward a room in the rear. + +"This is the kitchen," said the turtle, "Enter quickly, go straight to +the kettle, and throw me into the boiling water." + +Twinkle entered quickly enough, but then she stopped short with a cry of +amazement; for there before her stood the ugly giant, blowing the fire +with an immense pair of bellows. + + + +Chapter VII +Prince Mud-Turtle Becomes Prince Melga + +THE giant was as big around as ten men, and as tall as two; but, having +no bones, he seemed pushed together, so that his skin wrinkled up like +the sides of an accordeon, or a photograph camera, even his face being +so wrinkled that his nose stuck out between two folds of flesh and his +eyes from between two more. In one end of the kitchen was the great +fireplace, above which hung an iron kettle with a big iron spoon in it. +And at the other end was a table set for dinner. + +As the giant was standing between the kettle and Twinkle, she could not +do as the turtle had commanded, and throw him into the pot. So she +hesitated, wondering how to obey the fairy. Just then the giant happened +to turn around and see her. + +"By the whiskers of Gammarog--who was one of my ancestors that was +killed by Jack the Giant-Killer!" he cried, but in a very mild voice for +so big a person. "Whom have we here?" + +"I'm Twinkle," said the girl, drawing a long breath. + +"Then, to pay you for your folly in entering my castle, I will make you +my slave, and some day, if you're not good, I'll feed you to my +seventeen-headed dog. I never eat little girls myself. I prefer mutton." + +Twinkle's heart almost stopped beating when she heard these awful words. +All she could do was to stand still and look imploringly at the giant. +But she held the fairy mud-turtle clasped tight in her hand, so that the +monster couldn't see it. + +"Well, what are you staring at?" shouted the Corrugated Giant, angrily. +"Blow up that fire this instant, slave!" + +He stood aside for her to pass, and Twinkle ran at once to the +fireplace. The pot was now before her, and within easy reach, and it was +bubbling hot. + +In an instant she reached out her hand and tossed the turtle into the +boiling water; and then, with a cry of horror at her own action, she +drew back to see what would happen. + +The turtle was a fairy, all right; and he had known very well the best +way to break the enchantment his enemy had put upon him. For no sooner +had Twinkle tossed him into the boiling pot than a great hissing was +heard, and a cloud of steam hid for an instant the fireplace. Then, as +it cleared away, a handsome young prince stepped forward, fully armed; +for the turtle was again a fairy, and the kettle had changed into a +strong shield which he bore upon his left arm, and the iron spoon was +now a long and glittering sword. + + + +Chapter VIII +Twinkle Receives a Medal + +THE giant gave a roar like that of a baby bull when he saw Prince Melga +standing before him, and in a twinkling he had caught up a big club that +stood near and began whirling it over his head. But before it could +descend, the prince ran at him and stuck his sword as far as it would go +into the corrugated body of the giant. Again the monster roared and +tried to fight; but the sword had hurt him badly, and the prince pushed +it into the evil creature again and again, until the end came, and his +corrugated enemy rolled over upon the floor quite dead. + +Then the fairy turned to Twinkle, and kneeling before her he kissed her +hand. + +"Thank you very much," he said, in a sweet voice, "for setting me free. +You are a very brave little girl!" + +"I'm not so sure about that," she answered. "I was dreadfully scared!" + +Now he took her hand and led her from the castle; and she didn't have to +squeeze through the fence again, because the fairy had only to utter a +magic word and the gate flew open. And when they turned to look back, +the castle of the Corrugated Giant, with all that it had contained, had +vanished from sight, never to be seen again by either mortal or fairy +eyes. For that was sure to happen whenever the giant was dead. + +The prince led Twinkle into the valley where the fairy palaces stood, +and told all his people, when they crowded around to welcome him, how +kind the little girl had been to him, and how her courage had enabled +him to defeat the giant and to regain his proper form. And all the +fairies praised Twinkle with kind words, and the lovely Queen +Flutterlight, who seemed altogether too young to be the mother of the +handsome prince, gave to the child a golden medal with a tiny mud-turtle +engraved upon one side of it. + +Then, after a fine feast had been prepared, and the little girl had +eaten all she could of the fairy sweetmeats, she told Prince Melga she +would like to go home again. + +"Very well," said he. "Don't forget me, Twinkle, although we probably +shall never meet again. I'll send you home quite as safely as you came; +but as your eyes have been rubbed with the magic maita-leaf, you will +doubtless always see many strange sights that are hidden from other +mortals." + +"I don't mind," said Twinkle. + +Then she bade good-bye to the fairies, and the prince spoke a magic +word. There was another rush of wind, and when it had passed Twinkle +found herself once more in the back yard at home. + +As she sat upon the grass rubbing her eyes and wondering at the strange +adventure that had befallen her, mamma came out upon the back porch and +said: + +"Your turtle has crawled out of the tub and run away." + +"Yes," said Twinkle, "I know; and I'm glad of it!" + +But she kept her secret to herself. + + +THE END + + + +TWINKLE'S ENCHANTMENT + + + +TWINKLE'S ENCHANTMENT + + + +List of Chapters PAGE +I Twinkle Enters the Big Gulch............261 +II The Rolling Stone.......................269 +III Some Queer Acquaintances................277 +IV The Dancing Bear........................288 +V The Cave of the Waterfall...............298 +VI Prince Nimble...........................306 +VII The Grasshoppers' Hop...................312 + + + +Chapter I +Twinkle Enters the Big Gulch + +ONE afternoon Twinkle decided to go into the big gulch and pick some +blueberries for papa's supper. She had on her blue gingham dress and her +blue sun-bonnet, and there were stout shoes upon her feet. So she took +her tin pail and started out. + +"Be back in time for supper," called mamma from the kitchen porch. + +"'Course," said Twinkle, as she trotted away. "I'm not hungry now, but +I'll be hungry 'nough when supper-time comes. 'Course I'll be back!" + +The side of the gulch was but a little way from the house. It was like a +big ditch, only the sides were not too steep to crawl down; and in the +middle of the gulch were rolling hills and deep gullies, all covered +with wild bushes and vines and a few flowering plants--very rare in this +part of the country. + +Twinkle hadn't lived very long in this section of Dakota, for her father +had just bought the new farm that lay beside the gulch. So the big ditch +was a great delight to her, and she loved to wander through it and pick +the berries and flowers that never grew on the plains above. + +To-day she crept carefully down the path back of the house and soon +reached the bottom of the gulch. Then she began to search for the +berries; but all were gone in the places where she had picked them +before; so she found she must go further along. + +She sat down to rest for a time, and by and by she happened to look up +at the other side and saw a big cluster of bushes hanging full of ripe +blueberries--just about half way up the opposite bank. + +She had never gone so far before, but if she wanted the berries for +papa's supper she knew she must climb up the slope and get them; so she +rose to her feet and began to walk in that direction. It was all new to +the little girl, and seemed to her like a beautiful fairyland; but she +had no idea that the gulch was enchanted. Soon a beetle crawled across +her path, and as she stopped to let it go by, she heard it say: + +"Look out for the line of enchantment! You'll soon cross it, if you +don't watch out." + +"What line of enchantment?" asked Twinkle. + +"It's almost under your nose," replied the little creature. + +"I don't see anything at all," she said, after looking closely. + +"Of course you don't," said the beetle. "It isn't a mark, you know, that +any one can see with their eyes; but it's a line of enchantment, just +the same, and whoever steps over it is sure to see strange things and +have strange adventures." + +"I don't mind that," said Twinkle. + +"Well, I don't mind if you don't," returned the beetle, and by that time +he had crept across the path and disappeared underneath a big rock. + +Twinkle went on, without being at all afraid. If the beetle spoke truly, +and there really was an invisible line that divided the common, real +world from an enchanted country, she was very eager to cross it, as any +little girl might well be. And then it occurred to her that she must +have crossed the enchanted line before she met the beetle, for otherwise +she wouldn't have understood his language, or known what he was talking +about. Children don't talk with beetles in the real world, as Twinkle +knew very well, and she was walking along soberly, thinking this over, +when suddenly a voice cried out to her: + +"Be careful!" + + + +Chapter II +The Rolling Stone + +OF course Twinkle stopped then, and looked around to see who had spoken. +But no one was anywhere in sight. So she started on again. + +"Look out, or you'll step on me!" cried the voice a second time. + +She looked at her feet very carefully. There was nothing near them but a +big round stone that was about the size of her head, and a prickly +thistle that she never would step on if she could possibly help it. + +"Who's talking?" she asked. + +"Why, _I'm_ talking," answered the voice. "Who do you suppose it is?" + +"I don't know," said Twinkle. "I just can't see anybody at all." + +"Then you must be blind," said the voice. "I'm the Rolling Stone, and +I'm about two inches from your left toes." + +"The Rolling Stone!" + +"That's it. That's me. I'm the Rolling Stone that gathers no moss." + +"You can't be," said Twinkle, sitting down in the path and looking +carefully at the stone. + +"Why not?" + +"Because you don't roll," she said. "You're a stone, of course; I can +see that, all right. But you're not rolling." + +"How silly!" replied the Stone. "I don't have to roll every minute to be +a Rolling Stone, do I?" + +"Of course you do," answered Twinkle. "If you don't roll you're just a +common, _still_ stone." + +"Well, I declare!" exclaimed the Stone; "you don't seem to understand +anything. You're a Talking Girl, are you not?" + +"To be sure I am," said Twinkle. + +"But you don't talk every minute, do you?" + +"Mama says I do," she answered. + +"But you don't. You're sometimes quiet, aren't you?" + +"'Course I am." + +"That's the way with me. Sometimes I roll, and so I'm called the Rolling +Stone. Sometimes you talk, and so you're the Talking Girl." + +"No; I'm Twinkle," she said. + +"That doesn't sound like a name," remarked the Stone. + +"It's what papa calls me, anyway," explained the girl. Then, thinking +she had lingered long enough, she added: + +"I'm going up the hill to pick those berries. Since you can roll, +suppose you go with me." + +"What! Up hill?" exclaimed the Stone. + +"Why not?" asked Twinkle. + +"Who ever heard of a stone rolling up hill? It's unnatural!" + +"Any stone can roll down hill," said the child. "If you can't roll up +hill, you're no better than a common cobble-stone." + +"Oh, I can roll up hill if I have to," declared the Stone, peevishly. +"But it's hard work, and nearly breaks my back." + +"I can't see that you have any back," said Twinkle. + +"Why, I'm all back," replied the Stone. "When _your_ back aches, it's +only a part of you. But when _my_ back aches, it's all of me except the +middle." + +"The middle ache is the worst of all," said Twinkle, solemnly. "Well, if +you don't want to go," she added, jumping up, "I'll say good-bye." + +"Anything to be sociable," said the Stone, sighing deeply. "I'll go +along and keep you company. But it's lots easier to roll down than it is +to roll up, I assure you!" + +"Why, you're a reg'lar grumbler!" exclaimed Twinkle. + +"That's because I lead a hard life," returned the Stone, dismally. "But +don't let us quarrel; it is so seldom I get a chance to talk with one of +my own standing in society." + +"You can't have any standing, without feet," declared Twinkle, shaking +her head at the Stone. + +"One can have _under_standing, at least," was the answer; "and +understanding is the best standing any person can have." + +"Perhaps that is true," said the child, thoughtfully; "but I'm glad I +have legs, just the same." + + + +Chapter III +Some Queer Acquaintances + +"WAIT a minute!" implored a small voice, and the girl noticed a yellow +butterfly that had just settled down upon the stone. "Aren't you the +child from the farm?" + +"To be sure," she answered, much amused to hear the butterfly speak. + +"Then can you tell me if your mother expects to churn to-day," said the +pretty creature, slowly folding and unfolding its dainty wings. + +"Why do you want to know?" + +"If she churns to-day, I'll fly over to the house and try to steal some +butter. But if your mother isn't going to churn, I'll fly down into the +gulch and rob a bees' nest I know of." + +"Why do you rob and steal?" inquired Twinkle. + +"It's the only way I can get my living," said the butterfly. "Nobody +ever gives me anything, and so I have to take what I want." + +"Do you like butter?" + +"Of course I do! That's why we are called butterflies, you know. I +prefer butter to anything else, and I have heard that in some countries +the children always leave a little dish of butter on the window-sill, so +that we may help ourselves whenever we are hungry. I wish I had been +born in such a country." + +"Mother won't churn until Saturday," said Twinkle. "I know, 'cause I've +got to help her, and I just hate butter-making!" + +"Then I won't go to the farm to-day," replied the butterfly. "Good-bye, +little girl. If you think of it, leave a dish of butter around where I +can get at it." + +"All right," said Twinkle, and the butterfly waved its wings and +fluttered through the air into the gulch below. + +Then the girl started up the hill and the Stone rolled slowly beside +her, groaning and grumbling because the ground was so rough. + +Presently she noticed running across the path a tiny Book, not much +bigger than a postage-stamp. It had two slender legs, like those of a +bumble-bee, and upon these it ran so fast that all the leaves fluttered +wildly, the covers being half open. + +"What's that?" asked Twinkle, looking after the book in surprise. + +"That is a little Learning," answered the Stone. "Look out for it, for +they say it's a dangerous thing." + +"It's gone already," said Twinkle. + +"Let it go. Nobody wants it, that I know of. Just help me over this +bump, will you?" + +So she rolled the Stone over the little hillock, and just as she did so +her attention was attracted by a curious noise that sounded like "Pop! +pop! pop!" + +"What's that?" she inquired, hesitating to advance. + +"Only a weasel," answered the Stone. "Stand still a minute, and you'll +see him. Whenever he thinks he's alone, and there's no one to hear, +'pop' goes the weasel." + +Sure enough, a little animal soon crossed their path, making the funny +noise at every step. But as soon as he saw that Twinkle was staring at +him he stopped popping and rushed into a bunch of tall grass and hid +himself. + +And now they were almost at the berry-bushes, and Twinkle trotted so +fast that the Rolling Stone had hard work to keep up with her. But when +she got to the bushes she found a flock of strange birds sitting upon +them and eating up the berries as fast as they could. The birds were not +much bigger than robins, and were covered with a soft, velvety skin +instead of with feathers, and they had merry black eyes and long, +slender beaks curving downward from their noses, which gave to their +faces a saucy expression. The lack of usual feathers might not have +surprised Twinkle so much had she not noticed upon the tail of each bird +one single, solitary feather of great length, which was certainly a +remarkable thing. + +"I know what they are," she said, nodding her head wisely; "they're +birds of a feather." + +At this the birds burst into a chorus of laughter, and one of them said: + +"Perhaps you think that's why we flock together." + +"Well, isn't that the reason?" she asked. + +"Not a bit of it," declared the bird. "The reason we flock together is +because we're too proud to mix with common birds, who have feathers all +over them." + +"I should think you'd be ashamed, 'cause you're so naked," she returned. + +"The fact is, Twinkle," said another bird, as he pecked at a blueberry +and swallowed it, "the common things in this world don't amount to much. +There are millions of birds on earth, but only a few of us that have but +one feather. In my opinion, if you had but one hair upon your head you'd +be much prettier." + +"I'd be more 'strord'nary, I'm sure," said Twinkle, using the biggest +word she could think of. + +"There's no accounting for tastes," remarked the Rolling Stone, which +had just arrived at Twinkle's side after a hard roll up the path. "For +my part, I haven't either hair or feathers, and I'm glad of it." + +The birds laughed again, at this, and as they had eaten all the berries +they cared for, they now flew into the air and disappeared. + + + +Chapter IV +The Dancing Bear + +"REALLY," said Twinkle, as she began picking the berries and putting them +into her pail, "I didn't know so many things could talk." + +"It's because you are in the part of the gulch that's enchanted," +answered the Rolling Stone. "When you get home again, you'll think this +is all a dream." + +"I wonder if it isn't!" she suddenly cried, stopping to look around, and +then feeling of herself carefully. "It's usually the way in all the +fairy stories that papa reads to me. I don't remember going to sleep any +time; but perhaps I did, after all." + +"Don't let it worry you," said the Stone, making a queer noise that +Twinkle thought was meant for a laugh. "If you wake up, you'll be sorry +you didn't dream longer; and if you find you haven't been asleep, this +will be a wonderful adventure." + +"That's true enough," the girl answered, and again began filling her +pail with the berries. "When I tell mama all this, she won't believe a +word of it. And papa will laugh and pinch my cheek, and say I'm like +Alice in Wonderland, or Dorothy in the Land of Oz." + +Just then she noticed something big and black coming around the bushes +from the other side, and her heart beat a good deal faster when she saw +before her a great bear standing upon his rear legs beside her. + +He had a little red cap on his head that was kept in place by a band of +rubber elastic. His eyes were small, but round and sparkling, and there +seemed to be a smile upon his face, for his white teeth showed in two +long rows. + +"Don't be afraid," called out the Rolling Stone; "it's only the Dancing +Bear." + +"Why should the child be afraid?" asked the bear, speaking in a low, +soft tone that reminded her of the purring of a kitten. "No one ever +heard of a Dancing Bear hurting anybody. We're about the most harmless +things in the world." + +"Are you really a Dancing Bear?" asked Twinkle, curiously. + +"I am, my dear," he replied, bowing low and then folding his arms +proudly as he leaned against a big rock that was near. "I wish there was +some one here who could tell you what a fine dancer I am. It wouldn't be +modest for me to praise myself, you know." + +"I s'pose not," said Twinkle. "But if you're a Dancing Bear, why don't +you dance?" + +"There it is again!" cried the Rolling Stone. "This girl Twinkle wants +to keep everybody moving. She wouldn't believe, at first, that I was a +Rolling Stone, because I was lying quiet just then. And now she won't +believe you're a Dancing Bear, because you don't eternally keep +dancing." + +"Well, there's some sense in that, after all," declared the Bear. "I'm +only a Dancing Bear while I'm dancing, to speak the exact truth; and +you're only a Rolling Stone while you're rolling." + +"I beg to disagree with you," returned the Stone, in a cold voice. + +"Well, don't let us quarrel, on any account," said the Bear. "I invite +you both to come to my cave and see me dance. Then Twinkle will be sure +I'm a Dancing Bear." + +"I haven't filled my pail yet," said the little girl, "and I've got to +get enough berries for papa's supper." + +"I'll help you," replied the Bear, politely; and at once he began to +pick berries and to put them into Twinkle's pail. His big paws looked +very clumsy and awkward, but it was astonishing how many blueberries the +bear could pick with them. Twinkle had hard work to keep up with him, +and almost before she realized how fast they had worked, the little pail +was full and overflowing with fine, plump berries. + +"And now," said the Bear, "I will show you the way to my cave." + +He took her hand in his soft paw and began leading her along the side of +the steep hill, while the Stone rolled busily along just behind them. +But they had not gone far before Twinkle's foot slipped, and in trying +to save herself from falling she pushed hard against the Stone and +tumbled it from the pathway. + +"Now you've done it!" growled the Stone, excitedly, as it whirled +around. "Here I go, for I've lost my balance and I can't help myself!" + +Even as he spoke the big round stone was flying down the side of the +gulch, bumping against the hillocks and bits of rock--sometimes leaping +into the air and then clinging close to the ground, but going faster and +faster every minute. + +"Dear me," said Twinkle, looking after it; "I'm afraid the Rolling Stone +will get hurt." + +"No danger of that," replied the Bear. "It's as hard as a rock, and not +a thing in the gulch could hurt it a bit. But our friend would have to +roll a long time to get back here again, so we won't wait. Come along, +my dear." + +He held out his paw again, and Twinkle took it with one of her hands +while she carried the pail with the other, and so managed to get over +the rough ground very easily. + + + +Chapter V +The Cave of the Waterfall + +BEFORE long they came to the entrance to the cave, and as it looked dark +and gloomy from without Twinkle drew back and said she guessed she +wouldn't go in. + +"But it's quite light inside," said the bear, "and there's a pretty +waterfall there, too. Don't be afraid, Twinkle; I'll take good care of +you." + +So the girl plucked up courage and permitted him to lead her into the +cave; and then she was glad she had come, instead of being a 'fraid-cat. +For the place was big and roomy, and there were many cracks in the roof, +that admitted plenty of light and air. Around the side walls were +several pairs of big ears, which seemed to have been carved out of the +rock. These astonished the little girl. + +"What are the ears for?" she asked. + +"Don't walls have ears where you live?" returned the Bear, as if +surprised. + +"I've heard they do," she answered, "but I've never seen any before." + +At the back of the cave was a little, tinkling waterfall, that splashed +into a pool beneath with a sound that was very like music. Near this was +a square slab of rock, a little raised above the level of the floor. + +"Kindly take a seat, my dear," said the bear, "and I'll try to amuse +you, and at the same time prove that I can dance." + +So to the music of the waterfall the bear began dancing. He climbed upon +the flat stone, made a graceful bow to Twinkle, and then balanced +himself first upon one foot and then upon the other, and swung slowly +around in a circle, and then back again. + +"How do you like it?" he asked. + +"I don't care much for it," said Twinkle. "I believe I could do better +myself." + +"But you are not a bear," he answered. "Girls ought to dance better than +bears, you know. But not every bear can dance. If I had a hand-organ to +make the music, instead of this waterfall, I might do better." + +"Then I wish you had one," said the girl. + +The Bear began dancing again, and this time he moved more rapidly and +shuffled his feet in quite a funny manner. He almost fell off the slab +once or twice, so anxious was he to prove he could dance. And once he +tripped over his own foot, which made Twinkle laugh. + +Just as he was finishing his dance a strange voice cried out: + +"For bear!" and a green monkey sprang into the cave and threw a big rock +at the performer. It knocked the bear off the slab, and he fell into the +pool of water at the foot of the waterfall, and was dripping wet when he +scrambled out again. + +The Dancing Bear gave a big growl and ran as fast as he could after the +monkey, finally chasing him out of the cave. Twinkle picked up her pail +of berries and followed, and when she got into the sunshine again on the +side of the hill she saw the monkey and the bear hugging each other +tight, and growling and chattering in a way that showed they were angry +with each other and not on pleasant terms. + +"You _will_ throw rocks at me, will you?" shouted the Bear. + +"I will if I get the chance," replied the monkey. "Wasn't that a fine, +straight shot? and didn't you go plump into the water, though?" and he +shrieked with laughter. + +Just then they fell over in a heap, and began rolling down the hill. + +"Let go!" yelled the Bear. + +"Let go, yourself!" screamed the monkey. + +But neither of them did let go, so they rolled faster and faster down +the hill, and the last that Twinkle saw of them they were bounding among +the bushes at the very bottom of the big gulch. + + + +Chapter VI +Prince Nimble + +"GOOD gracious!" said the little girl, looking around her; "I'm as good +as lost in this strange place, and I don't know in what direction to go +to get home again." + +So she sat down on the grass and tried to think which way she had come, +and which way she ought to return in order to get across the gulch to +the farm-house. + +"If the Rolling Stone was here, he might tell me," she said aloud. "But +I'm all alone." + +"Oh, no, you're not," piped a small, sweet voice. "I'm here, and I know +much more than the Rolling Stone does." + +Twinkle looked this way and then that, very carefully, in order to see +who had spoken, and at last she discovered a pretty grasshopper perched +upon a long blade of grass nearby. + +"Did I hear you speak?" she inquired. + +"Yes," replied the grasshopper. "I'm Prince Nimble, the hoppiest hopper +in Hoptown." + +"Where is that?" asked the child. + +"Why, Hoptown is near the bottom of the gulch, in that thick patch of +grass you see yonder. It's on your way home, so I'd be pleased to have +you visit it." + +"Won't I step on some of you?" she asked. + +"Not if you are careful," replied Prince Nimble. "Grasshoppers don't +often get stepped on. We're pretty active, you know." + +"All right," said Twinkle. "I'd like to see a grasshopper village." + +"Then follow me, and I'll guide you," said Nimble, and at once he leaped +from the blade of grass and landed at least six feet away. + +Twinkle got up and followed, keeping her eye on the pretty Prince, who +leaped so fast that she had to trot to keep up with him. Nimble would +wait on some clump of grass or bit of rock until the girl came up, and +then away he'd go again. + +"How far is it?" Twinkle once asked him. + +"About a mile and a half," was the answer; "we'll soon be there, for you +are as good as a mile, and I'm good for the half-mile." + +"How do you figure that out?" asked Twinkle. + +"Why, I've always heard that a miss is as good as a mile, and you're a +miss, are you not?" + +"Not yet," she answered; "I'm only a little girl. But papa will be sure +to miss me if I don't get home to supper." + + + +Chapter VII +The Grasshoppers' Hop + +TWINKLE now began to fear she wouldn't get home to supper, for the sun +started to sink into the big prairie, and in the golden glow it left +behind, the girl beheld most beautiful palaces and castles suspended in +the air just above the hollow in which she stood. Splendid banners +floated from the peaks and spires of these magnificent buildings, and +all the windows seemed of silver and all the roofs of gold. + +"What city is that?" she asked, standing still, in amazement. + +"That isn't any city," replied the grasshopper. "They are only Castles +in the Air--very pretty to look at, but out of everybody's reach. Come +along, my little friend; we're almost at Hoptown." + +So Twinkle walked on, and before long Prince Nimble paused on the stem +of a hollyhock and said: + +"Now, sit down carefully, right where you are, and you will be able to +watch my people. It is the night of our regular hop--if you listen you +can hear the orchestra tuning up." + +She sat down, as he bade her, and tried to listen, but only heard a low +whirr and rattle like the noise of a beetle's wings. + +"That's the drummer," said Prince Nimble. "He is very clever, indeed." + +"Good gracious! It's night," said Twinkle, with a start. "I ought to be +at home and in bed this very minute!" + +"Never mind," said the grasshopper; "you can sleep any time, but this is +our annual ball, and it's a great privilege to witness it." + +Suddenly the grass all around them became brilliantly lighted, as if +from a thousand tiny electric lamps. Twinkle looked closely, and saw +that a vast number of fireflies had formed a circle around them, and +were illuminating the scene of the ball. + +In the center of the circle were assembled hundreds of grasshoppers, of +all sizes. The small ones were of a delicate green color, and the +middle-sized ones of a deeper green, while the biggest ones were a +yellowish brown. + +But the members of the orchestra interested Twinkle more than anything +else. They were seated upon the broad top of a big toadstool at +one side, and the musicians were all beetles and big-bugs. A fat +water-beetle played a bass fiddle as big and fat as himself, and two +pretty ladybugs played the violins. A scarab, brightly colored with +scarlet and black, tooted upon a long horn, and a sand-beetle made the +sound of a drum with its wings. Then there was a coleopto, making +shrill sounds like a flute--only of course Twinkle didn't know the +names of these beetles, and thought they were all just "bugs." + +When the orchestra began to play, the music was more pleasing than you +might suppose; anyway, the grasshoppers liked it, for they commenced at +once to dance. + +The antics of the grasshoppers made Twinkle laugh more than once, for +the way they danced was to hop around in a circle, and jump over each +other, and then a lady grasshopper and a gentleman grasshopper would +take hold of hands and stand on their long rear legs and swing partners +until it made the girl dizzy just to watch them. + +Sometimes two of them would leap at once, and knock against each other +in the air, and then go tumbling to the ground, where the other dancers +tripped over them. She saw Prince Nimble dancing away with the others, +and his partner was a lovely green grasshopper with sparkling black eyes +and wings that were like velvet. They didn't bump into as many of the +others as some did, and Twinkle thought they danced very gracefully +indeed. + +And now, while the merriment was at its height, and waiter-grasshoppers +were passing around refreshments that looked like grass seeds covered +with thick molasses, a big cat suddenly jumped into the circle. + +At once all the lights went out, for the fire-flies fled in every +direction; but in the darkness Twinkle thought she could still hear the +drone of the big bass fiddle and the flute-like trill of the ladybugs. + +The next thing Twinkle knew, some one was shaking her shoulder. + +* * * + +"Wake up, dear," said her mother's voice. "It's nearly supper-time, and +papa's waiting for you. And I see you haven't picked a single +blueberry." + +"Why, I picked 'em, all right," replied Twinkle, sitting up and first +rubbing her eyes and then looking gravely at her empty tin pail. "They +were all in the pail a few minutes ago. I wonder whatever became of +them!" + + +THE END + + + +SUGAR-LOAF MOUNTAIN + + +SUGAR-LOAF MOUNTAIN + + +List of Chapters +I The Golden Key........................325 +II Through the Tunnel....................333 +III Sugar-Loaf City.......................340 +IV To the King's Palace..................348 +V Princess Sakareen.....................357 +VI The Royal Chariot.....................365 +VII Twinkle Gets Thirsty..................372 +VIII After the Runaway.....................381 + + + +Chapter I +The Golden Key + +TWINKLE had come to visit her old friend Chubbins, whose mother was now +teaching school in a little town at the foot of the Ozark Mountains, in +Arkansas. Twinkle's own home was in Dakota, so the mountains that now +towered around her made her open her eyes in wonder. + +Near by--so near, in fact, that she thought she might almost reach out +her arm and touch it--was Sugar-Loaf Mountain, round and high and big. +And a little to the south was Backbone Mountain, and still farther along +a peak called Crystal Mountain. + +The very next day after her arrival Twinkle asked Chubbins to take her +to see the mountain; and so the boy, who was about her own age, got his +mother to fill for them a basket of good things to eat, and away they +started, hand in hand, to explore the mountain-side. + +It was farther to Sugar-Loaf Mountain than Twinkle had thought, and by +the time they reached the foot of the great mound, the rocky sides of +which were covered with bushes and small trees, they were both rather +tired by the walk. + +"Let's eat something," suggested Chubbins. + +"I'm willing," said Twinkle. + +So they climbed up a little way, to where some big rocks lay flat upon +the mountain, and sat themselves down upon a slab of rock while they +rested and ate some of the sandwiches and cake. + +"Why do they call it 'Sugar-Loaf'?" asked the girl, looking far up to +the top of the mountain. + +"I don't know," replied Chubbins. + +"It's a queer name," said Twinkle, thoughtfully. + +"That's so," agreed the boy. "They might as well have called it +'gingerbread' or 'rock-salt,' or 'tea-biscuit.' They call mountains +funny names, don't they?" + +"Seems as if they do," said Twinkle. + +They had been sitting upon the edge of one big flat rock, with their +feet resting against another that was almost as large. These rocks +appeared to have been there for ages,--as if some big giants in olden +days had tossed them carelessly down and then gone away and left them. +Yet as the children pushed their feet against this one, the heavy mass +suddenly began to tremble and then slide downward. + +"Look out!" cried the girl, frightened to see the slab of rock move. +"We'll fall and get hurt!" + +But they clung to the rock upon which they sat and met with no harm +whatever. Nor did the big slab of stone below them move very far from +its original position. + +It merely slid downward a few feet, and when they looked at the place +where it had been they discovered what seemed to be a small iron door, +built into the solid stone underneath, and now shown to their view by +the moving of the upper rock. + +"Why, it's a door!" exclaimed Twinkle. + +Chubbins got down upon his knees and examined the door carefully. There +was a ring in it that seemed to be a handle, and he caught hold of it +and pulled as hard as he could. But it wouldn't move. + +"It's locked, Twink," he said. + +"What do you'spose is under it?" she asked. + +"Maybe it's a treasure!" answered Chubbins, his eyes big with interest. + +"Well, Chub, we can't get it, anyway," said the practical Twinkle; "so +let's climb the mountain." + +She got down from her seat and approached the door, and as she did so +she struck a small bit of rock with her foot and sent it tumbling down +the hill. Then she stopped short with a cry of wonder, for under the +stone she had kicked away was a little hole in the rock, and within this +they saw a small golden key. + +"Perhaps," she said, eagerly, as she stooped to pick up the key, "this +will unlock the iron door." + +"Let's try it!" cried the boy. + + + +Chapter II +Through the Tunnel + +THEY examined the door carefully, and at last found near the center of +it a small hole. Twinkle put the golden key into this and found that it +fitted exactly. But it took all of Chubbins's strength to turn the key +in the rusty lock. Yet finally it did turn, and they heard the noise of +bolts shooting back, so they both took hold of the ring, and pulling +hard together, managed to raise the iron door on its hinges. + +All they saw was a dark tunnel, with stone steps leading down into the +mountain. + +"No treasure here," said the little girl. + +"P'raps it's farther in," replied Chubbins. "Shall we go down?" + +"Won't it be dangerous?" she asked. + +"Don't know," said Chubbins, honestly. "It's been years and years since +this door was opened. You can see for yourself. That rock must have +covered it up a long time." + +"There must be _something_ inside," she declared, "or there wouldn't be +any door, or any steps." + +"That's so," answered Chubbins. "I'll go down and see. You wait." + +"No; I'll go too," said Twinkle. "I'd be just as scared waiting outside +as I would be in. And I 'in bigger than you are, Chub." + +"You're taller, but you're only a month older, Twink; so don't you put +on airs. And I'm the strongest." + +"We'll both go," she decided; "and then if we find the treasure we'll +divide." + +"All right; come on!" + +Forgetting their basket, which they left upon the rocks, they crept +through the little doorway and down the steps. There were only seven +steps in all, and then came a narrow but level tunnel that led straight +into the mountain-side. It was dark a few feet from the door, but the +children resolved to go on. Taking hold of hands, so as not to get +separated, and feeling the sides of the passage to guide them, they +walked a long way into the black tunnel. + +Twinkle was just about to say they'd better go back, when the passage +suddenly turned, and far ahead of them shone a faint light. This +encouraged them, and they went on faster, hoping they would soon come to +the treasure. + +"Keep it up, Twink," said the boy. "It's no use going home yet." + +"We must be almost in the middle of Sugar-Loaf Mountain," she answered. + +"Oh, no; it's an awful big mountain," said he. "But we've come quite a +way, haven't we?" + +"I guess mama'd scold, if she knew where we are." + +"Mamas," said Chubbins, "shouldn't know everything, 'cause they'd only +worry. And if we don't get hurt I can't see as there's any harm done." + +"But we mustn't be naughty, Chub." + +"The only thing that's naughty," he replied, "is doing what you're told +not to do. And no one told us not to go into the middle of Sugar-Loaf +Mountain." + +Just then they came to another curve in their path, and saw a bright +light ahead. It looked to the children just like daylight; so they ran +along and soon passed through a low arch and came out into-- + +Well! the scene before them was so strange that it nearly took away +their breath, and they stood perfectly still and stared as hard as their +big eyes could possibly stare. + + + +Chapter III +Sugaf-Loaf City + +SUGAR-LOAF Mountain was hollow inside, for the children stood facing a +great dome that rose so far above their heads that it seemed almost as +high as the sky. And underneath this dome lay spread out the loveliest +city imaginable. There were streets of houses, and buildings with round +domes, and slender, delicate spires reaching far up into the air, and +turrets beautifully ornamented with carvings. And all these were white +as the driven snow and sparkling in every part like millions of +diamonds--for all were built of pure loaf-sugar! The pavements of the +streets were also loaf-sugar, and the trees and bushes and flowers were +likewise sugar; but these last were not all white, because all sugar is +not white, and they showed many bright colors of red sugar and blue +sugar and yellow, purple and green sugar, all contrasting most prettily +with the sparkling white buildings and the great white dome overhead. + +This alone might well astonish the eyes of children from the outside +world, but it was by no means all that Twinkle and Chubbins beheld in +that first curious look at Sugar-Loaf City. For the city was inhabited +by many people--men, women and children--who walked along the streets +just as briskly as we do; only all were made of sugar. There were +several different kinds of these sugar people. Some, who strutted +proudly along, were evidently of pure loaf-sugar, and these were of a +most respectable appearance. Others seemed to be made of a light brown +sugar, and were more humble in their manners and seemed to hurry along +as if they had business to attend to. Then there were some of sugar so +dark in color that Twinkle suspected it was maple-sugar, and these folks +seemed of less account than any of the others, being servants, drivers +of carriages, and beggars and idlers. + +Carts and carriages moved along the streets, and were mostly made of +brown sugar. The horses that drew them were either pressed sugar or +maple-sugar. In fact, everything that existed in this wonderful city was +made of some kind of sugar. + +Where the light, which made all this place so bright and beautiful, came +from, Twinkle could not imagine. There was no sun, nor were there any +electric lights that could be seen; but it was fully as bright as day +and everything showed with great plainness. + +While the children, who stood just inside the archway through which they +had entered, were looking at the wonders of Sugar-Loaf City, a file of +sugar soldiers suddenly came around a corner at a swift trot. + +"Halt!" cried the Captain. He wore a red sugar jacket and a red sugar +cap, and the soldiers were dressed in the same manner as their Captain, +but without the officer's yellow sugar shoulder-straps. At the command, +the sugar soldiers came to a stop, and all pointed their sugar muskets +at Twinkle and Chubbins. + +"Surrender!" said the Captain to them. "Surrender, or I'll--I'll--" + +He hesitated. + +"What will you do?" said Twinkle. + +"I don't know what, but something very dreadful," replied the Captain. +"But of course you'll surrender." + +"I suppose we'll have to," answered the girl. + +"That's right. I'll just take you to the king, and let him decide what +to do," he added pleasantly. + +So the soldiers surrounded the two children, shouldered arms, and +marched away down the street, Twinkle and Chubbins walking slowly, so +the candy folks would not have to run; for the tallest soldiers were +only as high as their shoulders. + +"This is a great event," remarked the Captain, as he walked beside them +with as much dignity as he could muster. "It was really good of you to +come and be arrested, for I haven't had any excitement in a long time. +The people here are such good sugar that they seldom do anything wrong." + + + +Chapter IV +To the King's Palace + +"WHAT, allow me to ask, is your grade of sugar?" inquired the Captain, +with much politeness. "You do not seem to be the best loaf, but I +suppose that of course you are solid." + +"Solid what?" asked Chubbins. + +"Solid sugar," replied the Captain. + +"We're not sugar at all," explained Twinkle. "We're just meat." + +"Meat! And what is that?" + +"Haven't you any meat in your city?" + +"No," he replied, shaking his head. "Well, I can't explain exactly what +meat is," she said; "but it isn't sugar, anyway." + +At this the Captain looked solemn. + +"It isn't any of my business, after all," he told them. "The king must +decide about you, for that's _his_ business. But since you are not made +of sugar you must excuse me if I decline to converse with you any +longer. It is beneath my dignity." + +"Oh, that's all right," said Twinkle. + +"Where we came from," said Chubbins, "meat costs more a pound than sugar +does; so I guess we're just as good as you are." + +But the Captain made no reply to this statement, and before long they +stopped in front of a big sugar building, while a crowd of sugar people +quickly gathered. + +"Stand back!" cried the Captain, and the sugar soldiers formed a row +between the children and the sugar citizens, and kept the crowd from +getting too near. Then the Captain led Twinkle and Chubbins through a +high sugar gateway and up a broad sugar walk to the entrance of the +building. + +"Must be the king's castle," said Chubbins. + +"The king's palace," corrected the Captain, stiffly. + +"What's the difference?" asked Twinkle. + +But the sugar officer did not care to explain. + +Brown sugar servants in plum-colored sugar coats stood at the entrance +to the palace, and their eyes stuck out like lozenges from their sugar +faces when they saw the strangers the Captain was escorting. + +But every one bowed low, and stood aside for them to pass, and they +walked through beautiful halls and reception rooms where the sugar was +cut into panels and scrolls and carved to represent all kinds of fruit +and flowers. + +"Isn't it sweet!" said Twinkle. + +"Sure it is," answered Chubbins. + +And now they were ushered into a magnificent room, where a stout little +sugar man was sitting near the window playing upon a fiddle, while a +group of sugar men and women stood before him in respectful attitudes +and listened to the music. + +Twinkle knew at once that the fiddler was the king, because he had a +sugar crown upon his head. His Majesty was made of very white and +sparkling cut loaf-sugar, and his clothing was formed of the same pure +material. The only color about him was the pink sugar in his cheeks and +the brown sugar in his eyes. His fiddle was also of white sugar, and the +strings were of spun sugar and had an excellent tone. + +When the king saw the strange children enter the room he jumped up and +exclaimed: + +"Bless my beets! What have we here?" + +"Mortals, Most Granular and Solidified Majesty," answered the Captain, +bowing so low that his forehead touched the floor. "They came in by the +ancient tunnel." + +"Well, I declare," said the king. "I thought that tunnel had been +stopped up for good and all." + +"The stone above the door slipped," said Twinkle, "so we came down to +see what we could find." + +"You must never do it again," said his Majesty, sternly. "This is our +own kingdom, a peaceful and retired nation of extra refined and +substantial citizens, and we don't wish to mix with mortals, or any +other folks." + +"We'll go back, pretty soon," said Twinkle. + +"Now, that's very nice of you," declared the king, "and I appreciate +your kindness. Are you extra refined, my dear?" + +"I hope so," said the girl, a little doubtfully. + +"Then there's no harm in our being friendly while you're here. And as +you've promised to go back to your own world soon, I have no objection +to showing you around the town. You'd like to see how we live, wouldn't +you?" + +"Very much," said Twinkle. + +"Order my chariot, Captain Brittle," said his Majesty; and the Captain +again made one of his lowly bows and strutted from the room to execute +the command. + +The king now introduced Chubbins and Twinkle to the sugar ladies and +gentlemen who were present, and all of them treated the children very +respectfully. + + + +Chapter V +Princess Sakareen + +"SAY, play us a tune," said Chubbins to the king. His Majesty didn't seem +to like being addressed so bluntly, but he was very fond of playing the +fiddle, so he graciously obeyed the request and played a pretty and +pathetic ballad upon the spun sugar strings. Then, begging to be excused +for a few minutes while the chariot was being made ready, the king left +them and went into another room. + +This gave the children a chance to talk freely with the sugar people, +and Chubbins said to one man, who looked very smooth on the outside: + +"I s'pose you're one of the big men of this place, aren't you?" + +The man looked frightened for a moment, and then took the boy's arm and +led him into a corner of the room. + +"You ask me an embarrassing question," he whispered, looking around to +make sure that no one overheard. "Although I pose as one of the +nobility, I am, as a matter of fact, a great fraud!" + +"How's that?" asked Chubbins. + +"Have you noticed how smooth I am?" inquired the sugar man. + +"Yes," replied the boy. "Why is it?" + +"Why, I'm frosted, that's the reason. No one here suspects it, and I'm +considered very respectable; but the truth is, I'm just coated over with +frosting, and not solid sugar at all." + +"What's inside you?" asked Chubbins. + +"That," answered the man, "I do not know. I've never dared to find out. +For if I broke my frosting to see what I'm stuffed with, every one else +would see too, and I would be disgraced and ruined." + +"Perhaps you're cake," suggested the boy. + +"Perhaps so," answered the man, sadly. "Please keep my secret, for only +those who are solid loaf-sugar are of any account in this country, and +at present I am received in the best society, as you see." + +"Oh, I won't tell," said Chubbins. + +During this time Twinkle had been talking with a sugar lady, in another +part of the room. This lady seemed to be of the purest loaf-sugar, for +she sparkled most beautifully, and Twinkle thought she was quite the +prettiest person to look at that she had yet seen. + +"Are you related to the king?" she asked. + +"No, indeed," answered the sugar lady, "although I'm considered one of +the very highest quality. But I'll tell you a secret, my dear." She took +Twinkle's hand and led her across to a sugar sofa, where they both sat +down. + +"No one," resumed the sugar lady, "has ever suspected the truth; but I'm +only a sham, and it worries me dreadfully." + +"I don't understand what you mean," said Twinkle. "Your sugar seems as +pure and sparkling as that of the king." + +"Things are not always what they seem," sighed the sugar lady. "What you +see of me, on the outside, is all right; but the fact is, _I'm hollow!_" + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Twinkle, in surprise. "How do you know it?" + +"I can feel it," answered the lady, impressively. "If you weighed me +you'd find I'm not as heavy as the solid ones, and Tor a long time I Ve +realized the bitter truth that I'm hollow. It makes me very unhappy, but +I don't dare confide my secret to anyone here, because it would disgrace +me forever." + +"I wouldn't worry," said the child. "They'll never know the difference." + +"Not unless I should break," replied the sugar lady. "But if that +happened, all the world could see that I'm hollow, and instead of being +welcomed in good society I'd become an outcast. It's even more +respectable to be made of brown sugar, than to be hollow; don't you +think so?" + +"I'm a stranger here," said Twinkle; "so I can't judge. But if I were +you, I wouldn't worry unless I got broke; and you may be wrong, after +all, and as sound as a brick!" + + + +Chapter VI +The Royal Chariot + +JUST then the king came back to the room and said: + +"The chariot is at the door; and, as there are three seats, I'll take +Lord Cloy and Princess Sakareen with us." + +So the children followed the king to the door of the palace, where stood +a beautiful white and yellow sugar chariot, drawn by six handsome sugar +horses with spun sugar tails and manes, and driven by a brown sugar +coachman in a blue sugar livery. + +The king got in first, and the others followed. Then the children +discovered that Lord Cloy was the frosted man and Princess Sakareen was +the sugar lady who had told Twinkle that she was hollow. + +There was quite a crowd of sugar people at the gates to watch the +departure of the royal party, and a few soldiers and policemen were also +present to keep order. Twinkle sat beside the king, and Chubbins sat on +the same seat with the Princess Sakareen, while Lord Cloy was obliged to +sit with the coachman. When all were ready the driver cracked a sugar +whip (but didn't break it), and away the chariot dashed over a road +paved with blocks of cut loaf-sugar. + +The air was cool and pleasant, but there was a sweet smell to the breeze +that was peculiar to this strange country. Sugar birds flew here and +there, singing sweet songs, and a few sugar dogs ran out to bark at the +king's chariot as it whirled along. + +"Haven't you any automobiles in your country?" asked the girl. + +"No," answered the king. "Anything that requires heat to make it go is +avoided here, because heat would melt us and ruin our bodies in a few +minutes. Automobiles would be dangerous in Sugar-Loaf City." + +"They're dangerous enough anywhere," she said. "What do you feed to your +horses?" + +"They eat a fine quality of barley-sugar that grows in our fields," +answered the king. "You'll see it presently, for we will drive out to my +country villa, which is near the edge of the dome, opposite to where you +came in." + +First, however, they rode all about the city, and the king pointed out +the public buildings, and the theaters, and the churches, and a number +of small but pretty public parks. And there was a high tower near the +center that rose half-way to the dome, it was so tall. + +"Aren't you afraid the roof will cave in some time, and ruin your city?" +Twinkle asked the king. + +"Oh, no," he answered. "We never think of such a thing. Isn't there a +dome over the place where you live?" + +"Yes," said Twinkle; "but it's the sky." + +"Do you ever fear it will cave in?" inquired the king. + +"No, indeed!" she replied, with a laugh at the idea. + +"Well, it's the same way with us," returned his Majesty. "Domes are the +strongest things in all the world." + + + +Chapter VII +Twinkle Gets Thirsty + +AFTER they had seen the sights of the city the carriage turned into a +broad highway that led into the country, and soon they began to pass +fields of sugar corn and gardens of sugar cabbages and sugar beets and +sugar potatoes. There were also orchards of sugar plums and sugar apples +and vineyards of sugar grapes. All the trees were sugar, and even the +grass was sugar, while sugar grasshoppers hopped about in it. Indeed, +Chubbins decided that not a speck of anything beneath the dome of +Sugar-Loaf Mountain was anything but pure sugar--unless the inside of +the frosted man proved to be of a different material. + +By and by they reached a pretty villa, where they all left the carriage +and followed the sugar king into the sugar house. Refreshments had been +ordered in advance, over the sugar telephone, so that the dining table +was already laid and all they had to do was to sit in the pretty sugar +chairs and be waited upon by maple-sugar attendants. + +There were sandwiches and salads and fruits and many other sugar things +to eat, served on sugar plates; and the children found that some were +flavored with winter-green and raspberry and lemon, so that they were +almost as good as candies. At each plate was a glass made of crystal +sugar and filled with thick sugar syrup, and this seemed to be the only +thing to drink. After eating so much sugar the children naturally became +thirsty, and when the king asked Twinkle if she would like anything else +she answered promptly: + +"Yes, I'd like a drink of water." + +At once a murmur of horror arose from the sugar people present, and the +king pushed back his chair as if greatly disturbed. + +"Water!" he exclaimed, in amazement. + +"Sure," replied Chubbins. "I want some, too. We're thirsty." + +The king shuddered. + +"Nothing in the world," said he gravely, "is so dangerous as water. It +melts sugar in no time, and to drink it would destroy you instantly." + +"We're not made of sugar," said Twinkle. "In our country we drink all +the water we want." + +"It may be true," returned the king; "but I am thankful to say there is +no drop of water in all this favored country. But we have syrup, which +is much better for your health. It fills up the spaces inside you, and +hardens and makes you solid." + +"It makes me thirstier than ever," said the girl. "But if you have no +water we must try to get along until we get home again." + +When the luncheon was over, they entered the carriage again and were +driven back towards the city. On the way the six sugar horses became +restless, and pranced around in so lively a manner that the sugar +coachman could scarcely hold them in. And when they had nearly reached +the palace a part of the harness broke, and without warning all six +horses dashed madly away. The chariot smashed against a high wall of +sugar and broke into many pieces, the sugar people, as well as Twinkle +and Chubbins, being thrown out and scattered in all directions. + +The little girl was not at all hurt, nor was Chubbins, who landed on top +the wall and had to climb down again. But the king had broken one of the +points off his crown, and sat upon the ground gazing sorrowfully at his +wrecked chariot. And Lord Cloy, the frosted man, had smashed one of his +feet, and everybody could now see that underneath the frosting was a +material very like marshmallow--a discovery that was sure to condemn him +as unfit for the society of the solid sugar-loaf aristocracy of the +country. + +But perhaps the most serious accident of all had befallen Princess +Sakareen, whose left leg had broken short off at the knee. Twinkle ran +up to her as soon as she could, and found the Princess smiling happily +and gazing at the part of the broken leg which she had picked up. + +"See here, Twinkle," she cried; "it's as solid as the king himself! I'm +not hollow at all. It was only my imagination." + +"I'm glad of that," answered Twinkle; "but what will you do with a +broken leg?" + +"Oh, that's easily mended," said the Princess, "All I must do is to put +a little syrup on the broken parts, and stick them together, and then +sit in the breeze until it hardens. I'll be all right in an hour from +now." + +It pleased Twinkle to hear this, for she liked the pretty sugar +princess. + + + +Chapter VIII +After the Runaway + +NOW the king came up to them, saying: "I hope you are not injured." + +"We are all right," said Twinkle; "but I'm getting dreadful thirsty, so +if your Majesty has no objection I guess we'll go home." + +"No objection at all," answered the king. + +Chubbins had been calmly filling his pockets with broken spokes and +other bits of the wrecked chariot; but feeling nearly as thirsty as +Twinkle, he was glad to learn they were about to start for home. + +They exchanged good-byes with all their sugar friends, and thanked the +sugar king for his royal entertainment. Then Captain Brittle and his +soldiers escorted the children to the archway through which they had +entered Sugar-Loaf City. + +They had little trouble in going back, although the tunnel was so dark +in places that they had to feel their way. But finally daylight could be +seen ahead, and a few minutes later they scrambled up the stone steps +and squeezed through the little doorway. + +There was their basket, just as they had left it, and the afternoon sun +was shining softly over the familiar worldly landscape, which they were +both rejoiced to see again. + +Chubbins closed the iron door, and as soon as he did so the bolts shot +into place, locking it securely. + +"Where's the key?" asked Twinkle. + +"I put it into my pocket," said Chubbins, "but it must have dropped out +when I tumbled from the king's chariot." + +"That's too bad," said Twinkle; "for now no one can ever get to the +sugar city again. The door is locked, and the key is on the other side." + +"Never mind," said the boy. "We've seen the inside of Sugar-Loaf +Mountain once, and that'll do us all our lives. Come on, Twink. Let's go +home and get a drink!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWINKLE AND CHUBBINS*** + + +******* This file should be named 28552.txt or 28552.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/5/5/28552 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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