Across the mountains at the north of the Valley of Mo there reigned a
wicked King named Scowleyow, whose people lived in caves and mines and
dug iron and tin out of the rocks and melted them into bars. These bars
they then carried away and sold for money.
King Scowleyow hated the Monarch of Mo and all his people, because they
lived so happily and cared nothing for money; and he would have sent
his army into the Valley to destroy the merry people who dwelt there
had he not been afraid of the sharp swords that grew on their trees,
which they knew so well how to use against their foes.
So King Scowleyow pondered for a long time how to destroy the Valley of
Mo without getting hurt himself; and at last he hit on a plan he
believed would succeed.
He put all his mechanics to work and built a great man out of
cast-iron, with machinery inside of him. When he was wound up the
Cast-iron Man could roar, and roll his eyes, and gnash his teeth and
march across the Valley, crushing trees and houses to the earth as he
went. For the Cast-iron Man was as tall as a church and as heavy as
iron could make him, and each of his feet was as big as a barn.
It took a long time to build this man, as you may suppose; but King
Scowleyow was so determined to ruin the pretty Valley of Mo that he
made his men work night and day, and at last the Cast-iron Man was
ready to be wound up and sent on his journey of destruction.
They stood him on the top of the mountain, with his face toward the
Beautiful Valley, and began to wind him up. It took a hundred men a
whole week to do this; but at last he was tightly wound, and the wicked
King Scowleyow stood ready to touch the spring that made him go.
"One--two--three!" said the King, and touched the spring with his
ringer.
The Cast-iron Man gave so terrible a roar that he even frightened the
men who had made him; and then he rolled his eyes till they flashed
fire, and gnashed his teeth till the noise sounded like thunder.
The next minute he raised one great foot and stepped forward, crushing
fifty trees that stood in his path, and then away he went, striding
down the mountain, destroying everything that stood in his way, and
nearing with every step the Beautiful Valley of Mo.
The King and his people were having a game of ball that day, and the
dog was acting as umpire. Suddenly, just as Prince Jollikin had made a
home run and everybody was applauding him, a terrible roaring noise
sounded in their ears, and they heard a great crashing of trees on the
mountain side and saw a monstrous man approaching the Valley.
The people were so frightened they stood perfectly still, being unable
to move through surprise and terror; but the dog ran with all his might
toward the mountain to see what was the matter. Just as the dog reached
the foot of the mountain the Cast-iron Man came tramping along and
stepped into the Valley, where he ruined in one instant a large bed of
lady-fingers and a whole patch of ripe pumpkin pies. Indeed, the entire
Valley would soon have been destroyed had not the Cast-iron Man stubbed
his toe against the dog and fallen flat on his face, where he lay
roaring and gnashing his teeth, but unable to do any further harm.
Presently the King and his people recovered from their fright and
gathered around their prostrate foe, marveling at his great size and
strength.
"Had you not tripped him up," said the King to the dog, "this giant
would certainly have destroyed my kingdom. Who do you suppose was so
wicked as to send this monster to crush us?"
"It must have been King Scowleyow," declared the dog, "for no one else
would care to harm you, and the giant came from the direction of the
wicked King's country."
"Yes," replied the monarch, thoughtfully, "it must indeed have been
Scowleyow; and it was a very unkind act, for we never harmed him in any
way. But what shall we do with this great man? If he is left here he
will scare all the children with his roarings, and none of the ladies
will care to walk near this end of the Valley. He is so heavy that not
all of us together could lift him, and even if we succeeded we have no
place to put him where he would be out of the way."
This was indeed true; so all the people sat down in a circle around the
Cast-iron Man and thought upon the matter intently for the space of an
hour.
Then the monarch asked, solemnly, as became the importance of the
occasion:
"Has any one thought of a way to get rid of him?"
The people shook their heads gravely and thought deeply for another
hour. At the end of that time the dog suddenly laughed, and called out
in a voice so loud that it startled them:
"I have thought of a way!"
"Good!" exclaimed the King. "Let us hear your plan."
"You see," explained the dog, "the Cast-iron Man is now lying on his
face. If we could only roll him over on to his back, and then raise him
to his feet again, he would be turned around, and would march straight
back to where he came from, and do us no further harm."
"That is a capital idea," replied the King. "But how can we roll him
over, or make him stand up?"
That puzzled them all for a while, but by and by Prince Thinkabit, who
was a very clever young man, announced his readiness to undertake the
job.
"First, bring me a feather," commanded the Prince.
The royal chamberlain hunted around and soon found for him a long,
fluffy feather. Taking this in his hand the Prince approached the
Cast-iron Man and tickled him under the left arm with the end of the
feather.
"Ouch!" said the Cast-iron Man, giving a jump and rolling completely
over, so that he lay on his back.
"Hurrah!" cried the people, clapping their hands with joy at this
successful stratagem; "the Prince is a very wise Prince, indeed!"
Prince Thinkabit took off his hat and bowed politely to them in return
for the compliment. Then he said:
"Bring me a pin."
So Nuphsed brought him a pin with a very sharp point, and the Prince
took it and walked up to the Cast-iron Man, and gave him a sharp prod
in the back with the point of the pin.
"Ouch!" again yelled the Cast-iron Man, giving at the same time such a
great jump that he leaped square on his feet. But now, to their joy,
they saw he was facing the mountains instead of the Valley.
As soon as the Cast-iron Man stood up the machinery began to work
again, and he marched with great steps up the mountain side and over
into the kingdom of the wicked Scowleyow, where he crushed the King and
all his people, and laid waste the land wherever he went.
And that was their punishment for being envious of the good people of
Mo.
As to the fate of the Cast-iron Man, he was wound up so tightly that he
kept walking straight on until he reached the sea, where he stepped
into the water, went down to the bottom, and stuck fast in the mud.
And I have no doubt he is there to this day.
_The Seventh Surprise_