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Page 35
They both bowed, and although they still seemed somewhat frightened
they answered him civilly and in the same words, and closed their
doors at the same time.
So Prince Marvel and Nerle rode up the double path to the hills, and
the two cows became frightened and ran away with the same swinging
step, keeping an exact space apart. And when they were a safe
distance they both stopped, looked over their right shoulders, and
"mooed" at the same instant.
14. The Ki and the Ki-Ki
From the tops of the hills the travelers caught their first glimpse of
the wonderful cities of Twi. Two walls surrounded the cities, and in
the walls were two gates just alike. Within the inclosures stood many
houses, but all were built in pairs, from the poorest huts to the most
splendid palaces. Every street was double, the pavements running side
by side. There were two lamp-posts on every corner, and in the dim
twilight that existed these lamp-posts were quite necessary. If there
were trees or bushes anywhere, they invariably grew in pairs, and if a
branch was broken on one it was sure to be broken on the other, and
dead leaves fell from both trees at identically the same moment.
Much of this Marvel and Nerle learned after they had entered the
cities, but the view from the hills showed plainly enough that the
"double" plan existed everywhere and in every way in this strange land.
They followed the paths down to the gates of the walls, where two
pairs of soldiers rushed out and seized their horses by the bridles.
These soldiers all seemed to be twins, or at least mates, and each one
of each pair was as like the other as are two peas growing in the same
pod. If one had a red nose the other's was red in the same degree,
and the soldiers that held the bridles of Nerle's horse both had their
left eyes bruised and blackened, as from a blow of the same force.
These soldiers, as they looked upon Nerle and the prince, seemed fully
as much astonished and certainly more frightened than their prisoners.
They were dressed in bright yellow uniforms with green buttons,
and the soldiers who had arrested the prince had both torn their
left coat-sleeves and had patches of the same shape upon the seats
of their trousers.
"How dare you stop us, fellows?" asked the prince, sternly.
The soldiers holding his horse both turned and looked inquiringly at
the soldiers holding Nerle's horse; and these turned to look at a double
captain who came out of two doors in the wall and walked up to them.
"Such things were never before heard of!" said the two captains,
their startled eyes fixed upon the prisoners. "We must take them
to the Ki and the Ki-Ki."
"Why so?" asked Prince Marvel.
"Because," replied the officers, "they are our rulers, under grace
of the High Ki, and all unusual happenings must be brought to their
notice. It is our law, you know--the law of the Kingdom of Twi."
"Very well," said Marvel, quietly; "take us where you will; but if
any harm is intended us you will be made to regret it."
"The Ki and the Ki-Ki will decide," returned the captains gravely,
their words sounding at the same instant.
And then the two pairs of soldiers led the horses through the double
streets, the captains marching ahead with drawn swords, and crowds
of twin men and twin women coming from the double doors of the
double houses to gaze upon the strange sight of men and horses who
were not double.
Presently they came upon a twin palace with twin turrets rising high
into the air; and before the twin doors the prisoners dismounted.
Marvel was escorted through one door and Nerle through another, and
then they saw each other going down a double hallway to a room with a
double entrance.
Passing through this they found themselves in a large hall with two
domes set side by side in the roof. The domes were formed of stained
glass, and the walls of the hall were ornamented by pictures in pairs,
each pair showing identically the same scenes. This, was, of course,
reasonable enough in such a land, where two people would always look
at two pictures at the same time and admire them in the same way with
the same thoughts.
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