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Page 67
[Illustration]
The king came, with his three body-guards marching in front. The first
guard was a wild savage with bare legs, and a gnat stung him on the
knee, which made the second guard laugh so much that the third one who
carried the candles had a chance to eat a penny-dip, without any person
seeing him. The king rode in his chariot, drawn by two wasps. He was a
very warm gentleman, and not only carried a parasol to keep off the
sun, but the head ninny-hammer squirted water on the small of his back
to keep him cool.
[Illustration]
The court tailor rode on a goat, and he carried his shears and the
goose he ironed with. He balanced himself pretty well until a bird sat
on his queue, and that bent him over backward so that he nearly fell
off.
The queen also came; she was bigger than the king and had to have cats
to draw her chariot. The cats fought a good deal, but the driver, who
was a mouse, managed to get them along. The footman was also a mouse,
and the queen had two pet mice that sat at her feet or played with her
scepter. After the queen came the chief jumping jack, who did funny
tricks with bottles as he danced along.
[Illustration]
Then came the ladies of the court. They sat in nautilus shells, which
were each borne by two bearers. The first shell went along nicely, but
the men who carried the second were lazy and the lady beat them with a
hair-brush. As for the bearers of the last shell, they had a fight and
took their poles to beat each other, leaving their shell, with the
lady in it, on the ground. She didn't mind, for she thought that if
they went off and left her, she wouldn't have to do any spelling. So
she stayed in her shell and smiled very contentedly.
[Illustration]
The town bell-man walked along in grand state ringing his bell, and the
cock-who-could-n't-walk rode on a wheelbarrow and crowed by note. The
old ram wheeled the barrow, in which was also a basket containing the
hen and chickens. The smallest chicken tried to crow in tune with his
father, but nobody could hear whether he crowed right or wrong--and
what is more, nobody cared.
The monkey didn't walk, but was carried in a bucket by a mountaineer,
and he blew peas through a tube at the palace steward who was having
his hair combed by the court barber. It was so late that the barber had
to hurry, and so he used a rake instead of a comb. The steward did not
like this, but there was so little time that nothing else could be
done, for the procession was already moving.
[Illustration]
There was a lion who lived at the Town-hall. He was very wise, and his
business was to bite criminals. When he heard about the bee he thought
he would have to go, but the moment he showed himself in the street all
the relatives of the criminals got after him. The wasps stung him, a
game-cock pecked at him, a beetle nipped him, a dog barked at him, an
old woman ran after him with a broom, a wooden-legged soldier pursued
him with a sword, a rat gave chase to him, while a rabbit took down his
shot-gun and cried out, fiercely, that he would blow the top of that
old lion's head off, if he could only get a fair crack at him.
[Illustration]
Two of the liveliest animals in the town were the donkey and the old
cow. They went to the bee, but they danced along as if they didn't care
at all whether they spelled cat with a _c_ or a _k_. They each had two
partners. The donkey had two regular danseuses, but the cow had to
content herself with the court librarian and the apothecary.
[Illustration]
Out in the green grass where the company assembled there were a lot of
grasshoppers and little gnats. The grasshoppers said to each other, "We
can't put letters together to make words, so let us dance for a spell,"
which they did,--all but one poor young creature who had no partner,
and who sat sorrowfully on one side, while the others skipped gayly
about.
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