Pon, the Gardener's Boy
It was Button-Bright who first discovered, lying on his face beneath
a broad spreading tree near the pathway, a young man whose body shook
with the force of his sobs. He was dressed in a long brown smock and had
sandals on his feet, betokening one in humble life. His head was bare and
showed a shock of brown, curly hair. Button-Bright looked down on the
young man and said:
"Who cares, anyhow?"
"I do!" cried the young man, interrupting his sobs to roll over, face
upward, that he might see who had spoken. "I care, for my heart is
broken!"
"Can't you get another one?" asked the little boy.
"I don't want another!" wailed the young man.
By this time Trot and Cap'n Bill arrived at the spot and the girl leaned
over and said in a sympathetic voice:
"Tell us your troubles and perhaps we may help you."
The youth sat up, then, and bowed politely. Afterward he got upon his
feet, but still kept wringing his hands as he tried to choke down his
sobs. Trot thought he was very brave to control such awful agony so well.
"My name is Pon," he began. "I'm the gardener's boy."
"Then the gardener of the King is your father, I suppose," said Trot.
"Not my father, but my master," was the reply.
"I do the work and the gardener gives the orders. And it was not my
fault, in the least, that the Princess Gloria fell in love with me."
"Did she, really?" asked the little girl.
"I don't see why," remarked Button-Bright, staring at the youth.
"And who may the Princess Gloria be?" inquired Cap'n Bill.
"She is the niece of King Krewl, who is her guardian. The Princess
lives in the castle and is the loveliest and sweetest maiden in all
Jinxland. She is fond of flowers and used to walk in the gardens with
her attendants. At such times, if I was working at my tasks, I used to
cast down my eyes as Gloria passed me; but one day I glanced up and found
her gazing at me with a very tender look in her eyes. The next day she
dismissed her attendants and, coming to my side, began to talk with me.
She said I had touched her heart as no other young man had ever done. I
kissed her hand. Just then the King came around a bend in the walk. He
struck me with his fist and kicked me with his foot. Then he seized the
arm of the Princess and rudely dragged her into the castle."
"Wasn't he awful!" gasped Trot indignantly.
"He is a very abrupt King," said Pon, "so it was the least I could
expect. Up to that time I had not thought of loving Princess Gloria, but
realizing it would be impolite not to return her love, I did so. We met
at evening, now and then, and she told me the King wanted her to marry a
rich courtier named Googly-Goo, who is old enough to be Gloria's father.
She has refused Googly-Goo thirty-nine times, but he still persists and
has brought many rich presents to bribe the King. On that account King
Krewl has commanded his niece to marry the old man, but the Princess has
assured me, time and again, that she will wed only me. This morning we
happened to meet in the grape arbor and as I was respectfully saluting
the cheek of the Princess, two of the King's guards seized me and beat me
terribly before the very eyes of Gloria, whom the King himself held back
so she could not interfere."
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"Why, this King must be a monster!" cried Trot.
"He is far worse than that," said Pon, mournfully.
"But, see here," interrupted Cap'n Bill, who had listened carefully to
Pon. "This King may not be so much to blame, after all. Kings are proud
folks, because they're so high an' mighty, an' it isn't reasonable for a
royal Princess to marry a common gardener's boy."
"It isn't right," declared Button-Bright. "A Princess should marry a
Prince."
"I'm not a common gardener's boy," protested Pon. "If I had my rights I
would be the King instead of Krewl. As it is, I'm a Prince, and as royal
as any man in Jinxland."
"How does that come?" asked Cap'n Bill.
"My father used to be the King and Krewl was his Prime Minister. But one
day while out hunting, King Phearse--that was my father's name--had a
quarrel with Krewl and tapped him gently on the nose with the knuckles
of his closed hand. This so provoked the wicked Krewl that he tripped my
father backward, so that he fell into a deep pond. At once Krewl threw
in a mass of heavy stones, which so weighted down my poor father that
his body could not rise again to the surface. It is impossible to kill
anyone in this land, as perhaps you know, but when my father was pressed
down into the mud at the bottom of the deep pool and the stones held him
so he could never escape, he was of no more use to himself or the world
than if he had died. Knowing this, Krewl proclaimed himself King, taking
possession of the royal castle and driving all my father's people out.
I was a small boy, then, but when I grew up I became a gardener. I have
served King Krewl without his knowing that I am the son of the same King
Phearse whom he so cruelly made away with."
"My, but that's a terr'bly exciting story!" said Trot, drawing a long
breath. "But tell us, Pon, who was Gloria's father?"
"Oh, he was the King before my father," replied Pon. "Father was Prime
Minister for King Kynd, who was Gloria's father. She was only a baby
when King Kynd fell into the Great Gulf that lies just this side of the
mountains--the same mountains that separate Jinxland from the rest of the
Land of Oz. It is said the Great Gulf has no bottom; but, however that
may be, King Kynd has never been seen again and my father became King in
his place."
"Seems to me," said Trot, "that if Gloria had her rights she would be
Queen of Jinxland."
"Well, her father was a King," admitted Pon, "and so was my father;
so we are of equal rank, although she's a great lady and I'm a humble
gardener's boy. I can't see why we should not marry if we want to--except
that King Krewl won't let us."
"It's a sort of mixed-up mess, taken altogether," remarked Cap'n Bill.
"But we are on our way to visit King Krewl, and if we get a chance, young
man, we'll put in a good word for you."
"Do, please!" begged Pon.
"Was it the flogging you got that broke your heart?' inquired
Button-Bright.
"Why, it helped to break it, of course," said Pon.
"I'd get it fixed up, if I were you," advised the boy, tossing a pebble
at a chipmunk in a tree.
"You ought to give Gloria just as good a heart as she gives you."
"That's common sense," agreed Cap'n Bill. So they left the gardener's boy
standing beside the path, and resumed their journey toward the castle.
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