The King of Keretaria
The white ox in his mad dash across the throne room had run violently
into a marble pillar, hurling Mandy straight into the arms of a very
tall, very stern, and very blue looking monarch. Pages and courtiers
tripped and fell left and right in a scramble to get out of the way,
while the ox, snorting and trembling, looked balefully over his
shoulder at the Goat Girl.
"Whu-what is--the--meaning of--this out-rageous in-trusion?" panted
the King. "Unhand me, woman! Remove your finger from my eye and
your arms--your ARMS! Hi! Hi! Hi!" The King's sentence ended in
three frightened squeaks. "Is it a girl or an octopus?" he puffed,
heaving up his chest in an endeavor to dislodge Mandy. "Hi! Hi! Hi!
Are you going to allow this clumping savage to insult my Majesty in
this--er--high-handed manner?"
As the Goat Girl, by this time scarlet from anger and mortification,
jumped off the King's lap, three very high officials of the Court of
Keretaria darted forward.
"The High Qui-questioner! The Imperial Persuader! And the Lord High
Upper Dupper of the Realm!" bawled a page. Having delivered himself
of this impressive announcement the page bolted back of a curtain and
from there peered with astonished eyes at the visitor. Everyone in the
grand blue throne room looked frightened and ready to run at a moment's
notice. Wondering what could be the matter with them all, Mandy with
many misgivings watched the counselors of Keretaria advance in a
threatening row.
"Now then--not a move!" thundered the High Qui-questioner, tapping
her sharply on the shoulder with a golden staff shaped like a huge
interrogation point. "It is my duty to question all strangers who ride,
fall, fly or break into our Kingdom, and you," the Haughty Nobleman
gave Mandy a cold blue stare, "YOU are stranger than any stranger who
has ever come to Keretaria."
"It is my duty to persuade you to do as his Majesty commands," stated
the Imperial Persuader, raising his gold spiked club.
"And it is MY duty to put you in your place," sniffed the Lord High
Upper Dupper rattling a bunch of keys that hung from his belt.
"Well if you ask me," puffed the Ox, rolling his eyes wildly round at
the Goat Girl, "her place is in a museum and the sooner you lock her
upper dupper, the better." Now Mandy was so astonished to hear the Ox
actually speaking, she gave a loud cry and flung up her hands, every
single seven of them.
"Help! Help!" yelped the Courtiers, scurrying like mice into corners
and corridors. Only the white Ox, the King and his Counselors kept
their places.
"How DARE you come into a King's presence armed in this barbarous
fashion?" gasped the High Qui-questioner, taking a step toward the Goat
Girl, but too frightened to touch her.
"PIGS!" cried Mandy, suddenly losing her temper. "Can I help my seven
arms? All of us on Mt. Mern have seven arms and hands and you with
your skinny two seem far funnier than I. I am Mandy, the Goat Girl, as
anyone in his senses can see."
"The girl is right," observed the Ox, gazing more attentively at Mandy
and now speaking quite calmly, "she can no more help those seven arms
than you can help those seven warts on your nose, Questo. I tell you
this maiden is a real curiosity and if you three Hi-boys will cease
rattling your teeth and your clubs, perhaps she will explain why she
has come to Keretaria. I myself shall call her Handy Mandy."
"Why, the beast has more sense than its masters," thought the Goat Girl
in surprise.
"Well," rumbled the King ungraciously, "if you have anything to say
before we lock you up, SAY IT, but do not wave your arms about, PLEASE."
Swallowing nervously, clasping four of her hands behind her back and
stuffing the other three into convenient pockets in her apron, Mandy
began to speak. "I was driving my goats home from the mountain, Your
Majesty, when the rock on which I was standing exploded suddenly into
the air, flew like a bird over hill, valley, and desert and dropped me
into your garden--"
"And not a bruise nor a bump to show for it," grunted the Imperial
Persuader elevating his nose to show he was not taken in by such a
tale. In spite of his suspicious glance, Mandy decided to say nothing
of the blue flower that had so miraculously softened her fall.
"And since when have rocks flown through the air?" inquired the Lord
High Upper Dupper sarcastically.
"Ahem--in the garden," continued Mandy undaunted by the two
interruptions, "I saw this great white ox and thinking to do a bit of
honest work for my supper, grasped the plough, but--"
"That was a little oxident," murmured the great beast in a jovial
voice, "for, catching sight of a seven-armed maiden all at once and
without warning, I took to my heels and landed her in her present
unpleasant predicament. Is that not so, m'lass?"
Looking at the Ox with round eyes, Mandy nodded.
"But she still has not explained all these arms," complained the
Imperial Persuader. "Whoever heard of a seven-handed maiden?"
"I have!" asserted Mandy stoutly. "And what, pray, is there to explain?
This iron hand--" the Goat Girl raised it slowly and thoughtfully as
she spoke, "I use for ironing, lifting hot pots from the stove and all
horrid sort of hard work; this leather hand I keep for beating rugs,
dusting, sweeping, and so on; this wooden hand I use for churning and
digging in the garden; these two red rubber hands for dishwashing and
scrubbing, and my two fine white hands I keep for holding and braiding
my hair." With all seven hands extended before her, Mandy smiled
engagingly up at the King.
"Undoubtedly a witch," whispered the Imperial Persuader darkly, as
the King in spite of himself gazed curiously down at his seven-armed
visitor.
"A dangerous character, Your Majesty," hissed the High Qui-questioner,
shaking his head disapprovingly.
"To the dungeons with her!" rasped the Lord High Upper Dupper, rattling
his keys like castanets.
"WHAT?" bawled the white Ox, stamping all of his gold shod feet in
rapid succession. "You mean to consign this marvel of skill and
efficiency to a dungeon? What a set of dunces you are! Come, Handy, I
myself, will take you for a slave. Out of my way, DOLTS!" Swaggering a
bit, and with the golden plough still clanking and bumping behind him,
the Ox ambled at a dignified pace toward the door. Mandy, though she
did not relish the idea of becoming his slave, was greatly relieved at
the interest the Ox was taking in her case, but before following him,
she looked inquiringly up at the King.
"Yes, GO!" commanded His Majesty harshly, "I hereby give you into the
care and service of Nox, the Royal Ox of Keretaria. Harm one hair of
his head, and you will pay for it with your life and perish, I promise
you, most ignominiously."
"Mercy--ercy," muttered Mandy tiptoeing nervously after her new master,
"doesn't the fellow know any short words? How queer everything is on
this side of the mountain, people with only two arms, animals talking
and giving orders to Kings. Suppose the goats at home started bossing
the villagers?" And what would the villagers think of her strange
flight and reception in Keretaria? Well, from what she herself had seen
of Royalty, decided the Goat Girl, she much preferred her goats or even
the company of this haughty white Ox. Stepping briskly beside him,
Mandy resolved to humor the creature till she saw a bit more of the
country or found some safe way back to her mountain.
Nox swinging along at his own indolent gait paid no further attention
to the Goat Girl, but when they reached his royal quarters, which
to Mandy looked more like a castle than a stable, he began bawling
so fiercely for the stable boys she decided uncomfortably that being
his slave might prove both unpleasant and dangerous. However, when
six little boys dressed in blue overalls and aprons ran out, the
Royal Ox addressed them quite kindly. The first, without waiting for
instructions unhitched the plough and lifted the yoke from the royal
shoulders.
"Prepare Kerry's quarters for my new slave," directed Nox, turning to
the second and third. "You others, bring dinner for two, and mind you
fetch Handy Mandy everything they have at the King's table." With a
playful lunge Nox started them smartly on their way, then moved grandly
into the huge stone stable and along to his own luxurious gold-paved
stall.
"My--y!" exclaimed the Goat Girl, sinking breathlessly to a three
legged stool, "how grand and elegant you are here! My--y, I wish
What-a-butter could see this!"
"One of your goats?" murmured Nox, burying his nose in the huge marble
bowl he used for a drinking trough.
Mandy nodded. "I wish she were here now!" she added with a rapturous
little sigh.
"Well, I don't." Deliberately the Royal Ox licked the water from his
lips. "Do you suppose I'd allow a miserable goat in my sapphire trimmed
stall?"
"Miserable!" squealed Mandy, springing off the stool. "What-a-butter's
the smartest goat on the mountain; she wouldn't give two bleats and a
BAH for an old Hoopadoop like YOU!"
"Hoopadoop!" repeated the Ox in a dazed whisper. "Do you mean to stand
there and call the Royal Ox of Keretaria a Hoopadoop?"
"Yes," said Mandy firmly but backing off a bit as she spoke. "What
makes you think you're so much better than a goat even if you do talk,
put on airs and have golden horns?"
"Well," and to Mandy's surprise and relief, Nox cleared his throat and
grinned quite amiably, "after all I AM the Royal Ox, you know, more
precious to the King than all his court and subjects. Everyone jumps at
my least command, so why shouldn't I put on a few airs? Besides do you
think it's polite to call me an old Hoopadoop when I've just saved you
from a dungeon?"
"No," admitted Mandy, resuming her seat thoughtfully, "I don't suppose
it is. Maybe you _are_ as good as a goat," she added with a little
burst of generosity.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you very much!" Through half closed eyes the
Royal Ox looked quizzically at the Goat Girl. "I believe we shall get
on famously, m'lass, famously. The truth is, you amuse me no end and so
long as you amuse me everything will be smooth as silk. But of course,
if you bore me, I will bore you. Oh, positively!" Lowering his head Nox
shook his horns playfully.
"Now I shouldn't try that, if I were you," advised Mandy, raising her
iron hand and cracking the fingers warningly. "For if you do, I might
throw things!"
"Ha ha! I believe you would." The enormous beast, charmed by so much
spirit and independence fairly beamed upon his new slave. "I take it
you are pretty good at throwing things."
"Yes, and at catching them, too." Reaching up, Mandy took seven of the
dozen brushes off the shelf above her head. Tossing them all into the
air with three of her hands, she caught them easily with the other
four. Then dragging her stool closer, she began brushing the coat of
her royal charge so hard and vigorously he blinked with pleasure and
astonishment. "Will you have your tail plain, curled or plaited?" asked
Mandy in a businesslike voice.
"Er--er--plain, thank you." With admiration and some alarm, Nox
regarded the whirling arms of the Goat Girl, but the four little stable
boys, appearing at that moment, stared at her in glassy eyed fright and
consternation. For Nox they had brought a tray heaped high with corn
and oats and another with fresh sliced apples. For Mandy there were two
trays of gold dishes containing a sample of everything from the royal
table. Dropping her brushes Mandy seized all the trays at once in her
various hands, which so frightened the stable boys they took to their
heels yelling at the tops of their voices.
Winking at the Royal Ox, Mandy set his supper on the gold stand meant
for that purpose, then dropping to the floor before her own two trays
began her first dinner in a strange land. And WHAT a strange land,
mused Mandy helping herself from the gold dishes with first one hand
and then another.
"Well, m'lass?" inquired Nox, daintily nibbling his oats and apples.
"Is this not better than bread and water in a dungeon cell?" Too full
for utterance, Mandy rapturously nodded.