The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo and His PeopleBaum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)
Science
The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo and His People
Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)
Dragons -- Juvenile fiction; Fantasy literature; Kings and rulers -- Juvenile fiction; Magic -- Juvenile fiction
There happened to be a strong south wind blowing and, fearing the kite
might get away from him, Zingle tied the string around his waist. It
flew beautifully at first, but pulled so hard the Prince could scarcely
hold it.
At last, when the string was all let out, there came a sudden gust of
wind, and in an instant poor Zingle was drawn into the air as easily as
an ordinary kite draws its tail. Up and up he soared, and the kite
followed the wind and carried him over many countries until the
strength died out of the air, when the kite slowly settled toward the
earth and landed the Prince in the top of a tall tree.
He now untied the string from his waist and fastened it to a branch of
the tree, as he did not wish to lose the kite after all his bother in
making it.
Then he began to climb down to the ground, but on reaching the lower
branches he was arrested by a most curious sight.
Standing on the ground, and gazing up at him, were a dozen monkeys, all
very neatly dressed and all evidently filled with surprise at the
Prince's sudden appearance in the tree.
"What a very queer animal!" exclaimed an old monkey, who wore a tall
silk hat and had white kid gloves on his hands. Gold spectacles rested
on his nose, and he pointed toward the Prince with a gold-headed cane.
By his side was a little girl-monkey, dressed in pink skirts and a blue
bonnet; and when she saw Zingle she clung to the old monkey's hand and
seemed frightened.
"Oh, grandpapa!" she cried; "take me back to mamma; I'm afraid the
strange beast will bite me."
Just then a big monkey, wearing a blue coat with brass buttons and
swinging a short club in his hand, strutted up to them and said:
"Don't be afraid, little one. The beast can't hurt you while I'm
around!" And then he tipped his cap over his left ear and shook his
club at the Prince, as if he did not know what fear meant.
Two monkeys, who were dressed in red jackets and carried muskets in
their hands, now came running up, and, having looked at Zingle with
much interest, they called for some one to bring them a strong rope.
"We will capture the brute and put him in the Zoo," said one of the
soldier-monkeys.
"What kind of animal is it?" asked the other.
"I do not know. But some of our college professors can doubtless tell,
and even if they can't they will give it some scientific name that will
satisfy the people just as well."
All this time Prince Zingle remained clinging to the branches of the
tree. He could not understand a word of the monkey language, and
therefore had no idea what they were talking about; but he judged from
their actions that the monkeys were not friendly. When they brought a
long and stout rope, and prepared to throw one end of it over his head,
in order to capture him, he became angry and called out to them:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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