Chapter Nine
A Present for Zella
Now it so happened that on the morning of that same day when the Princeof Pingaree suffered the loss of his priceless shoes, there chanced topass along the road that wound beside the royal palace a poorcharcoal-burner named Nikobob, who was about to return to his home inthe forest.
Nikobob carried an ax and a bundle of torches over his shoulder and hewalked with his eyes to the ground, being deep in thought as to thestrange manner in which the powerful King Gos and his city had beenconquered by a boy Prince who had come from Pingaree.
Suddenly the charcoal-burner espied a shoe lying upon the ground, justbeyond the high wall of the palace and directly in his path. He pickedit up and, seeing it was a pretty shoe, although much too small for hisown foot, he put it in his pocket.
Soon after, on turning a corner of the wall, Nikobob came to adust-heap where, lying amidst a mass of rubbish, was another shoe--themate to the one he had before found. This also he placed in his pocket,saying to himself:
"I have now a fine pair of shoes for my daughter Zella, who will bemuch pleased to find I have brought her a present from the city."
And while the charcoal-burner turned into the forest and trudged alongthe path toward his home, Inga and Rinkitink were still searching forthe missing shoes. Of course, they could not know that Nikobob hadfound them, nor did the honest man think he had taken anything morethan a pair of cast-off shoes which nobody wanted.
Nikobob had several miles to travel through the forest before he couldreach the little log cabin where his wife, as well as his littledaughter Zella, awaited his return, but he was used to long walks andtramped along the path whistling cheerfully to beguile the time.
Few people, as I said before, ever passed through the dark and tangledforests of Regos, except to go to the mines in the mountain beyond, formany dangerous creatures lurked in the wild jungles, and King Gos neverknew, when he sent a messenger to the mines, whether he would reachthere safely or not.
The charcoal-burner, however, knew the wild forest well, and especiallythis part of it lying between the city and his home. It was thefavorite haunt of the ferocious beast Choggenmugger, dreaded by everydweller in the Island of Regos. Choggenmugger was so old that everyonethought it must have been there since the world was made, and each yearof its life the huge scales that covered its body grew thicker andharder and its jaws grew wider and its teeth grew sharper and itsappetite grew more keen than ever.
In former ages there had been many dragons in Regos, but Choggenmuggerwas so fond of dragons that he had eaten all of them long ago. Therehad also been great serpents and crocodiles in the forest marshes, butall had gone to feed the hunger of Choggenmugger. The people of Regosknew well there was no use opposing the Great Beast, so when oneunfortunately met with it he gave himself up for lost.
All this Nikobob knew well, but fortune had always favored him in hisjourney through the forest, and although he had at times met manysavage beasts and fought them with his sharp ax, he had never to thisday encountered the terrible Choggenmugger. Indeed, he was not thinkingof the Great Beast at all as he walked along, but suddenly he heard acrashing of broken trees and felt a trembling of the earth and saw theimmense jaws of Choggenmugger opening before him. Then Nikobob gavehimself up for lost and his heart almost ceased to beat.
He believed there was no way of escape. No one ever dared opposeChoggenmugger. But Nikobob hated to die without showing the monster, insome way, that he was eaten only under protest. So he raised his ax andbrought it down upon the red, protruding tongue of the monster--and cutit clean off!
For a moment the charcoal-burner scarcely believed what his eyes saw,for he knew nothing of the pearls he carried in his pocket or the magicpower they lent his arm. His success, however, encouraged him to strikeagain, and this time the huge scaly jaw of Choggenmugger was severed intwain and the beast howled in terrified rage.
Nikobob took off his coat, to give himself more freedom of action, andthen he earnestly renewed the attack. But now the ax seemed blunted bythe hard scales and made no impression upon them whatever. The creatureadvanced with glaring, wicked eyes, and Nikobob seized his coat underhis arm and turned to flee.
That was foolish, for Choggenmugger could run like the wind. In amoment it overtook the charcoal-burner and snapped its four rows ofsharp teeth together. But they did not touch Nikobob, because he stillheld the coat in his grasp, close to his body, and in the coat pocketwere Inga's shoes, and in the points of the shoes were the magicpearls. Finding himself uninjured, Nikobob put on his coat, againseized his ax, and in a short time had chopped Choggenmugger into manysmall pieces--a task that proved not only easy but very agreeable.
"I must be the strongest man in all the world!" thought thecharcoal-burner, as he proudly resumed his way, "for Choggenmugger hasbeen the terror of Regos since the world began, and I alone have beenable to destroy the beast. Yet it is singular' that never before did Idiscover how powerful a man I am."
He met no further adventure and at midday reached a little clearing inthe forest where stood his humble cabin.
"Great news! I have great news for you," he shouted, as his wife andlittle daughter came to greet him. "King Gos has been conquered by aboy Prince from the far island of Pingaree, and I have thisday--unaided--destroyed Choggenmugger by the might of my strong arm."
This was, indeed, great news. They brought Nikobob into the house andset him in an easy chair and made him tell everything he knew about thePrince of Pingaree and the fat King of Gilgad, as well as the detailsof his wonderful fight with mighty Choggenmugger.
"And now, my daughter," said the charcoalburner, when all his news hadbeen related for at least the third time, "here is a pretty present Ihave brought you from the city."
With this he drew the shoes from the pocket of his coat and handed themto Zella, who gave him a dozen kisses in payment and was much pleasedwith her gift. The little girl had never worn shoes before, for herparents were too poor to buy her such luxuries, so now the possessionof these, which were not much worn, filled the child's heart with joy.She admired the red leather and the graceful curl of the pointed toes.When she tried them on her feet, they fitted as well as if made for her.
All the afternoon, as she helped her mother with the housework, Zellathought of her pretty shoes. They seemed more important to her than thecoming to Regos of the conquering Prince of Pingaree, or even the deathof Choggenmugger.
When Zella and her mother were not working in the cabin, cooking orsewing, they often searched the neighboring forest for honey which thewild bees cleverly hid in hollow trees. The day after Nikobob's return,as they were starting out after honey, Zella decided to put on her newshoes, as they would keep the twigs that covered the ground fromhurting her feet. She was used to the twigs, of course, but what is theuse of having nice, comfortable shoes, if you do not wear them?
So she danced along, very happily, followed by her mother, andpresently they came to a tree in which was a deep hollow. Zella thrusther hand and arm into the space and found that the tree was full ofhoney, so she began to dig it out with a wooden paddle. Her mother, whoheld the pail, suddenly cried in warning:
"Look out, Zella; the bees are coming!" and then the good woman ranfast toward the house to escape.
Zella, however, had no more than time to turn her head when a thickswarm of bees surrounded her, angry because they had caught herstealing their honey and intent on stinging the girl as a punishment.She knew her danger and expected to be badly injured by the multitudeof stinging bees, but to her surprise the little creatures were unableto fly close enough to her to stick their dart-like stingers into herflesh. They swarmed about her in a dark cloud, and their angry buzzingwas terrible to hear, yet the little girl remained unharmed.
When she realized this, Zella was no longer afraid but continued toladle out the honey until she had secured all that was in the tree.Then she returned to the cabin, where her mother was weeping andbemoaning the fate of
her darling child, and the good woman was greatlyastonished to find Zella had escaped injury.
Again they went to the woods to search for honey, and although themother always ran away whenever the bees came near them, Zella paid noattention to the creatures but kept at her work, so that before suppertime came the pails were again filled to overflowing with delicioushoney.
"With such good fortune as we have had this day," said her mother, "weshall soon gather enough honey for you to carry to Queen Cor." For itseems the wicked Queen was very fond of honey and it had been Zella'scustom to go, once every year, to the City of Coregos, to carry theQueen a supply of sweet honey for her table. Usually she had but onepail.
"But now," said Zella, "I shall be able to carry two pailsful to theQueen, who will, I am sure, give me a good price for it."
"True," answered her mother, "and, as the boy Prince may take it intohis head to conquer Coregos, as well as Regos, I think it best for youto start on your journey to Queen Cor tomorrow morning. Do you notagree with me, Nikobob?" she added, turning to her husband, thecharcoal-burner, who was eating his supper.
"I agree with you," he replied. "If Zella must go to the City ofCoregos, she may as well start to-morrow morning."
Rinkitink in Oz Page 9
