THE BRAVERY OF AUNT RIVETTE.
The Roly-Rogues were so busy rioting that they did not look into the air
and discover Aunt Rivette flying over the city. So she alighted, all
unobserved, upon a balcony of the palace, just outside the chamber of
the Princess Fluff, and succeeded in entering the room.
The creatures had ransacked this apartment, as they had every other part
of the royal palace, and Fluff’s pretty dresses and ornaments were
strewn about in dreadful confusion. But the drawer in which rested the
magic cloak was still locked, and in a few moments the old woman had the
precious garment in her hands.
It was, as we know, the imitation cloak Queen Zixi had made and
exchanged for the real one; but so closely did it resemble the fairy
cloak that Aunt Rivette had no idea she was carrying a useless garment
back to her little niece and nephew. On the contrary, she thought to
herself: “Now we can quickly dispose of these monstrous rogues and drive
them back to their own country.”
Hearing some one moving about in the next room, she ran to the window
and soon was flying away with the cloak to the place where she had left
Bud and Fluff.
“Good!” cried the lord high steward, when he saw the cloak. “Now we have
nothing more to fear. Put on your cloak, your Majesty, and make the
wish.”
Bud threw the cloak over his shoulders.
“What shall I wish?” he asked.
“Let me see,” answered Tallydab. “What we want is to get rid of these
invaders. Wish them all in the kingdom of Ix.”
“Oh, no!” cried Fluff; “it would be wicked to injure Queen Zixi and her
people. Let us wish the Roly-Rogues back where they came from.”
“That would be folly!” said the dog Ruffles, with an accent of scorn.
“For they could easily return again to our city of Nole, having once
learned the way there.”
“That is true,” agreed Aunt Rivette. “The safest thing to do is to wish
them all dead.”
“But it would be an awful job to bury so many great balls,” objected
Bud. “It would keep all our people busy for a month, at least.”
“Why not wish them dead and buried?” asked Ruffles. “Then they would be
out of the way for good and all.”
“A capital idea!” responded Tallydab.
“But I haven’t seen these curious creatures yet,” said Bud; “and if I
now wish them all dead and buried, I shall never get a glimpse of one of
them. So let’s walk boldly into the city, and when they appear to
interfere with us I’ll make the wish and the Roly-Rogues will instantly
disappear.”
So the entire party returned to the city of Nole; Bud and Fluff riding
their ponies, Aunt Rivette fluttering along beside them, and the lord
high steward walking behind with his dog.
The Roly-Rogues were so much surprised to see this little party boldly
entering the streets of the city, and showing no particle of fear of
them, that they at first made no offer to molest them.
Even when Bud roared with laughter at their queer appearance, and called
them “mud-turtles” and “foot-balls,” they did not resent the insults;
for they had never heard of either a turtle or a foot-ball before.
[Illustration: “HE MADE OLD TULLYDUB, THE LORD COUNSELOR, ROCK HIM
GENTLY AS HE LAY UPON HIS BACK.”]
When the party had reached the palace and the children had dismounted,
Bud laughed yet louder; for the gigantic General Tollydob came to the
kitchen door, wearing an apron while he polished a big dish-pan, the
Roly-Rogues having made him a scullion.
[Illustration: “JIKKI WAS SCRATCHING THE BACK OF ANOTHER ROLY-ROGUE.”]
The ruler of the Roly-Rogues was suffering from a toothache, so he had
rolled himself into a ball and made old Tullydub, the lord high
counselor, rock him gently as he lay upon his back, just as one would
rock a baby’s cradle.
[Illustration: “THE LORD HIGH PURSE-BEARER WAS WAVING A FAN.”]
Jikki was scratching the back of another Roly-Rogue with a sharp
garden-rake, while Jikki’s six servants stood in a solemn row at his
back. They would do anything for Jikki, but they would not lift a finger
to serve any one else; so the old valet had to do the scratching
unaided.
These six young men had proved a great puzzle to the Roly-Rogues, for
they found it impossible to touch them or injure them in any way; so,
after several vain attempts to conquer them, they decided to leave
Jikki’s servants alone.
The lord high purse-bearer was waving a fan to keep the flies off two of
the slumbering monsters; and the lord high executioner was feeding
another Roly-Rogue with soup from a great ladle, the creature finding
much amusement in being fed in this manner.
King Bud, feeling sure of making all his enemies disappear with a wish,
found rare sport in watching his periwigged counselors thus serving
their captors; so he laughed and made fun of them until the Roly-Rogue
ruler stuck his head out and commanded the boy to run away.
“Why, you ugly rascal, I’m the King of Noland,” replied Bud; “so you’d
better show me proper respect.”
With that he picked up a good-sized pebble and threw it at the ruler. It
struck him just over his aching tooth, and with a roar of anger the
Roly-Rogue bounded toward Bud and his party.
The assault was so sudden that they had much ado to scramble out of the
way; and as soon as Bud could escape the rush of the huge ball, he
turned squarely around and shouted:
“I wish every one of the Roly-Rogues dead and buried!”
[Illustration: “THE LORD HIGH EXECUTIONER WAS FEEDING ANOTHER ROLY-ROGUE
WITH SOUP FROM A GREAT LADLE.”]
Hearing this and seeing that the king wore the magic cloak, all the high
counselors at once raised a joyful shout, and Fluff and Bud gazed upon
the Roly-Rogues expectantly, thinking that of course they would
disappear.
But Zixi’s cloak had no magic powers whatever; and now dozens of the
Roly-Rogues, aroused to anger, bounded toward Bud’s little party.
[Illustration: “THE LORD HIGH STEWARD AND HIS DOG WENT DOWN BEFORE THE
RUSH.”]
I am sure the result would have been terrible had not Aunt Rivette
suddenly come to the children’s rescue. She threw one lean arm around
Bud and the other around Fluff, and then, quickly fluttering her wings,
she flew with them to the roof of the palace, which they reached in
safety.
The lord high steward and his dog went down before the rush, and the
next moment old Tallydab was crying loudly for mercy, while Ruffles
limped away to a safe spot beneath a bench under an apple-tree, howling
at every step and shouting angry epithets at the Roly-Rogues.
“I wonder what’s the matter with the cloak,” gasped Bud. “The old
thing’s a fraud; it didn’t work.”
“Something went wrong, that’s certain,” replied Fluff. “You’re sure you
hadn’t wished before, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” said Bud.
“Perhaps,” said Aunt Rivette, “the fairies have no power over these
horrible creatures.”
“That must be it, of course,” said the princess. “But what shall we do
now? Our country is entirely conquered by these monsters; so it isn’t a
safe place for us to stay in.”
“I believe I can carry you anywhere you’d like to go,” said Aunt
Rivette. “You’re not so very heavy.”
[Illustration: “‘I’LL SOON CARRY YOU OVER THE MOUNTAIN AND THE RIVER
INTO THE KINGDOM OF IX.’”]
“Suppose we go to Queen Zixi, and ask her to protect us?” the princess
suggested.
“That’s all right, if she doesn’t bear us a grudge. You know we knocked
out her whole army,” remarked Bud.
“Quavo the minstrel says she is very beautiful, and kind to her people,”
said the girl.
“Well, there’s no one else we can trust,” Bud answered gloomily; “so we
may as well try Zixi. But if you drop either of us on the way, Aunt
Rivette, I’ll have to call in the lord high executioner.”
“Never fear,” replied the old woman. “If I drop you, you’ll never know
what has happened. So each one of you put an arm around my neck, and
cling tight, and I’ll soon carry you over the mountain and the river
into the kingdom of Ix.”