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Page 46
"Better hang 'em to a tree, little one," shouted Wul-Takim, in his big
voice; "they won't enjoy life much, anyhow."
But the maid shook her pretty head and turned to the prince.
"Will you stay here and help me to rule my kingdom?" she asked.
"I can not do that," replied Prince Marvel, "for I am but a wandering
adventurer and must soon continue my travels. But I believe you will
be able to rule your people without my help."
"It is not so easy a task," she answered, sighing. "For I am singular
and my people are all double."
"Well, let us hold a meeting in your palace," said the prince,
"and then we can decide what is best to be done."
So they dismissed the people, who cheered their High Ki enthusiastically,
returning quietly to their daily tasks and the gossip that was sure to
follow such important events as they had witnessed.
The army of King Terribus and the fifty-nine reformed thieves went to
the twin palaces of the Ki and the Ki-Ki and made merry with feasting
and songs to celebrate their conquest. And the High Ki, followed by
the prince, Nerle, King Terribus and Wul-Takim, as well as by the Ki
and the newly-appointed Ki-Ki, mounted the silver steps and passed
over the wall to the royal palaces. The green High Ki followed them,
still weeping disconsolately.
When they had all reached the throne-room, the High Ki seated herself
on one of the beautiful thrones and said:
"By some strange chance, which I am unable to explain, my twin and I
have become separated; so that instead of thinking and acting alike,
we are now individuals--as are all the strange men who have passed
through the hole in the hedge. And, being individuals, we can no
longer agree, nor can one of us lawfully rule over the Kingdom of Twi,
where all the subjects are twins, thinking and acting in unison."
Said Prince Marvel:
"Your Highness, I alone can explain why you became separated from your
twin. By means of a fairy enchantment, which I learned years ago, I
worked upon you a spell, which compelled your brain to work
independent of your sister's brain. It seems to me that it is better
each person should think her own thoughts and live her own life,
rather than be yoked to another person and obliged to think and act as
a twin, or one-half of a complete whole. And since you are now the
one High Ki, and the acknowledged ruler of this country, I will agree
to work the same fairy spell on all your people, so that no longer
will there be twin minds in all this Land of Twi."
"But all the cows and dogs and horses and other animals are double, as
well as the people," suggested the old Ki, blinking their little eyes
in amazement at the thought of being forever separated from each other.
"I can also work the spell upon all the twin animals," said the
prince, after a moment's hesitation.
"And all our houses are built double, with twin doors and windows and
chimneys, to accommodate our twin people," continued the High Ki.
"And the trees and flowers--and even the blades of grass--are all
double. And our roads are double, and--and everything else is double.
I alone, the ruler of this land, am singular!"
Prince Marvel became thoughtful now, for he did not know how to
separate trees and flowers, and it would be a tedious task to separate
the twin houses.
"Why not leave the country as it is?" asked King Terribus of Spor.
"The High Ki is welcome to come to my castle to live, and then she
need no longer bother about the Land of Twi, which seems to me a poor
place, after all."
"And your sister may come with me to my cave, and be the queen of the
reformed thieves, which is a much more important office than being
High Ki of Twi," added big Wul-Takim, who had placed the maiden in
green upon a cushion at his feet, and was striving to comfort her by
gently stroking her silken hair with his rough hand.
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