What Happened to Shaggy
The Grand Dining Room of the castle was brilliantly lighted by three
huge crystal chandeliers. Each of the chandeliers flamed with more than
a score of tapering lights which were reflected shimmeringly in the
alabaster ceiling and walls.
As soon as Twink, Tom, and Twiffle entered the dining room, they were
espied by Queen Curtain who motioned them to seat themselves at her
right. Queen Curtain and King Ticket occupied the head of the table.
The Lords and Ladies of the Castle were filing into the dining room,
chattering spiritedly, and all handsomely gowned and garbed. In a few
minutes all were seated. There were a few curious glances at the three
strangers at the table, but for the most part the Lords and Ladies of
the Valley of Romance were far too excited over the play they were to
witness that evening to give more than a passing glance to the children
and the little clown.
The meal passed, through many delicious and elaborate courses, with no
incidents. Queen Curtain played the charming host, occasionally tossing
pleasant remarks to the children and Twiffle. Poor Lady Cue put salt in
her tea instead of sugar, but she drank the entire cup without seeming
to notice her mistake.
"Perhaps she really likes it that way," Twink whispered to Tom.
At the end of the meal, King Ticket rose and addressed the assemblage
solemnly: "The moment has come for which we have prepared these many
days. We will now pass into the theater for the first performance of
the new play."
No one spoke. This, apparently was an important moment. The only sound
in the vast dining room was the rustling of the ladies' skirts and the
patter of footsteps on the alabaster floor.
Queen Curtain took Twink by the hand, and Tom and Twiffle followed into
the theater. It was brilliantly lighted as the Lords and Ladies settled
into their seats. A few of them hurried backstage--they were the ones
who worked the scenery and otherwise aided in the presentation of the
play. Twink, Tom, and Twiffle found themselves seated in the Royal Box
with King Ticket and Queen Curtain.
The houselights dimmed, the curtains went up, and with no preliminaries
the play was under way.
Two actors walked woodenly forward on the stage. They were dressed
in what Twink and Tom could tell was supposed to be armor, but was
obviously kitchen utensils strung together and about to fall off.
From the words they were saying, the two knights seemed to be getting
very angry at each other. But they looked at the audience, instead of
looking at each other, and spoke their lines in a dazed, unexcited way
as though they were talking in their sleep. Impossible as it seemed
from their lack of action, it became apparent that they were so enraged
they had decided to fight out in a tournament, their quarrel over
a lady. Oh, yes, there she was at the side of the stage, paying no
attention at all to the knights.
The tournament scene came next. The knights in their pots and pans were
mounted on extraordinary horses. Each was made up of two men covered
with tufted candlewick bedspreads. They too moved about the stage in a
slow and sleepy way. The lady who had inspired the fight looked on from
her box seat at the side of the stage, waving her handkerchief. But it
had slipped her mind apparently that it was the tournament she was
watching, and she looked straight at the audience and listlessly waved
her handkerchief as if trying to attract the attention of anyone who
might care to wave back at her.
When the knights supposedly rushed their horses at each other and aimed
their spears, the steeds ambled slowly in opposite directions, so far
apart that they seemed not to be aware of each other at all. When they
did finally get together, the horse of the knight who was to be winner
slipped and fell down, and the bedspread slid to the floor. The horse
and the knight who was to be victorious had to be re-assembled before
he could triumph over his victim who had been watching him pick himself
up off the floor.
Twink and Tom had to clap their hands over their mouths to keep from
bursting out with laughter. They did this because it was apparent that
King Ticket, Queen Curtain, and the Lords and Ladies took the play
quite seriously. Indeed, they were wildly enthusiastic.
Throughout the entire play the scenery kept toppling over, Lord
Props provided the wrong sound effects, and stage furniture at every
opportunity, and Lady Cue became so interested in a book of poetry that
she read from this instead of giving the actors and actresses their
proper lines.
Twink and Tom thought it strange that the people on the stage should
mumble their lines so badly and behave altogether as though they were
only half awake and were moving by clockwork.
Act after act continued in this fashion. But the audience saw only
the drama as it was intended. The Queen and the Ladies wept openly,
applying delicate lace handkerchiefs to their eyes. King Ticket and the
Lords, being men, contented themselves with brushing away a furtive
tear and repeatedly blowing their noses loudly in their spotless white
linen kerchiefs.
"Magnificent!" exclaimed King Ticket.
"Glorious!" proclaimed Queen Curtain through her tears. "This play will
run for years--it is one of the greatest romances we have ever staged!"
"Romance!" sighed King Ticket. "Ah, sublime romance--there is nothing
in the world so touching and beautiful!"
It was near the end of the last act. Twink and Tom were nodding.
Suddenly a new actor appeared upon the stage. Twink's half shut eyes
flew open. She grasped Tom by the arms and shook him awake. Twiffle
leaned forward, holding on to the rail of the box. None of them said a
word. For a few seconds they merely stared, unbelievingly.
The new character who had come on the stage and was even then mumbling
his lines in a mechanical voice was the Shaggy Man!