Animals -- Juvenile fiction; Fantasy literature; Human-animal communication -- Juvenile fiction; Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction
IN my long lifetime I have seen many grand and inspiring things, but
never anything that impressed me half as much as the sight of the
Whispering Rocks as they looked on the day King Jong was crowned. As
Bumpo, Chee-Chee, Polynesia, Jip and I finally reached the dizzy edge
of the great bowl and looked down inside it, it was like gazing over
a never-ending ocean of copper-colored faces; for every seat in the
theatre was filled, every man, woman and child in the island—including
Long Arrow who had been carried up on his sick bed—was there to see the
show.
Yet not a sound, not a pin-drop, disturbed the solemn silence of the
Whispering Rocks. It was quite creepy and sent chills running up and
down your spine. Bumpo told me afterwards that it took his breath away
too much for him to speak, but that he hadn’t known before that there
were that many people in the world.
Away down by the Table of the Throne stood a brand-new, brightly
colored totem-pole. All the Indian families had totem-poles and kept
them set up before the doors of their houses. The idea of a totem-pole
is something like a door-plate or a visiting card. It represents in its
carvings the deeds and qualities of the family to which it belongs.
This one, beautifully decorated and much higher than any other, was the
Dolittle or, as it was to be henceforth called, the Royal Thinkalot
totem. It had nothing but animals on it, to signify the Doctor’s great
knowledge of creatures. And the animals chosen to be shown were those
which to the Indians were supposed to represent good qualities of
character, such as, the deer for speed; the ox for perseverance; the
fish for discretion, and so on. But at the top of the totem is always
placed the sign or animal by which the family is most proud to be
known. This, on the Thinkalot pole, was an enormous parrot, in memory
of the famous Peace of the Parrots.
The Ivory Throne had been all polished with scented oil and it
glistened whitely in the strong sunlight. At the foot of it there had
been strewn great quantities of branches of flowering trees, which with
the new warmth of milder climates were now blossoming in the valleys of
the island.
Soon we saw the royal litter, with the Doctor seated in it, slowly
ascending the winding steps of the Table. Reaching the flat top at
last, it halted and the Doctor stepped out upon the flowery carpet. So
still and perfect was the silence that even at that distance above I
distinctly heard a twig snap beneath his tread.
Walking to the throne accompanied by the old man, the Doctor got up
upon the stand and sat down. How tiny his little round figure looked
when seen from that tremendous height! The throne had been made for
longer-legged kings; and when he was seated, his feet did not reach the
ground but dangled six inches from the top step.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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