IN WHICH THE ANIMALS MEET WITH A DISAPPOINTMENT AND A SURPRISE AND A
STORY IS BEGUN
Now, had the keepers who slept so soundly at the foot of the big blue
poles in the great menagerie tent suddenly wakened at a little after
half-past twilight on the evening following that which saw the balloons
go sailing over the hill, they no doubt would have rubbed their eyes,
pinched themselves and then exclaimed:
“Well, of all things! Wherever can those animals be?”
But, of course, they did nothing of the kind, for the very good reason
that not a single one of them so much as opened one eye. Though, if they
had, where do you suppose they would have found all their charges? Away
over behind the red and gold cages.
Yes, there they stood, side by side in a row, their noses pressed close
against the west wall of the tent, looking for all the world like so
many “catchers” in a game of hide-and-go-seek. And Diggeldy Dan was
there, too. All had found peep-holes in the canvas and through these
they peered eagerly in the direction of Sunset House. They were watching
for the Lady with the Blue-Blue Eyes.
“Every one to his place,” Lion had commanded, when the merry crew had
been loosed, but a few moments before. “And then we will see who will be
the first to catch a glimpse of the one who will ride out of the west.
Not a word from a soul, until she comes into view.”
At first it was fun, but, as the minutes dragged by and no movement was
seen, the watchers began to grow restless. Seal started to twist and to
turn. Next, Puma’s tail was seen to curl and to wave; while Zebra
switched his with quick little jerks. Then Hippo heaved a great sigh
that must surely have been heard a whole mile away. Finally, Monkey, who
was never known to keep entirely quiet, could stand it no longer.
“Lion,” he whispered.
No answer.
“Lion,” repeated Monkey.
“Well, what is it?” answered Lion at last, from his place near the
middle of the line.
“I—I don’t want to watch any longer.”
“Have patience and be quiet, sir,” ordered Lion.
So the watch went on. A minute passed, and another, and another. Then
something went, “Bang!”
“What was that?” demanded Lion.
“I—I was standing on my tail and—and went to sleep,” answered Kangaroo,
in a very sheepish voice. “I—I fell down and bumped my head against
Rhino’s cage.”
“And it was newly varnished but yesterday,” muttered Rhino.
Then Monkey giggled and that set Hyena to laughing until the tears
rolled down his cheeks. Even Lion was obliged to smile though, a moment
later, his face took on a very serious look.
“Perhaps we have waited long enough,” he admitted, rather sadly. “I fear
something must have happened. What do you think, Diggeldy Dan?”
“I don’t know just what to say, Lion,” answered Dan. “You see, I was
quite sure the Pretty Lady made her home in the west. It is all my
fault. I am very sorry.”
“There, there,” said Lion, as he placed a paw on the old clown’s
shoulder. “Surely, none of us would think of blaming you, Dan.”
“So come,” he called out to the rest, “let us go to the center of the
tent; for we will watch no longer to-day.”
Once they knew they might leave their places, the animals were less
eager to do so. For they suddenly realized how disappointed they were
now that they were not to see the Pretty Lady with the Blue-Blue Eyes.
“Now,” began Lion, after all had been seated, and doing his best to
speak gayly, “I suggest that we—”
But what it was Lion had in mind no one ever came to know; for, just at
that moment, he was interrupted by a pattering shower of silvery rain!
The shimmering flecks fell everywhere, round the animals, on their heads
and on their backs.
“What in the world is this?” exclaimed Lion.
“Why, they’re spangles!” cried Elephant, who had picked up some of the
bits with the tip of his trunk.
“Spangles, sure enough,” agreed Diggeldy Dan, “though I never saw any as
bright nor have I ever known spangles to come out of the sky.”
“But they can’t have come from the sky,” reasoned Tiger; “for how could
they have passed through the roof of the tent?”
Then, as if to prove Tiger wrong, there came a second and even greater
shower than before. This time there were so many spangles that they
fairly tinkled as they fell, while mingling with their tinkling was a
rippling laugh that sounded like silver bells played all in a row. And,
of all marvelous things, the voice came from the depths of the great red
and golden home that belonged to Giraffe!
Instantly, all eyes were turned toward the house on the wheels. At the
very same moment its doors swung apart and there, framed by the opening,
stood the Pretty Lady with the Blue-Blue Eyes!
Even as the animals stared in open-mouthed wonder, their golden-haired
visitor threw back her head and laughed until from her eyes came tears,
as glistening as the spangles that dotted the ground. Then she stopped
quite as suddenly as she had begun, and, putting her left foot behind
her and the tip of one finger to the tip of her chin, made so graceful a
courtesy that all the animals found themselves trying to do the very
same thing, though it must be confessed that some of them made a rather
awkward job of it.
As for Diggeldy Dan, he made the very grandest bow that any clown ever
made, while, taking his cue from Dan, Lion put one paw to his heart and
said in very solemn tones:
“Dear Lady, we one and all bid you welcome, though how you got here we
are at an entire loss to know.”
“Why,” answered the Pretty Lady, as she tripped from the doorway to
where Lion stood, “I came in under the wall near the end. I went right
past your nose, Kangaroo; in fact, I think you were napping.”
And, at that, you may be sure a certain animal looked very foolish.
“Then,” she continued, “I hid in Giraffe’s house and, after you were
seated, began tossing spangles through the window near the top. You see
I always carry a bag of them that I may sprinkle the sunset whenever I
pass.”
“So you do live at Sunset House,” said Diggeldy Dan.
“Just over the hill, where the sky turns to pink. The balloons and the
message came in through my window last night.”
“Goodness! You didn’t forget to bring them back, did you?”
“Monkey!” cried Lion reprovingly, for you might have guessed who had
spoken.
But the Lady only laughed at the question.
“Indeed, I did not,” she replied; and with that she gave three quick
claps with her hands, while from somewhere in galloped the White-White
Horse. And there, clasped to a buckle of his snowy trappings, were the
balloons that had gone over the hill. Soon they were taken to where
Monkey had found them; but, alas, the next moment the Lady had leaped to
her place and was gone down the tent like a shot!
“No, no!” cried all the animals. “Please, please don’t go away.”
“Oh, please don’t,” wailed Monkey. “I didn’t mean to be rude when I
asked about the balloons.”
“I’m not going away,” the Lady laughed back. “I’m just combing my hair,
and the mane and the tail of my White-White Horse.”
And around the great circle the two of them sped; then stopped in front
of the animals again.
“You see,” said the Lady, as she tossed back her curls, “combs and
brushes are so much bother that we never carry them, but just let the
rush of the wind take their place. But now that is done, pray tell me
why you sent for me and what I’m to do?”
“Tell us a story,” cried Ostrich.
“About Too-Bo-Tan,” suggested Little Black Bear.
“Yes, yes!” chimed all the rest, “about Too-Bo-Tan.”
“Very well,” nodded the Lady; and, leaning forward on the back of the
White-White Horse, with her chin cupped in one hand, she began:
“Many years ago—so very many that there are not enough stripes on
Zebra’s sides, nor yet on his ears, to count them—there lived in
far-away Jungleland a very wise monkey, named Vargu. In those days the
different animals mingled not at all, each being content to keep solely
to the company of his very own kind. Now, one day, this monkey named
Vargu was seated in the fork of a tree, quite lost in deep thought, when
a leopard trotted by underneath. Spying the leopard—”
“Pretty Lady, Pretty Lady,” Diggeldy Dan interrupted.
“Dan!” cried Lion.
“But the Watch, the Petal Watch—it’s closing!” answered the clown in
despair.
“Goodness, so it is,” echoed the Lady. “But you shall not miss the
story, for I will come again on the morrow. With the twilight I’ll
come—until then fare you well.”
And with that she was gone like a flash through the dusk, while the
animals all hurried back to their places, each wondering what it was
they were to hear the next day of the very wise monkey named Vargu.