The Joyous Story of Toto Part 5

"At the same moment the bogghun stopped; and out from the surrounding coppice rushed the Princess Panka and her attendants.

"'Where is my mola.s.ses candy?' asked the bogghun. Three of the attendants presented him with three one-pound packages; and thus in a moment I understood the whole villanous plot. The Princess Panka rushed to where Polpetti lay, and s.n.a.t.c.hed the golden nose-ring from her lovely nose. Fastening it in her own hideous snub, she sprang to her feet with a shrill yell of triumph. 'At last!' she cried,--'at last I have it!'

"'Hideous witch!' I exclaimed. 'You have no nose to wear it in! You are uglier than the blue-faced monkey, or the toad with three tails.

The very sight of you makes the leaves drop off the trees with horror.

You odious, squint-eyed--'

"'Catch that parrot!' shrieked the enraged Panka. 'Wring that parrot's neck! Pull his feathers out! Let me get at him!'

"I rose in the air, and flying round her head, continued--'Snub-nosed, monkey-faced, bald-headed [this adjective was not exactly correct, but I was too angry to choose my words], hump-backed _Ant-eater_!!!'

and with the last word, the most opprobrious epithet that can be applied to an African, I gave the creature a peck in the face that sent her tumbling over backwards, and flew off among the trees. A storm of arrows followed me, but I escaped unhurt, and flying rapidly, was soon far away from the spot."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'Hideous witch!' I exclaimed."]

Here the parrot paused to take breath, having become quite excited in telling her story.

"Ahem!" said the woodchuck. "May I be permitted to ask a question, Miss Mary?"

"Certainly," replied the parrot graciously. "What is it, Woodchuck?"

"Did I understand," said the woodchuck cautiously, "that the bogghun _never_ takes his tail out of his mouth?"

"Never!" replied the parrot. "Never, upon any occasion!"

"Then how," asked Chucky, "did he eat the mola.s.ses candy?"

"Woodchuck," said the parrot, with great severity, "the question does credit neither to your head nor to your heart. I decline to answer it!"

The woodchuck looked sulky, and scratched his nose expressively. The racc.o.o.n, who had been on the point of asking the same question himself, frowned at him, and said he was ashamed of him. "Pray continue your story, Miss Mary!" said he. "I a.s.sure you we are all, with perhaps _one_ exception [the woodchuck sniffed audibly], quite faint with excitement and suspense. What became of you after the Princess's death?"

"I remained in the forest," said the parrot. "I could not go back to the village without the Princess; the King would have put me to death if I had made my appearance.

"For some time I lived alone, a.s.sociating as little as possible with the uneducated birds of the forest. At length, finding my life very solitary, I accepted the claw and heart of a rich and respectable green parrot, who offered me a good home and the devotion of a life-time. With him I pa.s.sed several quiet and happy years; but finally we were both surprised and captured by a band of American sailors, who had penetrated to this distance in the forest in search of ivory. They treated us kindly, and carried us miles and miles till we came to a river, where other sailors were waiting with a boat. In this we embarked, and after rowing for several days, came to the mouth of the river, near which their s.h.i.+p was waiting for them.

"In the confusion of boarding, my husband managed to make his escape.

He flew back to the sh.o.r.e, calling to me to follow him; but, alas! I was too closely guarded, and I never saw him again. He was a very worthy parrot, and a kind husband, though sometimes greedy in the matter of snails."

The parrot sighed, meditated for a few moments, with her head on one side, on the virtues of her departed lord, and then continued,--

"My life on board s.h.i.+p was a very pleasant one. Petted and caressed by the sailors, I soon lost my shyness, and became once more accustomed to the society of men. I learned English quickly, and could soon whistle 'Yankee Doodle' and 'Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue.' One phrase I objected very much to repeating, 'Polly wants a cracker.' I disliked crackers extremely, and could not endure the name of Polly; but for some time I could not get anything to eat without making this stupid remark.

"One day I received a shock which nearly caused me to faint. I was sitting on the taffrail, watching two of my particular friends, Joe Brown and Simeon Plunkett, who were splicing ropes. They always spliced better, I noticed, when my eye was on them. They were talking about some adventure in the forest, and suddenly I caught the words, 'golden nose-ring.' I had been half dozing; but this roused me at once, and I began to listen with all my ears."

"How many ears has she?" growled the woodchuck, in a low tone.

"Twenty-five," replied the racc.o.o.n, in the same tone. "They are invisible to idiots, which is probably the reason why you have never noticed them."

"'How did you get that nose-ring?' asked Joe Brown. 'You have begun to tell me once or twice, and something has always stopped you. Were there many of them lying around? I shouldn't mind having that myself.'

"Judge of my feelings when Simeon Plunkett, before replying, pulled out from the breast of his flannel s.h.i.+rt a huge golden ring, set with jewels,--_the_ identical golden nose-ring which had caused the death of my lovely Princess. I shuddered, and came very near falling from the taffrail; but, composing myself, I listened eagerly, and heard Simeon tell the other how, as he and his mates were returning to their boat (he had been with a second exploring party sent out from the s.h.i.+p), they found a well, and stopped to fish in it."

"To fish in a well?" interrupted Bruin. "What did they do that for?"

"To see what they could catch," replied the parrot. "What do people fish for in this country?

"The first thing they caught was the body of a young woman, with this golden ring in her nose. Her feet were up, and her head was down; and altogether, Simeon said, it was very evident that, in stooping over either to drink or to admire her beauty in the well, the weight of the ring had overbalanced her, and caused her to fall in.

"When I heard this news I flapped my wings and crowed, to the great astonishment of the two sailors. My enemy was dead, and Polpetti avenged. My joy was great, and I wanted to thank Simeon Plunkett for being the bearer of such good news; so I perched on his knee, and sang him the sweetest song I knew,--a song which had often brought tears to the eyes of my lost husband. But he only said, 'Princess [they all called me Princess, I should observe], if any other bird made such a row as that, I'd wring its neck.' The Americans, I find, have absolutely _no_ ear for music.

"We reached America after a pleasant and prosperous voyage.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "But he only said, 'Princess, if any other bird made such a row as that, I'd wring its neck.'"]

"After that my adventures may be told in a few words. Joe Brown presented me, as a great treasure, to the captain's wife, Mrs. Jeremy Jibb; but I found her a most unpleasant person to live with. She kept me in a cage,--a tin cage,--me, the favorite companion of the Princess Royal of Central Africa! She fed me on crackers, called me Polly all the time, and treated me in a most degrading manner generally. If I had been a canary-bird, her manner could not have been more insufferably patronizing. After enduring this life for several weeks, I managed to make my escape one day while Mrs. Jibb was cleaning my cage. After a long flight, I reached this forest, in whose pleasant retirement I have remained ever since. Here I find society and snails, both of excellent quality; and, with these, what more does one require? And here I hope to pa.s.s the remainder of my days."

The parrot's story, with the various pauses and interruptions, had occupied a good deal of time; and when it was finished the party broke up, promising to rea.s.semble on the following day. Before they separated, Toto asked, as usual, who was to tell the next story.

"Tell it yourself, Toto," said the wood-pigeon; and all the rest chimed in, "Yes, Toto shall tell the next himself." So it was settled; and they all shook paws, and departed.

CHAPTER V.

The next day it rained, so the party of friends did not a.s.semble as usual. The bear stayed in his cave, sucking his paw, and listening to the chatter of the squirrel, who came to spend the day with him. The racc.o.o.n, after one look at the weather, curled himself up in his tree-house and went to sleep. As for the woodchuck, he never woke up at all, for n.o.body came to wake him, and he could not do it for himself.

Poor Toto was very disconsolate. He never stayed indoors for an ordinary rain, but this was a perfect deluge; so he stood by the window and said, "Oh, dear! oh, _dear_!! oh, DEAR!!!" as if he did not know how to say anything else.

His good grandmother bore this quietly for some time; but at length she said, "Toto, do you know what happened to the boy who said 'Oh, dear!' too many times?"

"No!" said Toto, brightening up at the prospect of a story. "What did happen to him? Tell me, Granny, please!"

"Come and hold this skein of yarn for me, then," replied the grandmother, "and I will tell you as I wind it.

"Once upon a time there was a boy--"

"What was his name?" interrupted Toto.

"Chimborazo," replied the grandmother. "I should have told you his real name in a moment, if you had not interrupted me, but now I shall call him Chimborazo, and that will be something for you to remember."

Toto blushed and hung his head.

"This boy," continued the grandmother, "invariably put the wrong foot out of bed first when he got up in the morning, and consequently he was always unhappy."

"May I speak?" murmured Toto softly.

"Yes, you may speak," said the old lady. "What is it?"