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THE CITY CURIOUS
[Illustration: FRITILLA AND THE RED FLYING-FISH
_Frontispiece_]
THE CITY CURIOUS
by
JEAN de BOSSCHERE
[Illustration]
Illustrated by the Author and Retold in English by F. Tennyson Jesse
[Illustration]
New York: Dodd, Mead and Company
London: William Heinemann
1920
Printed in Great Britain
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
Smaly and his wife Redy set forth in search of three little girls:
They are bewitched so that their noses turn into beaks: Smaly
eats the latch of a door and Redy eats the hinge: Redy's fingers
weep tears: They meet with a Confectioner who resembles a
Kangaroo 1
CHAPTER II
Smaly installs himself upon one of the Kangaroo's paws: The
two little people see some of the inhabitants of this peculiar
country: They meet some sugar horses, and they see also a fish
which flies and some sponges which walk: The Wigs imagine
that Smaly is made of suet: The ebony and crystal spectacles:
The Mother of the Crow 15
CHAPTER III
The Short-Legged Man with the musical voice: Smaly and
Redy again declare they are travelling to find three little girls:
Papylick puts Smaly and Redy in two boats made out of nutshells 34
CHAPTER IV
Smaly and Redy are not well received: They are thought to be
made of painted cardboard: How the Despoiler fell into the
water and left a foot behind him: Mistigris sticks a fish-bone
into the back of the Despoiler: Judgment is passed on the two
strangers: They will be banished at nightfall: The walls of
the three gardens are discussed 38
CHAPTER V
Redy and Smaly watch the review of the troops: Smaly and the
Mother of the Crow discourse about soldiers: The Chief Contractor
distributes the food, and the Wigs pass through a curious
little door: The Soy powder makes the provisions grow 59
CHAPTER VI
The Sugar-Cane Prison arrives: The Rats water it with Soy
fluid to keep the canes growing as fast as the Prisoner breaks
them down: The time for siesta draws on, and Smaly and Redy
go into the house of the Historian 73
CHAPTER VII
The Flying-Fish announces the hour of three, and the World
falls asleep: The Hen makes six hard-boiled eggs: Smaly and
Redy begin to read the manuscript of the Historian 82
CHAPTER VIII
Redy and Smaly read of the childhood of the Prisoner 95
CHAPTER IX
The elder Flying-Fish loses one eye, and the Hen finds it:
The Historian wakes up, and Smaly and Redy run out of the
house: The Healer mends the paw of the Confectioner 100
CHAPTER X
The Wigs all imagine they suffer from headache: The Rats come
to the Healer to be cured of the ravages of hot Soy: The Chief
Contractor has to make himself ill eating the musical instruments 111
CHAPTER XI
The young girls dance for the Rats, then play a curious game
of tennis: They fail to understand Smaly's point of view 122
CHAPTER XII
The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak
in his own country 127
CHAPTER XIII
Smaly and Redy are taken to see the Fleet: The Prisoner arrives
and the Wigs fly in terror: Smaly and Redy at last have speech
with the Prisoner 146
CHAPTER XIV
The three daughters of the Prisoner are installed in their gardens 161
CHAPTER XV
Smaly and Redy effect the rescue of the three young girls:
Djorak joins them and they all partake of a delightful picnic:
Smaly blows the Soy powder over the country of the Wigs:
Then the six friends go home 170
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR
_Facing page_
FRITILLA AND THE RED FLYING-FISH _Frontispiece_
THE CITY CURIOUS 16
THEY WERE KNOWN AS THE "WIGS" BECAUSE OF THEIR LARGE PERUKES 24
THESE CREATURES DID NOT RESEMBLE ANYTHING THAT REDY AND
SMALY HAD SEEN UP TO THEN 32
LAPTITZA AND PAPYLICK 64
SOME OF THE DANCES WERE VERY COMPLICATED 96
KISIKA IN HER SEDAN-CHAIR 128
THE PICNIC WHICH FOLLOWED WAS AN UNFORGETTABLE REPAST 160
IN BLACK AND WHITE
PAGE
REDY 2
SMALY 3
IN THIS LAND ALL THE BIRDS WORE HATS AND SPURS 4
REDY'S HANDS WERE CRYING WITH FRIGHT 6
BUT HE FOUND HE, TOO, HAD A BEAK 7
THEY SANG AND DANCED 8
NEITHER THE LATCH NOR THE HINGE BORE ANY TRACE OF HAVING BEEN BITTEN 10
LOOKING FOR THE KEY 11
KANGAROO-CONFECTIONER 13
TO CARRY THE LAST CURL AS THOUGH IT WERE THE END OF A TRAIN 16
THEY MADE ONE WANT TO DANCE 17
WITH THE SPOON WHICH EVERY WIG CARRIES HUNG FROM HIS BELT 19
THESE HORSES, HOWEVER, WERE MADE OF SUGAR 20
THE SPONGES 21
TO RETURN TO A MERE SHAPELESS THING ONCE AGAIN 23
A TRAVELLER TOLD US 24
NEVERTHELESS SMALY AND REDY STARTED TO HELP HIM 26
THE GRUB WAS REALLY THE DOORKEEPER 27
"WE WISH TO HAVE THREE GIRLS" 28
THE CROW LIFTED HIM UP 29
THE CROW 30
THE MOTHER OF THE CROW 31
"SHE SEES ONLY ONE SIDE OF MEN, BIRDS, AND THINGS" 32
THE SHORT-LEGGED MAN 35
PAPYLICK 36
OPENING THE NUTS AND DISPLAYING THE TWO LITTLE PEOPLE 39
LEADING BY THE HAND THE CHOCOLATE GRUB 40
THE BIRDS WITH THEIR LEGS ENCASED IN CUTLET FRILLS 41
THE EGGS RUNNING ALONG 42
THEY WERE GENTLE AND PRETTY PIGS 43
A MOST SPLENDID FEAST 44
THE DESPOILER 45
WHICH IS IN THIS COUNTRY A GREAT SIGN OF MIRTH 46
HE FLED HASTILY 47
MISTIGRIS 48
THE YOUNG STORK 49
EVERY ONE UTTERED CRIES OF INDIGNATION 50
"YOU CAN ROLL THE CORD" 51
THE CHIEF CONTRACTOR REPLIED 53
CHILDREN WERE BUILT OF MUCH FEWER SLICES OF CAKE THAN THE GROWN-UPS 54
THESE CREATURES WILL EAT THE TOP OFF THE WALLS 55
ANGER 56
IT SEEMED TO THEM THAT MEN GREW UPWARDS AND NOT TOWARDS THE GROUND 57
SOME VERY ELEGANT MICE 58
ONE HALF EXPRESSED SEVERE AUTHORITY, THE OTHER WAS ALL GENTLENESS 60
HE DECIDED THAT THEY MUST HAVE A SIMILAR REVIEW EVERY WEEK 62
THEY HAD ALL PUT ON THICK GLOVES 63
WIGS, WHO WERE PUTTING THE SOLDIERS BACK IN THEIR BOXES 64
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF PASENIPUS 65
TO CONDUCT HER BACK TO HER HOUSE, WHICH WAS IN A COSY NOOK
IN A GREAT TREE OF CORAL 67
THE CONFECTIONER 69
"NEVERTHELESS IT'S SO NARROW THAT ONLY ONE PERSON CAN GO
THROUGH AT A TIME" 70
THE SONG WENT ON 71
RUNNING HARD WITH THEIR LITTLE SHORT LEGS 73
SOY MILL 74
SOY RESERVOIR 75
CARRYING AWAY EVERY OBJECT THAT THEY COULD LIFT 77
THE PRISONER 79
THE PRISONER NEVER CEASED TO BREAK THE SUGAR-CANES 80
THE PET FLYING-FISH, WHICH EVERY WIG FAMILY POSSESSES AND CHERISHES 83
THE AMOUNT OF CAKE AND PUDDING EATEN ANNUALLY IN THE COUNTRY 84
THE ELDER OF THE FISHES 85
THE HEN 86
THIS CARE WHICH THE CONFECTIONER TOOK OF FRITILLA WAS BY
NO MEANS UNNECESSARY 88
THE SMALLER FLYING-FISH 89
DROPPED THEM THROUGH A HOLE IN HIS BEAK 90
WAS SITTING WITH ONE ANKLE ACROSS THE KNEE OF HIS OTHER LEG 91
THE DESPOILER, WHO WAS ALWAYS AFRAID THAT SOME ONE WOULD
FIND OUT THAT HE WAS ONLY MADE OF CARDBOARD, NEVER
SLEPT IN PUBLIC 93
"INSTEAD OF CUTTING HIS TOE-NAILS AS WE DO WITH THE HELP OF
A LONG-HANDLED PAIR OF SCISSORS AND A TELESCOPE" 96
THE KING 97
THE KING'S DAUGHTER 98
THE HEALER 103
BORN WITH THE IDEA OF ONE DAY BEING A VERY BIG MAN 104
BETWEEN THEM WAS FASTENED A COMFORTABLE ARM-CHAIR 106
THERE WERE NEWSBOYS SELLING ACCOUNTS OF THE LATEST DISASTER
TO THE WIGS 108
THE HEALER HAD FINISHED HIS MENDING 109
MATHEMATICIAN 111
MIGRAINE 112
WRAPPED THEIR HANDKERCHIEFS ROUND THEIR HEADS 112
"I, TOO, HOPE SO," SAID HIS WIFE, WHO HAD JUST COME IN 113
NEARLY ALL HAD ONE LEG WHICH WAS MUCH LONGER THAN THE
OTHER, OR A VERY LONG ARM 115
HIS ELONGATED TAIL WAS TIED TO THE QUEUE OF HIS WIG 116
"BUT ONLY LOOK AT OUR ARMS AND LEGS" 117
EVEN MORE THAN THEY FEARED THE FLIES 118
REWARDS 119
THE DWARF HAD PULLED ON A PAIR OF BOOTS 120
THE ACCORDION-PLAYERS BEGAN 123
TENNIS 124
THE BALL HUNG UP THUS 125
TEA-COSY 128
"WE'RE WAITING FOR THE SUN TO GO DOWN" 129
SERVANTS OUT SHOPPING FOLLOWED IT WITH THEIR LADEN BASKETS
ON THEIR ARMS 131
HE THRUST HIS FACE INTO ROSES COVERED WITH DEW 132
THE EXECUTIONER BANDAGED HIS EYES 133
NEXT HE TOOK SOME OLD CARDBOARD BOXES 135
OPENED THEM AND SHUT THEM AGAIN 136
HIS YOUNG SON WAS THERE 137
THE BRINDLED RABBIT 138
HIS LITTLE PAW SHOVED A FOLDED SLIP OF PAPER THROUGH THE
OPENING 139
THEN THEY SANG A COMIC DUET 140
THEN THEY QUESTIONED A BLACK TOAD 141
AND FISH IN THE LITTLE RIVER IN THE AFTERNOON 142
THE THIN LONG ARM OF THE HISTORIAN 143
EXTRACTING FISH-BONES FROM THE BACK OF THE DESPOILER 147
THEY BORE A LARGE COPPER CAULDRON 148
THE ADMIRAL WAS A TRITON 149
THE WHITE DOLPHIN WITH PINK EYES 150
AN EXTREMELY CURIOUS FISH 151
"A BAND OF OUR RATS WILL EACH MORNING COPIOUSLY WATER OUR
FLEET" 153
WIGS WERE BUSY WRITING THEIR NAMES 154
A RED FLAG 155
"I HAVE DESTROYED A HUNDRED TIMES PASSING OVER IT IN MY
PRISON" 157
"I WAS CAUGHT STEPPING RIGHT OVER THEIR SILLY OLD DRY CANAL
WITH ONE STRIDE" 158
THE MANUFACTURER OF CARDBOARD BOXES 159
A SENTINEL WHO LOOKED LIKE A DRAGON-FLY 163
THE GARDENS WERE ARRANGED AFTER THE SAME PRINCIPLE AS THE
WINDOWS IN THE HOUSE OF THE HISTORIAN 164
A LITTLE RED FEATHER, WHICH SHE HAD PICKED UP IN THE MARKET-PLACE 166
NEXT THE DESPOILER APPROACHED 167
THE WIFE OF THE CHIEF CONTRACTOR PRESENTED KISIKA WITH A
BEAUTIFUL FAN MADE OF PAPER LACE 169
DIRECTLY THEY SAW THE FLYING-FISH ENTER 171
THEIR TWO LITTLE HEADS APPEARED SIDE BY SIDE 172
SMALY STANDING ON THE POINT OF HIS TOES 173
SO DURING THREE DAYS THE YOUNG GIRLS WERE BUSY MAKING THE
STAIRS 175
THE RED FLYING-FISH CARRIED A LARGE HAT AND MANTLE IN ITS
CLAWS 176
CARRYING AS MANY OF THE PRESENTS AS THEY COULD 177
WIGS THEMSELVES WOULD HAVE MELTED AWAY DIRECTLY THEY
PASSED THE FRONTIER 178
THEY HUNG OUT OF THE WINDOWS 179
THE CITY CURIOUS
CHAPTER I
Smaly and his wife Redy set forth in search of three little
girls: They are bewitched so that their noses turn into
beaks: Smaly eats the latch of a door and Redy eats the
hinge: Redy's fingers weep tears: They meet with a
Confectioner who resembles a Kangaroo.
Smaly and Redy were husband and wife, and they lived together in a
little white house. This house had three rooms upstairs and three rooms
downstairs; and each room was so pretty that it gave one joy to see it.
Smaly and Redy were very proud of their house, and were never so happy
as when they were putting it to rights. Every day they did something to
one or other of the rooms, changing the position of the furniture or the
pictures.
One day, while Smaly was walking in the town he saw three mirrors in a
shop window, and he thought they would be just the thing to hang up in
the three bedrooms; so he bought the mirrors and went home with them in
high glee.
In the meantime, Redy, his little wife, also had an idea to beautify the
bedrooms, so she went out into the garden to pick some flowers.
Smaly hung a looking-glass in each of the three little bedrooms, then he
carefully closed all three doors and, going downstairs, sat himself by
the hearth. A fire was burning there, for the spring was still young in
the land.
While he sat there, smoking, lost in the most delicious daydreams, his
pleasant little wife Redy came in with her arms full of flowers. She
took three vases from the dresser, and began to arrange the flowers in
them, holding her head on one side like a bird.
[Illustration: REDY]
When she had put each flower exactly as she wished, she gently shook
Smaly's elbow. He jumped up, took two vases without a word, while she
picked up the third. They disposed a vase in each of the three little
bedrooms, and stood back to admire the effect; which, indeed, was quite
charming.
Suddenly Redy gave a sigh.
"It's all very well," said she, "but there's no one to live in our
pretty rooms."
Smaly sighed, too. "That's just what I was thinking," said he. "Oh,
Redy, how nice it would be if we had three little girls to live in our
three bedrooms, so that they could admire your flowers and look at
themselves in my pretty mirrors."
"Let us wish for them," said Redy, and she folded her hands together on
her apron and chanted:
"We wish to have three girls,
Fine, sweet, pink, and good
They shall have more pudding than they like,
And a green, green, and rosy garden."
Smaly repeated the poem in his turn, but Redy had to prompt him, for he
had a very bad memory.
They waited for some time, but nothing happened, so they said the verse
over again, and this time Smaly repeated it without any mistake; but
still nothing happened.
"Wishing does not seem to be much good," said Smaly despondently.
"Wishing never is any good," answered Redy, "unless one does something
more than wish. If we want to find our three little girls we must set
out and look for them."
"Yes, but where?" asked Smaly.
"As for that," answered his little wife, "I do not know any more than
you, but that verse we chanted just now is a magic verse, and we shall
find the way. We will get ready to start to-morrow."
* * * * *
So the very next morning they set off on their search for the three
girls who would fill the white house with joy.
[Illustration: SMALY]
Redy had dressed herself in her best. Her green gown was trimmed with
black and emerald leaves, and her stockings and little cocked hat were
green to match. In her basket she thoughtfully placed two apples.
[Illustration: IN THIS LAND ALL THE BIRDS WORE HATS AND SPURS]
Smaly faced the world in his beautiful dark violet coat, on his head a
tall hat of the same colour. A belt of yellow leather clasped his waist.
In his buttonhole he stuck a sunflower to show how happy he was. His
best boots shone upon his feet. In the big pocket of his coat he placed
a couple of fresh rolls. The rolls and the apples were their provisions
for the journey. For weapon, in case of attack, Smaly carried a thin red
stick.
* * * * *
For a long while they walked and walked. They crossed many countries
which everybody knows. At last, however, they found themselves in a
strange land, a land of which one hardly ever even hears--a land which
was even odder than these two odd little people.
In this land both men and beasts lived upon nothing but sweetmeats and
pastry.
In this land the sun shone longer than it does with us, because it often
stopped for a while to rest during the course of the day.
In this land all the birds wore hats and spurs.
In this land an orchestra of swallows played always at noonday.
In this land earthworms wore spectacles on their noses and swords at
their sides.
In this land such things as bricks, iron, wood, stone, and steel were
unknown.
In this land, after one had finished dinner, one ate the plates and
dishes, for they were made of sugar.
In this land nearly every inhabitant was made of slices of cake, held
together with pudding, sweetmeats, nougat, and chocolate.
In a word, there were to be found in this curious country a great many
things that were strange and wonderful and good to eat.
Smaly and Redy knocked at the door of this wonderful land, but for some
time no one came to answer them.
"Bother this door!" said Smaly, at last, kicking at it with his new
boots, and hitting it with his red cane.
"Why, it's made of chocolate!" cried Redy, who had sucked her fingers
after touching it.
"I will eat the latch away!" decided Smaly.
"And I'll eat the hinges," said Redy.
She seized a hinge and he tore off the latch.
The next moment the tears were pouring down their faces.
"Oh, oh, it's burning me!" cried poor Redy.
"It must be made of red pepper and spice!" wept Smaly.
[Illustration: REDY'S HANDS WERE CRYING WITH FRIGHT]
They had certainly burnt their tongues. They held hands and ran away,
uttering little moans of pain. The path took an abrupt turn, then
another, then a third, and yet a fourth, till it had described a
complete circle. Smaly and Redy found themselves once again opposite the
door.
* * * * *
There was no longer any way out, for a thick hedge now surrounded the
two travellers, and they found themselves in a sort of green arena.
Quite a pretty arena, but all the same, it was rather alarming to find
themselves there, without a word of warning.
And the thick green hedge around the arena grew with such a horrible
rapidity. Very soon it was so high that the place became as dark as
night.
[Illustration: BUT HE FOUND HE, TOO, HAD A BEAK]
Smaly, in his alarm, had seized both Redy's hands in his, and now he
suddenly noticed that they were all wet. For one dreadful moment Smaly
thought they must be wet with blood, but the fact was that poor Redy's
hands were crying with fright.
* * * * *
For a little while Smaly and Redy wept bitterly, but they soon grew too
tired to cry. They shut their mouths firmly, and tried to leave off
sobbing when they left off weeping, but their sobs kept on and on in
spite of them, for all the world like a tap that keeps on going
"glug-glug!" when one has forgotten to turn it off.
Smaly put up his hand, meaning to lay it gently over Redy's mouth.
She no longer had a mouth--in place of it was a fine large beak, painted
an elegant blue. Filled with horror, and sure that their end had come,
Smaly thought to print on Redy's cheek one last kiss of despair.
But he found he, too, had a beak, with which he could do nothing but
peck. They stood staring at each other's beaks. They did not yet know
that the beaks were invisible to all save themselves and the birds.
* * * * *
They sat down on their heels like Turkish princes, and their sobs went
on and on, sounding like the lament of thousands of insects, and still
the green hedges around them went on growing, till it seemed that the
two poor little people were at the bottom of a profound green funnel,
brimming with darkness, in which their moaning sounded like the wind in
the chimney of a winter's night.
"Oh, oh, my Redy, we're in a pretty pass!" murmured Smaly, and Redy knew
that he was feeling almost mad with fright, so that at once she felt mad
with fright also. Now Redy had heard that mad people sing and dance, and
so she at once began to do both, dragging Smaly along with her. They
sang and danced till they had no breath left, and then they wanted to
drop down and rest, but found they had to keep on and on in spite of
themselves. The dance of terror, and the song with which their little
little sobs and moans mingled, continued there at the bottom of the
green funnel. There was more noise than there is at midday in Oxford
Circus.
[Illustration: THEY SANG AND DANCED]
The pepper from the latch of the door began to burn again in Smaly's
mouth, and reminded him that after all there was a door out of this
horrible place. He began to feel about for it in the darkness. When he
found it he uttered a sharp little cry, which, like the moans and the
singing, refused to die away, but went on echoing in the green funnel,
so that by now there was a noise like a tempest, for all the world as
though the whole sea had been imprisoned in a box--and a box too small
for it.
Smaly uttered this cry because he had discovered that the latch was
once more in its place on the door, although Smaly had thrown it far
away after biting it. Redy's hinge also was back in its place. Neither
the latch nor the hinge bore any trace of having been bitten, but felt
smooth and solid to the fingers.
[Illustration: NEITHER THE LATCH NOR THE HINGE BORE ANY TRACE OF HAVING
BEEN BITTEN]
* * * * *
Smaly and Redy became even more terrified than before, so that their
hearts felt like two little lumps of ice in their breasts. And then a
very odd thing happened to them. Their beaks opened of themselves, and
these words came out of them--words which Smaly and Redy had never
thought of saying:
"Where is the key?"
Nothing answered them.
Then they found themselves on their hands and knees looking for the key.
"Where is the key? Oh, Reckybecky, where is the key?" the beaks
demanded, entirely of their own accord.
[Illustration: LOOKING FOR THE KEY]
Immediately a little grille opened in the door, and a voice said:
"Upon this side are honey, tea, and sugar! On your side are pepper,
ginger, and allspice!"
"And on this side there are also the beaks of birds!" replied Smaly,
alarmed at his own temerity; "and here also are the hands which weep!
And the horrible moanings! And----"
He was interrupted by a gentle laugh. This laugh sounded like a little
peal of crystal bells. And as the laugh went rippling on, the hedge
began to shrink and shrink, and the moans and sobs died away.
* * * * *
The hearts of Smaly and Redy were beating like a couple of
alarum-clocks. The gate had a little grille in it and they peeped
through this grille to see what creature it was whose silvery laughter
had the power to charm away both the high hedge and the weird moanings.
Although the creature was several yards away they could see quite
clearly his large, rosy eyes edged with grey rims. They saw the creature
as distinctly as one can see the actors on the stage when one looks
through opera-glasses.
They saw that the rosy grey-rimmed eyes were set in a face of the green
of a pistachio-nut. The hair was the vague blue of cigarette smoke. The
head looked as though it were sculptured out of mother-of-pearl. Later,
they discovered that it was a mingling of ice-cream and jelly, for the
creature himself was a confectioner.
He was a confectioner ... and yet Smaly could have wagered his beautiful
new boots that he was more of a kangaroo than anything else. For though
this confectioner wore an apron and a fine green waistcoat, yet
undoubtedly his chess-board trousers and embroidered stockings covered
the powerful hind legs of a kangaroo. The long paws were shod with a
species of pattens, so big they seemed like miniature tables, and these
pattens were painted scarlet. Slung all about him, the Kangaroo carried
as many pots and pans as a travelling tinker. He was adorned as well by
spoons of bamboo, and from his belt hung ebony-handled knives, while
jam-jars and flagons, filled with preserves and essences, dangled about
him. The most tender mauves and translucent greens glowed through the
glass of the flagons.
[Illustration: KANGAROO-CONFECTIONER]
Smaly studied the good-natured face of this personage, and asked him
simply:
"Who are you?"
Then the Kangaroo-Confectioner said a surprising thing. He replied:
"I am the Architect."
The moment he had spoken he put up his hand and shut his mouth, to
prevent the sound of his words going on and on in the curious air of the
place, which seemed to hold sounds suspended as water holds the fronds
of weeds.
Smaly looked at him dubiously.
"You say you are an architect ... and yet your occupation appears to me
to be much more that of a confectioner, a super-confectioner."
The Kangaroo seemed overcome with a nervousness; his smiling face
creased itself into a thousand little lines of distress, his eyes looked
vacant, his manner became flustered. Evidently he was struggling with
his emotion. When he had sufficiently recovered he planted his long feet
more firmly on their scarlet pattens, and, taking a deep breath, chanted
as follows:
"With jam I build the walls,
And with jam I fill the tarts,
With honey-cake I tile the roofs
Which crest the pastry towers.
The chairs are made of barley-sugar
And the tables and napkins are not of custard,
Nor of mustard nor of treacle,
But I weave them of thin macaroni.
"I am the Builder Architect,
Who makes the cottages and the tarts,
Who knows all about chairs and farms,
Who makes the castles and the biscuits
With chocolate and nice cornflour.
"Where I am--honey, tea, and sugar!
Where you are, pepper, ginger, and allspice!"
But, since the word "allspice" continued to reverberate through the air,
the Confectioner shut his mouth smartly with his finger and thumb.