15. The High Ki of Twi
"Tell me, Prince, are we awake or asleep?" asked Nerle, as soon as theywere alone.
"There is no question of our being awake," replied the prince, with alaugh. "But what a curious country it is--and what a funny people!"
"We can't call them odd or singular," said the esquire, "for everythingis even in numbers and double in appearance. It makes me giddy to lookat them, and I keep feeling of myself to make sure there is still onlyone of me."
"You are but half a boy!" laughed the prince--"at least so long as youremain in the Land of Twi."
"I'd like to get out of it in double-quick time," answered Nerle; "andwe should even now be on the other side of the hedge were it not forthat wicked pair of Ki-Ki, who are determined to kill us."
"It is strange," said the prince, thoughtfully, "that thefierce-looking old Ki should be our friends and the gentle Ki-Ki ourenemies. How little one can tell from appearances what sort of heartbeats in a person's body!"
Before Nerle could answer the two doors opened and two pairs ofsoldiers entered. They drew two small tables before the prince and twobefore Nerle, and then other pairs of twin soldiers came and spreadcloths on the tables and set twin platters of meat and bread and fruiton each of the tables. When the meal had been arranged the prisonerssaw that there was enough for four people instead of two; and thesoldiers realized this also, for they turned puzzled looks first on thetables and then on the prisoners. Then they shook all their twin headsgravely and went away, locking the twin doors behind them.
"We have one advantage in being singular," said Nerle, cheerfully; "andthat is we are not likely to starve to death. For we can eat theportions of our missing twins as well as our own."
"I should think you would enjoy starving," remarked the prince.
"No; I believe I have more exquisite suffering in store for me, since Ihave met that gentle pair of Ki-Ki," said Nerle.
While they were eating the two captains came in and sat down in twochairs. These captains seemed friendly fellows, and after watching thestrangers for a while they remarked:
"We are glad to see you able to eat so heartily; for to-morrow you willprobably die."
"That is by no means certain," replied Marvel, cutting a piece from oneof the twin birds on a platter before him--to the extreme surprise ofthe captains, who had always before seen both birds carved alike at thesame time. "Your gray-bearded old Ki say we shall not die."
"True," answered the captains. "But the Ki-Ki have declared you shall."
"Their powers seem to be equal," said Nerle, "and we are to be takenbefore the High Ki for judgment."
"Therein lies your danger," returned the captains, speaking in the sametones and with the same accents on their words. "For it is well knownthe Ki-Ki has more influence with the High Ki than the Ki has."
"Hold on!" cried Nerle; "you are making me dizzy again. I can't keeptrack of all these Kis."
"What is the High Ki like?" asked Prince Marvel, who was muchinterested in the conversation of the captains. But this question theofficers seemed unable to answer. They shook their heads slowly andsaid:
"The High Ki are not visible to the people of Twi. Only in cases ofthe greatest importance are the High Ki ever bothered or evenapproached by the Ki and the Ki-Ki, who are supposed to rule the landaccording to their own judgment. But if they chance to disagree, thenthe matter is carried before the High Ki, who live in a palacesurrounded by high walls, in which there are no gates. Only theserulers have ever seen the other side of the walls, or know what theHigh Ki are like."
"That is strange," said the prince. "But we, ourselves, it seems, areto see the High Ki to-morrow, and whoever they may chance to be, wehope to remain alive after the interview."
"That is a vain hope," answered the captains, "for it is well knownthat the High Ki usually decide in favor of the Ki-Ki, and against thewishes of the old Ki."
"That is certainly encouraging," said Nerle.
When the captains had gone and left them to themselves, the esquireconfided to his master his expectations in the following speech:
"This High Ki sounds something terrible and fierce in my ears, and asthey are doubtless a pair, they will be twice terrible and fierce.Perhaps his royal doublets will torture me most exquisitely beforeputting me to death, and then I shall feel that I have not lived invain."
They slept in comfortable beds that night, although an empty twin bedstood beside each one they occupied. And in the morning they wereserved another excellent meal, after which the captains escorted themagain to the twin palaces of the Ki and the Ki-Ki.
There the two pairs of rulers met them and headed the long processionof soldiers toward the palace of the High Ki. First came a band ofmusic, in which many queer sorts of instruments were played in pairs bytwin musicians; and it was amusing to Nerle to see the twin drummersroll their twin drums exactly at the same time and the twin trumpetspeal out twin notes. After the band marched the double Ki-Ki and thedouble Ki, their four bodies side by side in a straight line. TheKi-Ki had left their musical instruments in the palace, and now woreyellow gloves with green stitching down the backs and swung gold-headedcanes jauntily as they walked. The Ki stooped their aged shoulders andshuffled along with their hands in their pockets, and only once didthey speak, and that was to roar "Great Kika-koo!" when the Ki-Kijabbed their canes down on the Ki's toes.
Following the Ki-Ki and the Ki came the prince and Nerle, escorted bythe twin captains, and then there were files of twin soldiers bringingup the rear.
Crowds of twin people, with many twin children amongst them, turned outto watch the unusual display, and many pairs of twin dogs barkedtogether in unison and snapped at the heels of the marching twinsoldiers.
By and by they reached the great wall surrounding the High Ki's palace,and, sure enough, there was never a gate in the wall by which any mightenter. But when the Ki and the Ki-Ki had blown a shrill signal upontwo pairs of whistles, they all beheld two flights of silver stepsbegin to descend from the top of the wall, and these came nearer andnearer the ground until at last they rested at the feet of the Ki.Then the old men began ascending the steps carefully and slowly, andthe captains motioned to the prisoners to follow. So Prince Marvelfollowed one of the Ki up the steps and Nerle the other Ki, while thetwo Ki-Ki came behind them so they could not escape.
So to the top of the wall they climbed, where a pair of twin servantsin yellow and green--which seemed to be the royal colors--welcomed themand drew up the pair of silver steps, afterward letting them down onthe other side of the wall, side by side.
They descended in the same order as they had mounted to the top of thewall, and now Prince Marvel and Nerle found themselves in a mostbeautiful garden, filled with twin beds of twin flowers, with manypairs of rare shrubs. Also, there were several double statuettes onpedestals, and double fountains sending exactly the same sprays ofwater the same distance into the air.
Double walks ran in every direction through the garden, and in thecenter of the inclosure stood a magnificent twin palace, built ofblocks of white marble exquisitely carved.
The Ki and the Ki-Ki at once led their prisoners toward the palace andentered at its large arched double doors, where several pairs ofservants met them. These servants, they found, were all dumb, so thatshould they escape from the palace walls they could tell no tales ofthe High Ki.
The prisoners now proceeded through several pairs of halls, windingthis way and that, and at last came to a pair of golden double doorsleading into the throne-room of the mighty High Ki. Here they allpaused, and the Ki-Ki both turned to the prince and Nerle and said:
"You are the only persons, excepting ourselves and the palace servants,who have ever been permitted to see the High Ki of Twi. As you areabout to die, that does not matter; but should you by any chance bepermitted to live, you must never breathe a word of what you are aboutto see, under penalty of a sure and horrible death."
The prisoners made no rep
ly to this speech, and, after the two Ki-Kihad given them another mild look from their gentle blue eyes, theseofficials clapped their twin hands together and the doors of gold flewopen.
A perfect silence greeted them, during which the double Ki and thedouble Ki-Ki bent their four bodies low and advanced into thethrone-room, followed by Prince Marvel and Nerle.
In the center of the room stood two thrones of dainty filigree work insolid gold, and over them were canopies of yellow velvet, the folds ofwhich were caught up and draped with bands of green ribbon. And on thethrones were seated two of the sweetest and fairest little maidens thatmortal man had ever beheld. Their lovely hair was fine as a spider'sweb; their eyes were kind and smiling, their cheeks soft and dimpled,their mouths shapely as a cupid's bow and tinted like the petals of arose. Upon their heads were set two crowns of fine spun gold, workedinto fantastic shapes and set with glittering gems. Their robes weresoft silks of pale yellow, with strings of sparkling emeralds forornament.
Anything so lovely and fascinating as these little maids, who wereprecisely alike in every particular, neither Prince Marvel nor Nerlehad ever dreamed could exist. They stood for a time spellbound andfilled with admiration, while the two pairs of rulers bowed again andagain before the dainty and lovable persons of their High Ki.
But it was hard for Nerle to keep quiet for long, and presently heexclaimed, in a voice loud enough to be heard by all present:
"By the Great Kika-koo of our friends the Ki, these darling High Ki ofTwi are sweet enough to be kissed!"
The Enchanted Island of Yew Page 14
