The City Curious Part 4

"Dear, dear, and only one eye?" asked Smaly.

"Yes," said the Crow, "only one eye, so she sees only one side of men, birds, and things."

"What does she live on?" asked Redy, with a woman's interest in practical matters.

The Crow replied, "Oh, on candy and caterpillars and sweets and flies, just as you and I do."

"I don't," said Smaly.

"Nor I," said Redy.

The Crow gazed at them with some disgust.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MOTHER OF THE CROW]

"No, I suppose you live on suet, mutton fat, and oil," he replied, and once again turned his back.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "SHE SEES ONLY ONE SIDE OF MEN, BIRDS, AND THINGS"]

Again Redy tried to detain him; but this time the Crow said he must leave because he had something to write in his diary.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THESE CREATURES DID NOT RESEMBLE ANYTHING THAT REDY AND SMALY HAD SEEN UP TO THEN

_Page 19_]

Smaly asked again why they could not have three sweet little girls.

Putting on his spectacles the Crow replied, "Because there aren't any."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER III

The Short-Legged Man with the musical voice: Smaly and Redy again declare they are travelling to find three little girls: Papylick puts Smaly and Redy in two boats made out of nutsh.e.l.ls.

At this moment a short-legged little man came up to them, upon whose wig was perched a little round hat trimmed with a single rose. A box hung at his side, and upon this box was inscribed the word "SOY."

The Short-Legged Man had a voice so faint it was almost a whisper. It was as musical and delicate as a fiddle heard playing from a great distance. This little man whispered:

"What do we know About boys and girls?

They have no feathers nor wings, They are made of marzipan, They have no claws nor beak, They are everything that is sweet."

Smaly and Redy replied at once:

"We wish to have three girls, Fine, sweet, pink, and good.

They shall have more pudding than they like, And a green, green, and rosy garden."

The Short-Legged Man said, "It won't do."

"Why?" asked Redy.

"Because they should have _three_ green, green, and rosy gardens."

"They shall have," said both the little man and his wife.

"It still won't do," said the Short-Legged Man.

"Why?"

"Because they can't leave this country."

There was a sad moment whilst Smaly and Redy thought of the little white house and the three bedrooms. Then they answered together:

"We'll make their gardens here."

"Come and talk to the Chief," said the Short-Legged Man.

But Redy was hungry and so tired she could not walk. The Crow, instead of helping, flew away. He hadn't really got to write anything in a diary, but he had to carry a girl called Fritilla to the tennis-ground, where a lot of young people were going to play tennis.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SHORT-LEGGED MAN]

Fritilla was a pretty, fair girl with green eyes, whom the Crow had to look after. She was one of the three daughters of the Prisoner, of whom I will tell you later.

But the Short-Legged Man took pity on Redy, and he shouted with his delicious voice out of his froglike mouth, "Papylick!" and this name was repeated as long as the Short-Legged Man did not put his spoonlike finger on his lips.

Papylick arrived with his name written on his boots, which were yellow as toffee, and had no laces. This Papylick was made of slices of different coloured cake, and he, too, carried a box with the word "SOY"

inscribed upon it, a word which began to interest Smaly, though he was determined not to betray his interest.

Papylick had a nut in one hand, and opening it he put Redy inside and shut it up again.

Smaly, too, was tired, and thinking it much better for him also to be carried, he said:

"Papylick, my dear Papylick," and immediately shut his mouth again with the first finger of his left hand.

Papylick opened another nut and placed Smaly inside it, then the Short-Legged Man put both nuts in his pocket.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PAPYLICK]

Now Smaly and Redy could not see the country they were being carried through because the nuts were closed; but Papylick had thought of this, and so the landscapes were painted complete in every detail inside the nuts.