THE KING AND THE RUBBER TREE
Now, in the forests of the Island of Gee-Whiz are very many sorts of
trees--palm trees, tall and stately, with parasols at their tops; juju
trees, with rough, sticky sides and long, slender leaves; and strawberry
trees, not in the least resembling our little creeping vines. There are
also orange trees, with ripe yellow oranges, and trees with fruit
resembling chocolate éclaires, all ready for eating, and other trees
which bear fruit much like a charlotte russe. Besides these, there are
many trees such as we all know--hickory, oak, and apple trees, and
maple trees, from which maple sugar comes. It was, of course, from the
sugar-maple tree that Zuzu had drawn the syrup for the Waffles; and
that, of course, was the kind of tree into which the King should have
cut with his little gold ax. But, being guided by this Wicked Fairy whom
he could not see, the King was not aware of this. The truth is that, as
he swung his ax and cut into the tree before him, it was not a maple
tree at all, but a rubber tree. As he struck the trunk, to his great
surprise, there gushed out not a pale, sticky syrup, but a fresh-looking
liquid, which resembled milk.
"Bless my soul and body!" said the King. "That does not look right."
"Oh, yes, it does," whispered the Wicked Fairy in his ear.
"Eh? What?" said the King, still not knowing it was a Fairy. "Yes, I
suppose this must be right. In any case, I will taste it and see." So he
held out his cup and caught it full of the rubber juice and drank a deep
draft of it. To his great surprise, he began to feel very strange.
"Bless my soul and body!" exclaimed the King to himself. "This is most
extraordinary. I must say that I feel strange, quite strange, I do
indeed. Why, this is not in the least like the syrup I tasted yesterday
morning. I wonder if I could have made a mistake."
"It is no mistake," whispered the Fairy, "that is the right tree."
"Eh? What?" said the King. "Oh, yes, so it is, so it is. At first, it
seemed to me that the syrup was not the same."
"Take some more," whispered the Wicked Fairy; and the King, still not
knowing there was a Wicked Fairy there, did so, this time taking a deep
draft.
"Bless my soul and body!" cried he this time. "I begin to feel very
strange, very strange indeed. I feel really light-headed."
He looked down at his shadow, but the shadow still was there, keeping
time with every motion, so that he felt much comforted.
"My shadow is just the same," said the King, "so everything must be all
right. But, dear me, what is the matter with my leg?"
The King had, in stepping back from the tree, caught his foot between
two roots, and now, instead of releasing his foot when he pulled at it,
he saw, to his great surprise, that he was stretching his leg out to
twice its natural length.
"Dear me!" he said, as he moved back and sat down on a log, looking in
curiosity at his leg, which was now about ten or perhaps eleven feet
long and much thinner than before. "Bless my soul and body! If I were
not the King and quite wide-awake, I should say that something was
happening to me, I should indeed. This impresses me as being most
extraordinary. Where is my shadow?" He looked around and there was the
shadow just the same, with its leg as long as his, which made the King
again feel very much better.
"It does not hurt," said the King, shaking his head; and the shadow also
shook its head to show that it was not in any pain.
"Take another drink," whispered the Wicked Fairy to the King.
"Well, if it does not hurt any," said the King to himself, "and since
the thing is so curious, I will take another sip of the syrup, I
believe." He did so, and this time his hand, which had rested on the
tree, remained there when he went back to the log to sit down, his arm
stretching out as long as his leg. This was very much to the King's
surprise. He gave a sharp jerk, and both arm and leg shortened as they
flew back quite as though they had been fast to a strong rubber cord. At
this the King perspired a trifle and moved away toward the other end of
the log, looking down at his hand and foot as he did so. To his great
surprise, as he sat down on the log, he felt himself gently bounce up
again in the air, and this was repeated each time as he struck the log,
so that it was some moments before he could really settle down. Even
then he felt very touchy and insecure, so that he scarcely dared draw a
long breath. Indeed, when at length he did draw a long breath, he found,
to his great surprise, that his chest swelled out like a small balloon,
so that he was more than three times as large around as he was before.
He was much alarmed at this, but smiled again when he saw that his
shadow was quite as large as himself.
"Bless my soul and body!" said the King to himself, "I wonder if they
will know me now. This is what I call great good fortune! The truth is
that I have always felt larger than I really looked, so I am very glad I
cut into this tree and got a taste of something to make me grow to my
real size. I have long looked for something of precisely this sort."
"Why not get up and dance?" asked the Wicked Fairy in his ear.
"Eh? What?" said the King. "Dance? Oh, yes, I certainly am happy enough
to dance at this new discovery. Indeed, my spirits have at no time felt
more elastic than at the present moment. So, since there is nothing to
prevent it, I think I will do a royal step or two to pass away the time
before breakfast."
[Illustration]