It happened, one morning, that the Monarch of Mo was not in his usual
pleasant humor; and, of course, there was an excellent reason for this.
At the back of his garden grew one tree that generally bore an abundant
crop of animal-crackers, and although the King and his court, being
surfeited with all the dainties of the land, did not care much for
these edibles, the younger inhabitants of Mo were especially fond of
them, and yelled with delight whenever the King divided the crop of his
tree among them.
A few days before the King had examined the tree and found the
animal-crackers not quite ripe. Whereupon he had gone away and
forgotten all about them. And, in his absence, they had ripened to a
delicious light brown; and their forms had rounded out, so that they
hung as thickly together as peas in a pod. As they swung from their
stems, swaying backward and forward in the light breeze, they waited
and waited for some one to come and pick them. But no one came near the
tree, and the animals grew cross and restless in consequence.
"I wonder when we shall be gathered," remarked a hippopotamus-cracker,
with a yawn.
"Oh, you wonder, do you?" mockingly replied a camel-cracker hanging
near, "do you really expect any one to gather _you_, with your thick
hide and clumsy legs? Why, the children would break their teeth on you
at the first bite."
"What!" screamed the hippopotamus, in much anger, "do you dare insult
_me_, you humpbacked beast of burden?"
"Now then--now then!" interrupted a wolf-cracker that hung from a stem
just above them; "what's the use of fighting, when we are so soon to be
eaten?"
But the camel-cracker would not be appeased.
"Thick-headed brute!" he yelled at the hippopotamus, angrily.
"Hump-backed idiot!" shrieked the other.
At this the camel swung himself fiercely on his branch, and bumped
against the hippopotamus, knocking him off from the tree. The ground
underneath was chocolate, and it was soft and sticky, not having dried
since the last rain. So when the hippopotamus fell he sank half way
into the ground, and his beautiful brown color was spattered with the
muddy chocolate.
At this vengeful deed on the part of the camel all the other animals
became furious. A full-grown goat-cracker swung himself against the
camel and knocked it, in turn, from its stem; and in falling on the
ground it broke its hump off. Then a lion-cracker knocked the goat
down, and an elephant knocked a cat down, and soon the whole tree was
in a violent commotion. The animals fought with each other so
desperately that before long the entire treeful of animal-crackers had
fallen to the ground, where many lay broken and disfigured, and the
remainder were sunk deep in the chocolate mud.
So when the King, finally remembering his tree, came and looked on the
sorry sight, it dampened his usual good spirits, and he heartily wished
he had picked the quarrelsome crackers before they began to fight among
themselves.
While he stood thinking dismally on this, up came Prince Fiddlecumdoo
and asked permission to go on a journey.
"Where do you wish to go?" asked the King.
"I am tired of this beautiful Valley," answered Fiddlecumdoo, "and as
the bicycle tree beside the Crystal Lake is now hanging full of ripe
wheels, I thought I would gather one and ride over into the next valley
in search of adventure." You see, this Prince was the King's youngest
son, and had been rather spoiled by petting, as youngest sons often
are.
"The next valley, my son, is inhabited by the giant Hartilaf," said the
King, "and should you meet him he might do you an injury."
"Oh, I am not afraid of Hartilaf," replied Fiddlecumdoo, boldly. "If he
should not be pleasant to me, I could run away from him on my wheel."
"I don't know about that," responded the King. "There may be bicycle
trees in the next valley, as well as here; and it is always dangerous
and foolish for any one to leave this Valley, where there is everything
that heart could wish. Instead of running away in search of adventures,
you would do better to remain at home and help your mother pick collar
buttons and neckties for the family."
"That is work," said Fiddlecumdoo, sulkily, "and I hate work."
"Yet somebody has to pick the collar buttons," returned the King, "or
we should be unable to keep our collars on."
"Then let Jollikin help my mother. I am horribly tired of this stupid
place, and shall not be happy until I have traveled around and seen
something more of the world."
"Well, well! go if you wish," answered the King, impatiently. "But take
care of yourself, for when you are away from this Valley there will be
no one to protect you from danger."
"I can take care of myself," cried the Prince, "so do not worry about
me," and he ran away quickly, before his father had time to change his
mind and withdraw his consent.
He selected the best and ripest bicycle on the tree, and, having
mounted it, was soon speeding away along the path to the mountains.
When he reached the far eastern part of Mo he came on a bush bearing a
very good quality of violins, and this at once attracted Fiddlecumdoo,
who was a most excellent violinist, being able to play correctly a
great number of tunes. So he dismounted and selected from the bush a
small violin that seemed to have a sweet tone. This he carried with
him, under his arm, thinking if he became lonesome he could amuse
himself with the music.
Shortly after resuming his journey he came to the Maple Plains, a level
stretch of country composed entirely of maple sugar. These plains were
quite smooth, and very pleasant to ride on; but so swiftly did his
bicycle carry him that he soon crossed the plains and came on a river
of pure maple syrup, so wide and deep that he could neither leap nor
swim it.
Dismounting from his bicycle the Prince began looking for some means of
crossing the river. No bridge was visible in either direction, and the
bank was bare save for a few low bushes on which grew maple bonbons and
maple caramels.
But Prince Fiddlecumdoo did not mean to be turned back by so small a
matter as a river, so he scooped a hole in the maple sand, and having
filled it with syrup from the river, lighted a match and began boiling
it. After it had boiled for a time the maple syrup became stringy, and
the Prince quickly threw a string of it across the river. It hardened
almost immediately, and on this simple bridge the Prince rode over the
stream.
Once on the other side he sped up the mountain and over the top into
the next valley, where, he stopped and began to look about him.
He could see no roads in any direction, but away down at the foot of
the valley was a monstrous house, so big you could easily put a small
village inside it, including the church. This, Fiddlecumdoo thought,
must be where the giant lived; and, although he saw no one about the
house, he decided to make a call and introduce himself to Mr. Hartilaf.
So he rode slowly down the valley, playing on his violin as he went,
that the music might announce his coming.
The giant Hartilaf was lying on the sofa in his sitting-room, waiting
for his wife to prepare the dinner; and he had nearly fallen asleep
when the sound of Fiddlecumdoo's music fell on his ear. This was so
unusual in his valley that the giant arose and went to the front door
to see what caused it.
The Prince had by this time nearly reached the house, and when the
giant appeared he was somewhat startled, as he had not expected to see
any one quite so big. But he took care not to show any fear, and,
taking off his hat, he bowed politely to the giant and said:
"This is Mr. Hartilaf, I suppose?"
"That is my name," replied the giant, grinning at the small size of his
visitor. "May I ask who you are?"
"I am Prince Fiddlecumdoo, and I live in the next valley, which is
called the Valley of Mo. Being determined to see something of the
world, I am traveling for pleasure, and have just dropped in on you for
a friendly call."
"You are very welcome, I am sure," returned the giant. "If you will
graciously step into my humble home I shall be glad to entertain you at
dinner."
Prince Fiddlecumdoo bowed low and accepted the invitation, but when he
endeavored to enter the house he found the steps so big that even the
first one was higher than his head, and he could not climb to the top
of it.
Seeing his difficulty the giant carefully picked him up with one finger
and his thumb, and put him down on the palm of his other hand.
"Do not leave my bicycle," said the Prince, "for should anything happen
to it I could not get home again."
So the giant put the bicycle in his vest pocket, and then he entered
the house and walked to the kitchen, where his wife was engaged
preparing the dinner.
"Guess what I've found," said the giant to his wife, holding his hand
doubled up so she could not see the Prince.
"I'm sure I don't know," answered the woman.
"But, guess!" pleaded the giant.
"Go away and don't bother me," she replied, bending over the stewpan,
"or you won't have any dinner to-day."
The giant, however, was in a merry mood, and for a joke he suddenly
opened his hand and dropped the Prince down his wife's neck.
"Oh, oh!" she screamed, trying to get at the place where the Prince had
fallen, which was near the small of her back. "What is it? I'm sure
it's some horrible crocodile, or dragon, or something that will bite
me!" And the poor woman lay down on the carpet and began to kick her
heels against the floor in terror.
The giant roared with laughter, but the Prince, now being able to crawl
out, scrambled from the lady's neck, and, standing beside her head, he
made a low bow and said:
"Do not be afraid, Madam; it is only I. But I must say it was a very
ungallant trick for your husband to play on you, to say nothing of my
feelings in the matter."
"So it was," she exclaimed, getting upon her feet again, and staring
curiously at Fiddlecumdoo. "But tell me who you are and where you came
from."
The giant, having enjoyed his laugh, now introduced the Prince to his
wife, and as dinner was ready to serve they sat down at the table
together.
Fiddlecumdoo got along very well at dinner, for the giant thoughtfully
placed him on the top of the table, where he could walk around as he
pleased. There being no knife nor fork small enough for him to use, the
Prince took one of the giant's toothpicks, which was as big as a sword,
and with this served himself from the various dishes that stood on the
table.
When the meal was over the giant lighted his pipe, the bowl of which
was as big as a barrel, and asked Fiddlecumdoo if he would kindly favor
them with some music.
"Certainly," replied the Prince.
"Please come into the kitchen," said the giantess, "for then I can
listen to the music while I am washing the dishes."
The prince did not like to refuse this request, although at home he was
not allowed to enter his mother's kitchen; so the giant carried him in
and placed him on a high shelf, where Fiddlecumdoo seated himself on a
spool of thread and began to play his violin.
The big people enjoyed the music very much at first, for the Prince was
a capital player. But soon came a disagreeable interruption.
About a month before the giant had caught several dancing-bears in the
mountains, and, having brought them home, had made them into strings of
sausages. These were hanging in graceful festoons from the beams of the
kitchen ceiling, awaiting the time when they should be eaten.
Now when the dancing-bear sausages heard the music of Fiddlecumdoo's
violin, they could not resist dancing; for it is well known that
sausages made from real dancing-bears can not remain quiet where there
is music. The Prince was playing such a lively tune, that presently the
strings of sausage broke away from the ceiling and fell clattering to
the floor, where they danced about furiously. Not being able to see
where they were going, they bumped against the giant and his wife,
thumping them on their heads and backs, and pounding them so severely
that the woman became frightened and hid under the table, while the
giant started to run away.
Seeing their plight, Fiddlecumdoo stopped playing, and at once the
sausages fell to the floor and lay still.
"That was strange," said the giant, as soon as he could catch his
breath; "the bears evidently do not forget how to dance even after they
are chopped up into sausage meat. I must beg you to abandon your
concert for the present, but before you visit us again we shall have
eaten the sausages, and then you may play to your heart's content."
"Had I known they were so lively," remarked the giantess, as she
crawled from beneath the table, "we should have eaten them before
this."
"That reminds me that I intended to have stewed polar bears for
supper," continued the giant; "so I think I will walk over into Alaska
and catch some."
"Perhaps the Prince would prefer elephant pie," suggested the lady,
"and in that case you might make a run into South America for
elephants."
"I have no choice in the matter," said the Prince, "never having eaten
either. But is it not rather a long journey to Alaska or to South
America?"
"Not at all!" protested the giant. "I shall enjoy the walk, and can
easily be back by sundown. Won't you come with me?" he asked the boy.
But Fiddlecumdoo did not like the idea of so long a journey, and begged
to be excused.
The giantess brought her lord a great bag to put the polar bears in,
and he prepared to start.
"I leave you to amuse my wife during my absence," he said to the
Prince. "Pray make yourself entirely at home, and use my castle as you
would your own house, and if I have good luck you shall eat a delicious
polar-bear stew for your supper."
Then he slung the sack across his back and went away, whistling
merrily. And so great were his strides that in less than a minute he
was out of sight.
"This is my busy day," said the giantess to Fiddlecumdoo, "and I fear I
shall not be able to entertain you in a proper manner, for I must
hasten to the laundry to wash the clothes. However, if you care to
accompany me, we may converse together while I am doing my work."
"I shall take great pleasure in visiting your laundry," he replied,
"for never before have I been in such a place. And surely it will be
more agreeable to watch you at your work than to spend the day alone in
these great rooms."
"Come along, then," she said, and picking him up she placed him in the
pocket of her apron, for she knew he would be unable to walk down the
flight of stairs that led to the laundry. He was very comfortable in
the pocket, which was just deep enough to allow his head and shoulders
to project from the top. Therefore he was able to see all that was
going on while the lady was at work. He watched her wash and rinse the
clothes, and was greatly interested in the operation, as it was all new
to him.
By and by the giantess brought an immense clothes-wringer from a shelf,
and having fastened it to the side of the big wash tub began to wring
out the clothes.
Prince Fiddlecumdoo had never seen a clothes-wringer before, and so
pleased was he with the novelty of it that he leaned far out of the
pocket to watch it work. But, unfortunately, he lost his balance, and
before he knew what had happened to him had fallen from the pocket and
lay sprawling on one of the giant's shirts, which was just then passing
through the wringer.
The woman did not notice his fall, and the next instant he was drawn
between the two great rollers, and came out on the other side as thin
and flat as a sheet of paper.
Then the giant's wife saw what she had done, and realizing how serious
was the Prince's condition, the good lady was much grieved over the
accident. She picked Fiddlecumdoo up and tried to stand him on his
feet, but he was so thin that at the least draft he fluttered like a
flag, while a puff of wind would blow him completely over.
"Dear me!" exclaimed the woman, sorrowfully, "whatever can we do with
you in that shape?"
"I really do not know what will become of me," replied the Prince. "I
am certainly no good in this condition. I can not even walk across the
room without toppling over. Can not you manage to push me together
again?" The giantess tried to do this, but the Prince was so sharp that
his edges hurt her hands, and all she could do was to fold him up and
carry him into the drawing-room, where she laid him carefully on the
center-table.
Just before sundown the giant returned from Alaska, bringing several
fat polar-bears in his bag; and scarcely had he set foot within the
house before he inquired after his guest, the Prince.
"You will find him on the drawing-room table," said the giantess. "I
accidently ran him through the clothes-wringer this afternoon, and the
poor boy is as thin as a pie crust. So I folded him up and put him away
until you returned."
The giant immediately went to the table and unfolded Fiddlecumdoo,
asking him how he felt.
"Very miserable," answered the Prince, "for I can not move at all when
I am folded up. Where is my bicycle?"
The giant searched all his pockets, but could not find it.
"I must have lost it on my journey to Alaska," he said.
"Then how am I ever to get home again?" asked the Prince.
"That is a puzzle," the giant responded, thoughtfully. "I do not see
how you could ride on a bicycle even if you had one, and you certainly
can not walk far in your present condition."
"Not if the wind blows," acknowledged the Prince.
"Couldn't you go edgewise?" asked the giant after a moment's
reflection.
"I might try," answered Fiddlecumdoo, hopefully.
So the giant stood him up, and he tried to walk edgewise. But whenever
a breath of wind struck him he fell over at once, and several times he
got badly crumpled up, so that the giant had to smooth him out again
with his hands.
"This certainly will not do at all," declared the giant; "for not only
are you getting wrinkled, but you are liable to be blown away;
altogether. I have just thought of a plan to get you back into the
Valley of Mo again, and when you are in your own country your friends
may get you out of the scrape the best way they can."
Hartilaf then made the Prince into a neat roll and tied a string around
the middle, to hold it in place. Then he tucked the roll under his arm
and carried it to the top of the mountain that stood between the two
valleys. Placing the Prince carefully on the ground he started him
rolling, and in a short time he had rolled down the mountain side into
the Valley of Mo.
At first the people were much frightened, not knowing what this strange
thing could be that had come rolling into their midst. They stood
around, curiously looking at the roll, but afraid to touch it, when
suddenly Fiddlecumdoo began to cry out. And then, so fearful was the
sound, they all ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.
Prince Thinkabit, however, being more courageous than the rest, at last
ventured to approach and cut the string that fastened the roll.
Instantly it opened, and to their amazement the people saw what it was.
"Upon my word, it is brother Fiddlecumdoo!" cried Prince Thinkabit.
"The giant must have stepped on him."
"No, indeed," said poor Fiddlecumdoo, "I've been run through a
clothes-wringer, which is much worse than being stepped on."
With many expressions of pity the kind people stood the Prince up and
helped him to the palace, where the King was greatly shocked at his sad
plight. Fiddlecumdoo was so broad that the only thing he could sit down
on was the sofa, and he was so thin that when Princess Pattycake
sneezed he was blown half way across the room.
At dinner he could eat nothing that was not sliced as thin as a
shaving, and so sad was his predicament that the King determined to ask
the Wise Donkey what could be done to relieve his unfortunate son.
After hearing all the particulars of the accident, the Donkey said:
"Blow him up."
"I did blow him up, for being so careless," replied the King; "but it
didn't make him any thicker."
"What I mean," explained the Donkey, "is to bore a hole in the top of
his head, and blow air into him until he resumes his natural shape.
Then, if he takes care of himself, he soon will be all right again."
So the King returned to the palace and bored a hole in Fiddlecumdoo's
head, and then pumped him full of air with a bicycle pump. When he had
filled out into his natural shape they put a plug in the hole, and
stopped it up; and after that Fiddlecumdoo could walk around as well as
before his accident.
His only danger now was that he might get punctured; and, indeed, his
friends found him one day lying in the garden, all flattened out again,
the Prince having pricked his finger on a rose-bush and thereby allowed
his air to escape. But they inflated him once again, and afterward he
was more careful of himself.
Fiddlecumdoo had such a horror of being flat that, if his father ever
wished to make him behave, he threatened to stick a pin into him, and
that always had the desired effect.
After several years, the Prince, being a hearty eater, filled up with
solid flesh, and had no further use for the air-pump; but his
experience had made him so nervous that he never again visited the
giant Hartilaf, for fear of encountering another accident.
_The Twelfth Surprise_