On the Isle of Un
"If you could just stop trembling," puffed the clown, trying to keep
out of the Cowardly Lion's way, "I think it would help."
"But how can I stop trembling when I am so frightened," complained the
lion, clutching the swaying net with all four paws.
"I'm frightened too!" wailed Bob, who was rolling and bouncing first
against one, then against the other.
"It seems to me you're shaking about a lot yourself," said the Cowardly
Lion reproachfully, as Notta dove suddenly into his ribs. "What are you
trying to do?"
"My disguise!" panted the clown, clutching at his chest. "If I could
only put on my disguise."
"Aho!" mumbled the Cowardly Lion, and stopped trembling long enough to
grin. But just then the balloon calmed down, and changing its course
sailed gently and levelly through the sky, so that the three huddled
together in the bottom were fairly comfortable.
"I guess U stands for Up. You surely bobbed up this time, didn't you?"
Notta winked merrily at the little orphan, and then peered curiously
through the holes in the net. "This reminds me of a balloon trip I once
made for the circus. Wonder where we'll land?"
"Are we to land at all?" sighed the Cowardly Lion unhappily. Two of his
legs had slipped through holes in the net and he was feeling uneasy and
uncomfortable. "Climb on me, Bob, my boy. It will be a little softer.
When you've been in Oz as long as I have, you'll take nothing for
granted." He looked mournfully at the clown who was that moment below
him.
"Then I'll just take it Oz is," laughed Notta. "Why, here's land now!
And we're slowing down." So they were, down--down--down, until they
were over a rocky island. When the net was almost resting on a little
green hill, it turned completely and suddenly upside down, and shook
them out with such violence that they rolled all the way to the bottom.
The Cowardly Lion jumped up first and hurriedly placed himself in front
of Bob. Though he was trembling even more than usual, he knew that he
was a better fighter than these helpless mortals. And that there would
be fighting he felt reasonably sure, for a great crowd was coming
noisily toward them.
Notta nervously jerked Bob to his feet and stood beside the Cowardly
Lion. There was no time for disguising. "We'll just start with rule
two," panted the clown, running his finger hurriedly 'round his collar.
"Let's be ex-tre-eemly polite. That's the way to meet strangers."
"All right," agreed the Cowardly Lion in a rather choked voice, "you
meet 'em with politeness, and if that fails, I'll meet 'em with
something else." He gnashed his teeth to keep them from chattering.
As the first of the company reached the foot of the hill Bob gave a
little scream, but Notta calmly stepped forward.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" began the clown in his best circus manner, "Let
me introduce you to the most famous lion in the world, the Cowardly
Lion of Oz, as brave as he is cowardly; allow me to present Bob Up,
the brightest little boy in the United States, and myself, a harmless
clown whose tricks have astonished the crowned heads of two continents.
Ladies and gentlemen, let--"
"Two creatures and a beast," called the leader of the company,
interrupting Notta in the middle of a sentence. "Two creatures and
a beast," repeated the others, staring dully at the newcomers. The
Cowardly Lion growled threateningly at this and Notta began running
over all the jokes that he knew. As for Bob, he was too amazed to do
anything but stare, for these were certainly the most curious beings he
had ever seen in his life.
To begin with, they had feathers instead of hair. These feathers were
small and fine and grew smoothly back from their foreheads, becoming
longer at the back and curling softly behind the ears. Their eyes were
perfectly round and their noses almost like bird beaks. Otherwise they
were the same as regular folks, except in their manner of walking, for
their feet turned in so much that they had to hop, putting one foot
down and then hopping over it. Before Notta could start a joke, the
leader of these singular creatures motioned to two behind him. They
immediately stepped forward, unfurling as they did so a large banner.
[Illustration: THE FEATHERHEADS OF UN]
"Unwelcome to Un," said the banner in crooked yellow letters.
"No use being polite then," rumbled the Cowardly Lion and, taking
matters into his own paws, he gave such a thundering roar that the very
ground trembled.
"Ginger poppa!" gasped the clown, almost as frightened as the
Featherheads. The effect on the crowd was simply breath-taking.
Beginning at the back of their necks, their feathers slowly rose
straight on end until each head looked like a huge and quivering
feather duster. The Cowardly Lion tried to roar again, but the best
that he could manage was a chuckle. Notta took one look, then fell up
against a tree and laughed until the tears rolled down his cheeks. Even
Bob giggled.
"Try 'em again," wheezed the Cowardly Lion. "I think they'll listen
to you now. Wiping his eyes on his sleeve, Notta stepped forward and
addressed the leader.
"Could you tell us a little about this interesting country of yours,
and the quickest way out of it?" he inquired politely. Slowly the
feathers on the heads of the crowd began to settle.
"'Taint a country, it's a skyle," answered the Featherhead, blinking
rapidly.
"A skyle?" repeated the clown, glancing doubtfully at the Cowardly
Lion, who appeared to be as puzzled as he was. "What is a skyle?" asked
Notta curiously.
"This is," snapped the leader disagreeably. "You're as ignorant as a
fish, aren't you?" Then as the Cowardly Lion gave a threatening growl
he continued grudgingly, "A skyle is an isle in the sky, and anyone who
has studied skyography ought to know that. I suppose you don't even
know what an isle is?" He looked contemptuously at the three strangers.
"I do. An isle is a small body of land entirely surrounded by water,"
cried Bob, delighted to find that geography was of some use after all.
"Well," said the Featherhead uneasily, "then I guess you'll understand
when I tell you that a skyle is a small body of land entirely
surrounded by air."
"Air!" spluttered Notta. "I say, how does one get off a skyle?"
"You'll soon find that out!" muttered the Featherhead, and all the
others began nodding and clucking for all the world like a company of
hens.
"What do you call yourselves?" asked the Cowardly Lion. Now that he
knew how to frighten them, he no longer felt afraid.
"We're Uns, we are, and nobody but Uns are allowed on this skyle. We'll
have to take you along to the palace and his royal Skyness will decide
what's to be done with you."
"Another king," groaned the clown.
"Isn't it time to run?" asked Bob, tugging at Notta's pantaloon, for
the Uns were drawing closer this time, paying no attention to the roars
of the Cowardly Lion.
"No use running, Bob. We might fall off. Perhaps this King is a better
fellow than his subjects.
"Take us to your King!" cried the clown, settling his cap determinedly.
Hopping and muttering, the Uns formed two crooked lines, and with the
three travelers in the center marched away to the palace. There were
many tall trees on the skyle of Un and, more remarkable still, every
tree had a rough boxlike structure built in its branches, like enormous
bird houses. They were reached by rough ladders and the Uns seemed
to be as much at home on the branches as on the ground. Some of the
women standing on lower branches were hanging clothes on upper ones as
calmly as ordinary folk string the washing up in the yard. But, as
Notta whispered to Bob, what could one expect of Featherheads?
The skyle itself was rocky and barren and there seemed to be no farms,
buildings nor industries of any kind. "What do you do here for a
living?" asked Notta, turning to the Un beside him.
"Fish, mostly," said the Un.
"What for?" asked the Cowardly Lion, treading on Notta's heels in his
eagerness to hear.
"Birds," sniffed the Un, looking over his shoulder scornfully. "What
did you think we'd fish for?"
"Oh, but you couldn't fish for birds," objected Bob Up, stopping short,
while Notta burst into a loud roar of laughter. The Un glared at all
three.
"The air's full of 'em," he announced sharply, and then, as the clown
continued to laugh immoderately, his feathers began to ruffle with rage.
"You're idiots!" he screamed, thrusting his sharp beak almost in
Notta's face. "Idiots!" echoed all the other Uns immediately. Several
trod on the clown's toes and, seeing that Bob was rather pale, Notta
hastily changed the subject. Not long after that they came to the
palace. To Bob it looked like a huge barn stuck between four trees.
It was about ten feet from the ground and from the top of each tree
fluttered a bright yellow flag bearing the word, UN.
The Cowardly Lion trembled a good deal as they went up the rickety
green ladder, but with a little help from Notta he managed it, and next
instant they were in the presence of the King.
"Two creatures and a beast, your Skyness!" announced the leader of the
delegation. Then stepping close to Notta he shouted at the top of his
voice, "His Majesty, I-wish-I-was, King of Un!" Notta's cap fell off
and he clapped his hand to his ear. The Cowardly Lion made a little
spring at the Un and had the pleasure of seeing the King's feathers
rise erect upon his head and wave to and fro.
"Approach, creatures and beast," commanded I-wish-I-was in a slightly
shaky voice. He was sitting on a high wooden perch, swinging his feet.
Grouped about him were a number of Uns in bright green uniforms that
exactly matched their feather hair. Notta made a deep bow and Bob and
the Cowardly Lion moved forward together.
"How did you come to come here?" asked I-wish-I-was, adjusting a pair
of huge spectacles on his terrible beak.
"We didn't come to come at all," said Notta hastily. "We were standing
under a tree, watching it knit--a very strange sight, your Skyness will
agree."
"Why shouldn't it knit?" snapped the King impatiently. "There's no law
against it, is there? In fact, if it were not for that tree, we'd be in
a pretty state for fishing nets."
"Well, we were caught in the tree's net, the net flew up and here we
are," finished Notta, determined not to quarrel if he could help it.
"A mighty poor catch, I call you," muttered the King complainingly. He
turned to his guard to see whether they agreed with him and they all
nodded so hard it made Bob dizzy.
"Are you willing to become Uns?" he asked gloomily.
"I'll not grow feathers for anybody," growled the Cowardly Lion,
shaking his paw at I-wish-I-was.
"Wait till you've tried," answered the King loftily. "But what I mean
is this: Each of you must do something unish, for we are all Uns here.
I'm unfair--any Un will tell you that. Bill, there," he pointed proudly
to the commander of the Guard, "Bill, he's ungrateful." Then he waved
to the Un beside him. "And Tom's unkind. See what I mean? We're all Uns
together." The King rubbed his clawlike hands gleefully.
"But I never heard of such a place!" gasped Notta.
"Of course not! Un's positively unheard of," confided the King,
smoothing back his feathers complacently. Bob's eyes grew rounder and
rounder, Notta swallowed, and the Cowardly Lion tilted one ear forward
to be sure he was hearing aright.
"Why, you're Uns already," said I-wish-I-was, with a mean little
chuckle.
"You," he pointed his long thin finger at Notta, "are unnatural. You,"
he pointed to the Cowardly Lion, "are unpleasant. And you," he wiggled
his finger teasingly at Bob, "you're uninteresting!"
"Thanks!" said the clown, taking off his cap.
"And besides that," cried I-wish-I-was, his voice rising to a shrill
squeak, "you're all uninvited."
"And bound to be unlucky," gurgled Bill of the Guard.
"And terribly unhappy," squealed another, dancing up and down.
"And terrifically uncomfortable," added a third. Hereupon the Uns began
hopping frantically about, each shouting something unish, till Bob
covered his ears and the Cowardly Lion began to lash his tail with fury.
"Stop! Stop!" shouted the clown, stamping his foot. "I believe this is
the unpleasantest island I've ever been on." Loud cheers from the Uns
interrupted him here. "And if you will tell us the way off we'll go at
once."
I-wish-I-was raised his claw for silence, pulled a pad from his pocket,
a long feather quill from his head and, dipping it in ink, wrote
something in a great hurry. This he handed to the Commander of the
Guard and Notta looking over his shoulder read, "Push them off at the
first opportunity." The Guard, not knowing that the clown had read
the message, bowed and began whispering to his comrades, while Notta
scratched his ear and wondered what he should do.
"Could your Skyness give us a bite to eat?" he asked presently. That,
he reflected, would give him time to think.
"Certainly not," answered the King, snapping his birdlike eyes. "If
you're hungry, go fish, the same as the rest of us do. Bill, give them
some rods." He winked wickedly at the green guardsman. Notta saw him
make a little push in the air. Bill with a chuckle winked back; then
brought three rods and reels and handed them to the clown.
"Oh!" cried Bob Up, "I'd love to go fishing!"
"Where do you fish around here?" asked Notta, wrinkling up his forehead.
"Just go to the edge of the skyle and drop your line over," said the
King, and nudged the Un nearest him. At this all the Uns began nudging
and winking first one eye and then the other.
"Come on," whispered Notta and, tucking the rods under his arm, ran
toward the door. The Cowardly Lion, in his haste to follow, fell all
the way down the ladder, but at a quick word from Notta jumped up, and
as Bob joined them they all started on a run for a little clump of
trees. "I tell you," puffed the clown, pausing at length to mop his
brow, "they are bad Uns, sure enough. They mean to push us off the
skyle. That's why they sent us fishing."
"Just let 'em try it!" roared the Cowardly Lion, shaking his mane. He
had skinned his knees in his fall down the ladder and was feeling quite
ready for a battle.
"But shall we go fishing or not?" asked the clown uncertainly. Bob Up
said nothing, but he looked wistfully at the fishing rods. Bob had
never been fishing in his life, and even the thought of being pushed
off the skyle did not seem as dreadful as being deprived of this
pleasure. Notta saw the look.
"I'm hungry as a lion," said the clown suddenly, "and we've lost
Mustafa's packets somewhere between Oz and Un."
"Well, you're not as hungry as this lion," rumbled the Cowardly Lion,
with a wink at Bob. "It must be long past noon. Let's risk it. You
fish and I'll watch, and if any of these Uns start pushing us--." The
Cowardly Lion gave a roar and shook his paw threateningly at the palace
of I-wish-I-was.