The Wooden-Legged Grass-Hopper
Now it so happened that Trot, from the window of her room, had witnessed
the meeting of the lovers in the garden and had seen the King come and
drag Gloria away. The little girl's heart went out in sympathy for the
poor Princess, who seemed to her to be one of the sweetest and loveliest
young ladies she had ever seen, so she crept along the passages and from
a hidden niche saw Gloria locked in her room.
The key was still in the lock, so when the King had gone away, followed
by Googly-Goo, Trot stole up to the door, turned the key and entered.
The Princess lay prone upon a couch, sobbing bitterly. Trot went up to
her and smoothed her hair and tried to comfort her.
"Don't cry," she said. "I've unlocked the door, so you can go away any
time you want to."
"It isn't that," sobbed the Princess. "I am unhappy because they will not
let me love Pon, the gardener's boy!"
"Well, never mind; Pon isn't any great shakes, anyhow, seems to me," said
Trot soothingly. "There are lots of other people you can love."
Gloria rolled over on the couch and looked at the little girl
reproachfully.
"Pon has won my heart, and I can't help loving him," she explained.
Then with sudden indignation she added: "But I'll never love
Googly-Goo--never, as long as I live!"
"I should say not!" replied Trot. "Pon may not be much good, but old
Googly is very, very bad. Hunt around, and I'm sure you'll find someone
worth your love. You're very pretty, you know, and almost anyone ought to
love you."
"You don't understand, my dear," said Gloria, as she wiped the tears from
her eyes with a dainty lace handkerchief bordered with pearls. "When you
are older you will realize that a young lady cannot decide whom she will
love, or choose the most worthy. Her heart alone decides for her, and
whomsoever her heart selects, she must love, whether he amounts to much
or not."
Trot was a little puzzled by this speech, which seemed to her
unreasonable; but she made no reply and presently Gloria's grief
softened and she began to question the little girl about herself and her
adventures. Trot told her how they had happened to come to Jinxland, and
all about Cap'n Bill and the Ork and Pessim and the Bumpy Man.
While they were thus conversing together, getting more and more friendly
as they became better acquainted, in the Council Chamber the King and
Googly-Goo were talking with the Wicked Witch.
This evil creature was old and ugly. She had lost one eye and wore a
black patch over it, so the people of Jinxland had named her "Blinkie."
Of course witches are forbidden to exist in the Land of Oz, but Jinxland
was so far removed from the center of Ozma's dominions, and so absolutely
cut off from it by the steep mountains and the bottomless gulf, that
the laws of Oz were not obeyed very well in that country. So there were
several witches in Jinxland who were the terror of the people, but King
Krewl favored them and permitted them to exercise their evil sorcery.
Blinkie was the leader of all the other witches and therefore the most
hated and feared. The King used her witchcraft at times to assist him in
carrying out his cruelties and revenge, but he was always obliged to pay
Blinkie large sums of money or heaps of precious jewels before she would
undertake an enchantment. This made him hate the old woman almost as much
as his subjects did, but to-day Lord Googly-Goo had agreed to pay the
witch's price, so the King greeted her with gracious favor.
"Can you destroy the love of Princess Gloria for the gardener's boy?"
inquired his Majesty.
The Wicked Witch thought about it before she replied:
"That's a hard question to answer. I can do lots of clever magic, but
love is a stubborn thing to conquer. When you think you've killed it,
it's liable to bob up again as strong as ever. I believe love and cats
have nine lives. In other words, killing love is a hard job, even for a
skillful witch, but I believe I can do something that will answer your
purpose just as well."
"What is that?" asked the King.
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"I can freeze the girl's heart. I've got a special incantation for that,
and when Gloria's heart is thoroughly frozen she can no longer love Pon."
"Just the thing!" exclaimed Googly-Goo, and the King was likewise much
pleased.
They bargained a long time as to the price, but finally the old courtier
agreed to pay the Wicked Witch's demands. It was arranged that they
should take Gloria to Blinkie's house the next day, to have her heart
frozen.
Then King Krewl mentioned to the old hag the strangers who had that day
arrived in Jinxland, and said to her:
"I think the two children--the boy and the girl--are unable to harm me,
but I have a suspicion that the wooden-legged man is a powerful wizard."
The witch's face wore a troubled look when she heard this.
"If you are right," she said, "this wizard might spoil my incantation and
interfere with me in other ways. So it will be best for me to meet this
stranger at once and match my magic against his, to decide which is the
stronger."
"All right," said the King. "Come with me and I will lead you to the
man's room."
Googly-Goo did not accompany them, as he was obliged to go home to get
the money and jewels he had promised to pay old Blinkie, so the other two
climbed several flights of stairs and went through many passages until
they came to the room occupied by Cap'n Bill.
The sailor-man, finding his bed soft and inviting, and being tired with
the adventures he had experienced, had decided to take a nap. When the
Wicked Witch and the King softly opened his door and entered, Cap'n Bill
was snoring with such vigor that he did not hear them at all.
Blinkie approached the bed and with her one eye anxiously stared at the
sleeping stranger.
"Ah," she said in a soft whisper, "I believe you are right, King Krewl.
The man looks to me like a very powerful wizard. But by good luck I have
caught him asleep, so I shall transform him before he wakes up, giving
him such a form that he will be unable to oppose me."
"Careful!" cautioned the King, also speaking low. "If he discovers what
you are doing he may destroy you, and that would annoy me because I need
you to attend to Gloria."
But the Wicked Witch realized as well as he did that she must be
careful. She carried over her arm a black bag, from which she now drew
several packets carefully wrapped in paper. Three of these she selected,
replacing the others in the bag. Two of the packets she mixed together
and then she cautiously opened the third.
"Better stand back, your Majesty," she advised, "for if this powder falls
on you you might be transformed yourself."
The King hastily retreated to the end of the room. As Blinkie mixed the
third powder with the others she waved her hands over it, mumbled a few
words, and then backed away as quickly as she could.
Cap'n Bill was slumbering peacefully, all unconscious of what was going
on. Puff! A great cloud of smoke rolled over the bed and completely hid
him from view. When the smoke rolled away, both Blinkie and the King saw
that the body of the stranger had quite disappeared, while in his place,
crouching in the middle of the bed, was a little gray grasshopper.
One curious thing about this grasshopper was that the last joint of its
left leg was made of wood. Another curious thing--considering it was a
grasshopper--was that it began talking, crying out in a tiny but sharp
voice:
"Here--you people! What do you mean by treating me so? Put me back where
I belong, at once, or you'll be sorry!"
[Illustration]
The cruel King turned pale at hearing the grasshopper's threats, but the
Wicked Witch merely laughed in derision. Then she raised her stick and
aimed a vicious blow at the grasshopper, but before the stick struck the
bed the tiny hopper made a marvelous jump--marvelous, indeed, when we
consider that it had a wooden leg. It rose in the air and sailed across
the room and passed right through the open window, where it disappeared
from their view.
"Good!" shouted the King. "We are well rid of this desperate wizard." And
then they both laughed heartily at the success of the incantation, and
went away to complete their horrid plans.
After Trot had visited a time with Princess Gloria, the little girl went
to Button-Bright's room but did not find him there. Then she went to
Cap'n Bill's room, but he was not there because the witch and the King
had been there before her. So she made her way downstairs and questioned
the servants. They said they had seen the little boy go out into the
garden, some time ago, but the old man with the wooden leg they had not
seen at all.
Therefore Trot, not knowing what else to do, rambled through the great
gardens, seeking for Button-Bright or Cap'n Bill and not finding either
of them. This part of the garden, which lay before the castle, was not
walled in, but extended to the roadway, and the paths were open to the
edge of the forest; so, after two hours of vain search for her friends,
the little girl returned to the castle.
But at the doorway a soldier stopped her.
"I live here," said Trot, "so it's all right to let me in. The King has
given me a room."
"Well, he has taken it back again," was the soldier's reply. "His
Majesty's orders are to turn you away if you attempt to enter. I am also
ordered to forbid the boy, your companion, to again enter the King's
castle."
"How 'bout Cap'n Bill'?' she inquired.
"Why, it seems he has mysteriously disappeared," replied the soldier,
shaking his head ominously. "Where he has gone to, I can't make out, but
I can assure you he is no longer in this castle. I'm sorry, little girl,
to disappoint you. Don't blame me; I must obey my master's orders."
Now, all her life Trot had been accustomed to depend on Cap'n Bill, so
when this good friend was suddenly taken from her she felt very miserable
and forlorn indeed. She was brave enough not to cry before the soldier,
or even to let him see her grief and anxiety, but after she was turned
away from the castle she sought a quiet bench in the garden and for a
time sobbed as if her heart would break.
It was Button-Bright who found her, at last, just as the sun had set and
the shades of evening were falling. He also had been turned away from the
King's castle, when he tried to enter it, and in the park he came across
Trot.
"Never mind," said the boy. "We can find a place to sleep."
"I want Cap'n Bill," wailed the girl.
"Well, so do I," was the reply. "But we haven't got him. Where do you
s'pose he is, Trot?"
"I don't s'pose anything. He's gone, an' that's all I know 'bout it."
Button-Bright sat on the bench beside her and thrust his hands in the
pockets of his knickerbockers. Then he reflected somewhat gravely for him.
"Cap'n Bill isn't around here," he said, letting his eyes wander over
the dim garden, "so we must go somewhere else if we want to find him.
Besides, it's fast getting dark, and if we want to find a place to sleep
we must get busy while we can see where to go."
He rose from the bench as he said this and Trot also jumped up, drying
her eyes on her apron. Then she walked beside him out of the grounds of
the King's castle. They did not go by the main path, but passed through
an opening in a hedge and found themselves in a small but well-worn
roadway. Following this for some distance, along a winding way, they came
upon no house or building that would afford them refuge for the night. It
became so dark that they could scarcely see their way, and finally Trot
stopped and suggested that they camp under a tree.
[Illustration]
"All right," said Button-Bright, "I've often found that leaves make a
good warm blanket. But--look there, Trot!--isn't that a light flashing
over yonder?"
"It certainly is, Button-Bright. Let's go over and see if it's a house.
Whoever lives there couldn't treat us worse than the King did."
To reach the light they had to leave the road, so they stumbled over
hillocks and brushwood, hand in hand, keeping the tiny speck of light
always in sight.
They were rather forlorn little waifs, outcasts in a strange country and
forsaken by their only friend and guardian, Cap'n Bill. So they were very
glad when finally they reached a small cottage and, looking in through
its one window, saw Pon, the gardener's boy, sitting by a fire of twigs.
As Trot opened the door and walked boldly in, Pon sprang up to greet
them. They told him of Cap'n Bill's disappearance and how they had been
turned out of the King's castle. As they finished the story Pon shook his
head sadly.
"King Krewl is plotting mischief, I fear," said he, "for to-day he sent
for old Blinkie, the Wicked Witch, and with my own eyes I saw her
come from the castle and hobble away toward her hut. She had been with
the King and Googly-Goo, and I was afraid they were going to work some
enchantment on Gloria so she would no longer love me. But perhaps the
witch was only called to the castle to enchant your friend, Cap'n Bill."
"Could she do that?" asked Trot, horrified by the suggestion.
"I suppose so, for old Blinkie can do a lot of wicked magical things."
"What sort of an enchantment could she put on Cap'n Bill?"
"I don't know. But he has disappeared, so I'm pretty certain she has done
something dreadful to him. But don't worry. If it has happened, it can't
be helped, and if it hasn't happened we may be able to find him in the
morning."
With this Pon went to the cupboard and brought food for them. Trot was
far too worried to eat, but Button-Bright made a good supper from the
simple food and then lay down before the fire and went to sleep. The
little girl and the gardener's boy, however, sat for a long time staring
into the fire, busy with their thoughts. But at last Trot, too, became
sleepy and Pon gently covered her with the one blanket he possessed. Then
he threw more wood on the fire and laid himself down before it, next to
Button-Bright. Soon all three were fast asleep. They were in a good deal
of trouble; but they were young, and sleep was good to them because for a
time it made them forget.
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