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"Awful!" muttered Hoochafoo, as Chalulu finished
reading and rolled up the scroll. "Ridiculous! How
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can one small prince do all that? Or even half of
that? How-how? Why, he has done it! Look!
Look! The ball has flashed fire! He has actually
accomplished one of the feats. The prince is safe!
Ring the bells! Call the guards! Declare a holiday
at once! The prince is safe and alive and everything
will be punjanoobias." The Wise Man, as
Hoochafoo dashed hilariously to and fro, ringing
bells, throwing up windows and pulling back the curtains,
hurried anxiously after him.
"Remember, he has only passed one of the tests,"
wheezed Chalulu warningly. "There are still six
more ahead of him."
"Six more? Six more fiddlesticks! If he has accomplished
one, he will accomplish all. Don't you realize
that this means the prince is safe and well? Stay
here, you old skin and bones. Watch that ball while
I go and break the good tidings to our countrymen!"
Rushing out on the balcony Hoochafoo flung up his
arms and called out the happy news at the top of
his lungs. And soon the cheers and joyous shouts
of the Regalians rang from peak to peak so that the
goats stopped their grazing and pricking up their
ears turned their heads curiously toward the castle
on the purple mountain top.
CHAPTER 11
In the Castle of the Red Jinn
ALTHOUGH their dash through the air seemed
hours long to Randy and Kabumpo, just ten
minutes after they left the Quadling Country of Oz,
they had zipped over the Deadly Desert and come
crashing down in Ev. Before them stretched a green
and glassy sea and on the edge of the sea rose a
scintillating red glass palace. Without waiting for
them to rest or recover their breath, the Guide Post
Man, who seemed to have the strength of an army,
dragged them to the palace, up its hundred glittering
glass steps, through the doors and straight into the
throne room. As soon as they had reached the
throne, the Post Man dropped Randy's hand and
Kabumpo's trunk as suddenly as he had seized them,
and leaning wearily against a red glass pillar, closed
his eyes.
"Such manners!" raged the Elegant Elephant,
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pressing his trunk to his head, which was still spinning
giddily from the dizzy spin through the air.
"Such manners!"
"Well, at least he brought us here!" panted Randy,
pulling down his coat and smoothing back his pompadore.
"I told him to take us to the castle of the
Red Jinn and here we are. This must be his palace,
Kabumpo. Everything is red!" The floors of the
throne room were of smooth, transparent red glass;
curtains of strung red rubies twinkled pleasantly at
the windows and doors, and the tables, chairs and
other furnishings were of shining crimson lacquer.
A pleasant pink incense hung in the air and leading
to the throne was a double row of enormous red
vases. A smaller vase occupied the throne itself and
giving the Elegant Elephant a nudge Randy whispered
excitedly, "Look, look, there's the Red Jinn
himself."
"I see nothing but a big red jug," wheezed Kabumpo,
trying to focus his eyes on the throne. His
head was still going round like a top.
"Sh---hh, not so loud! If we want him to help us
we'll have to be careful!
"It's the Red Jinn, I tell you! Don't you see his
arms and legs?" But flying had put the Elegant
Elephant in a terrible temper and dragging his cloak
straight he muttered crossly:
"Help us! Why shouldn't he help us? I guess our
castle's as good as this, and I'm sure I'm as important
as he is! Hum, humph, ha!"
"Har! Har! Har!" Kabumpo and Randy exchanged
startled glances, for the muffled laughter
had come from the middle of the red vase. Then
up went the lid and out popped the round rosy face
of an exceedingly fat and jolly old gentleman. The
lid of the vase sat gaily on the back of his head like
a cap and except for his red glass eyes, he looked
quite kind, good-natured and grandfatherly. While
Randy was trying to think of something polite to
say, the old gentleman started the conversation himself
by crying in a cheery voice:
"Came by post, didn't you?" He paused to look
curiously at the Guide Post Man who opened one
eye, grinned and waved both arms at the Jinn. "Post
haste, ho, ho!" chuckled the little wizard delightedly.
"How long are you going to stay? I see you have
brought a trunk." Pursing his lips and leaning over
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so far that he almost fell out of his jug, the Red [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]