BUD DISPENSES JUSTICE.
The next day the funeral of the old king took place, and the new king
rode in the grand procession in a fine chariot, clothed in black velvet
embroidered with silver. Not knowing how to act in his new position, Bud
sat still and did nothing at all, which was just what was expected of
him.
But when they returned from the funeral he was ushered into the great
throne-room of the palace and seated on the golden throne; and then the
chief counselor informed him that he must listen to the grievances of
his people and receive the homage of the noblemen of Noland.
Fluff sat on a stool beside the king, and the five high counselors stood
back of him in a circle; and then the doors were thrown open and all the
noblemen of the country crowded in. One by one they kissed first the
king’s hand and then the princess’s hand, and vowed they would always
serve them faithfully.
Bud did not like this ceremony. He whispered to Fluff that it made him
tired.
“I want to go upstairs and play,” he said to the lord high steward. “I
don’t see why I can’t.”
“Very soon your Majesty may go. Just now it is your duty to hear the
grievances of your people,” answered Tallydab, gently.
“What’s the matter with ’em?” asked Bud, crossly. “Why don’t they keep
out of trouble?”
“I do not know, your Majesty; but there are always disputes among the
people.”
“But that isn’t the king’s fault, is it?” said Bud.
“No, your Majesty; but it’s the king’s place to settle these disputes,
for he has the supreme power.”
“Well, tell ’em to hurry up and get it over with,” said the boy,
restlessly.
Then a venerable old man came in leading a boy by the arm and holding a
switch in his other hand.
“Your Majesty,” began the man, having first humbly bowed to the floor
before the king, “my son, whom I have brought here with me, insists upon
running away from home, and I wish you would tell me what to do with
him.”
“Why do you run away?” Bud asked the boy.
“Because he whips me,” was the answer.
Bud turned to the man.
“Why do you whip the boy?” he inquired.
“Because he runs away,” said the man.
For a minute Bud looked puzzled.
“Well, if any one whipped me, I’d run away, too,” he said at last. “And
if the boy isn’t whipped or abused he ought to stay at home and be good.
But it’s none of my business, anyhow.”
“Oh, your Majesty!” cried the chief counselor, “it really must be your
business. You’re the king, you know; and everybody’s business is the
king’s.”
“That isn’t fair,” said Bud, sulkily. “I’ve got my own business to
attend to, and I want to go upstairs and play.”
But now Princess Fluff leaned toward the young king and whispered
something in his ear which made his face brighten.
“See here!” exclaimed Bud, “the first time this man whips the boy again,
or the first time the boy runs away, I order my lord high executioner to
give them both a good switching. Now let them go home and try to behave
themselves.”
[Illustration: “NEXT CAME TWO OLD WOMEN, AND BETWEEN THEM THEY LED A
COW.”]
Every one applauded his decision, and Bud also thought with satisfaction
that he had hit upon a good way out of the difficulty.
Next came two old women, one very fat and the other very thin; and
between them they led a cow, the fat woman having a rope around one horn
and the thin woman a rope around the other horn. Each woman claimed she
owned the cow, and they quarreled so loudly and so long that the lord
high executioner had to tie a bandage over their mouths. When peace was
thus restored the high counselor said:
“Now, your Majesty, please decide which of these two women owns the
cow.”
“I can’t,” said Bud, helplessly.
“Oh, your Majesty, but you must!” cried all the five high counselors.
Then Meg whispered to the king again, and the boy nodded. The children
had always lived in a little village where there were plenty of cows,
and the girl thought she knew a way to decide which of the claimants
owned this animal.
“Send one of the women away,” said Bud. So they led the lean woman to a
little room near by and locked her in.
“Bring a pail and a milking-stool,” ordered the king.
When they were brought, Bud turned to the fat woman and ordered the
bandage taken from her mouth.
“The cow’s mine! It’s my cow! I own it!” she screamed, the moment she
could speak.
“Hold!” said the king. “If the cow belongs to you, let me see you milk
her.”
“Certainly, your Majesty, certainly!” she cried; and seizing the pail
and the stool, she ran up to the left side of the cow, placed the stool,
and sat down upon it. But before she could touch the cow the animal
suddenly gave a wild kick that sent the startled woman in a heap upon
the floor, with her head stuck fast in the milk-pail. Then the cow moved
forward a few steps and looked blandly around.
Two of the guards picked the woman up and pulled the pail from her head.
“What’s the matter?” asked Bud.
“She’s frightened, of course,” whimpered the woman, “and I’ll be black
and blue by to-morrow morning, your Majesty. Any cow would kick in such
a place as this.”
“Put this woman in the room and fetch the other woman here,” commanded
the king.
So the lean woman was brought out and ordered to milk the cow.
[Illustration: “THE ANIMAL SUDDENLY GAVE A WILD KICK THAT SENT THE
STARTLED WOMAN IN A HEAP UPON THE FLOOR, WITH HER HEAD STUCK FAST IN THE
MILK-PAIL.”]
She took the stool in one hand and the pail in the other, and,
approaching the cow softly on the _right_ side, patted the animal gently
and said to it: “So, Boss! So-o-o-o, Bossie, my darlin’! Good Bossie!
Nice Bossie!”
The cow turned her head to look at the lean woman, and made no objection
when she sat down and began milking.
In a moment the king said:
“The cow is yours! Take her and go home!”
Then all the courtiers and people—and even the five high
counselors—applauded the king enthusiastically; and the chief counselor
lifted up his hands and said:
“Another Solomon has come to rule us!”
And the people applauded again, till Bud looked very proud and quite red
in the face with satisfaction.
“Tell me,” he said to the woman, who was about to lead the cow away,
“tell me, where did you get such a nice faithful Bossie as that?”
“Must I tell you the truth?” asked the woman.
“Of course,” said Bud.
“Then, your Majesty,” she returned, “I stole her from that fat woman you
have locked up in that room. But no one can take the cow from me now,
for the king has given her to me.”
At this a sudden hush fell on the room, and Bud looked redder than ever.
“Then how did it happen that you could milk the cow and she couldn’t?”
demanded the king, angrily.
“Why, she doesn’t understand cows, and I do,” answered the woman. “Good
day, your Majesty. Much obliged, I’m sure!”
And she walked away with the cow, leaving the king and Princess Fluff
and all the people much embarrassed.
“Have we any cows in the royal stables?” asked Bud, turning to Tullydub.
“Certainly, your Majesty; there are several,” answered the chief
counselor.
“Then,” said Bud, “give one of them to the fat woman and send her home.
I’ve done all the judging I am going to do to-day, and now I’ll take my
sister upstairs to play.”
“Hold on! Hold on!” cried a shrill voice. “I demand justice! Justice of
the king! Justice of the law! Justice to the king’s aunt.”
Bud looked down the room and saw Aunt Rivette struggling with some of
the guards. Then she broke away from them and rushed to the throne,
crying again:
“Justice, your Majesty!”
“What’s the matter with you?” asked Bud.
“Matter? Everything’s the matter with me. Aren’t you the new king?”
“Yes,” said Bud. “That’s what I am.”
“Am I not your aunt? Am I not your aunt?”
“Yes,” said Bud, again.
“Well, why am I left to live in a hut and dress in rags? Doesn’t the law
say that every blood relation of the king shall live in a royal palace?”
“Does it?” asked Bud, turning to Tullydub.
“The law says so, your Majesty.”
“And must I have that old crosspatch around me all the time?” wailed the
new king.
“Crosspatch yourself!” screamed Aunt Rivette, shaking her fist at Bud.
“I’ll teach you to crosspatch me when I get you alone!”
Bud shuddered. Then he turned again to Tullydub.
“The king can do what he likes, can’t he?” the boy asked.
“Certainly, your Majesty.”
“Then let the lord high executioner step forward!”
[Illustration: “‘THEN LET THE LORD HIGH EXECUTIONER STEP FORWARD!’”]
“Oh, Bud! What are you going to do?” said Fluff, seizing him tightly by
the arm.
“You let me alone!” answered Bud. “I’m not going to be a king for
nothing. And Aunt Rivette whipped me once—sixteen hard switches! I
counted ’em.”
The executioner was now bowing before him.
“Get a switch,” commanded the king.
The executioner brought a long, slender birch bough.
“Now,” said Bud, “you give Aunt Rivette sixteen good switches.”
“Oh, don’t! Don’t, Bud!” pleaded Meg.
Aunt Rivette fell on her knees, pale and trembling. In agony she raised
her hands.
“I’ll never do it again! Let me off, your Majesty!” she screamed. “Let
me off this once! I’ll never do it again! Never! Never!”
“All right,” said Bud, with a cheery smile. “I’ll let you off this time.
But if you don’t behave, or if you interfere with me or Fluff, I’ll have
the lord high executioner take charge of you. Just remember I’m the
king, and then we’ll get along all right. Now you may go upstairs if you
wish to and pick out a room on the top story. Fluff and I are going to
play.”
With this he laid his crown carefully on the seat of the throne and
threw off his ermine robe.
“Come on, Fluff! We’ve had enough business for to-day,” he said, and
dragged the laughing princess from the room, while Aunt Rivette meekly
followed the lord high steward up the stairs to a comfortable apartment
just underneath the roof.
She was very well satisfied at last; and very soon she sent for the lord
high purse-bearer and demanded money with which to buy some fine clothes
for herself.
This was given her willingly, for the law provided for the comfort of
every relative of the king, and knowing this, Aunt Rivette fully
intended to be the most comfortable woman in the kingdom of Noland.