“Where shall we look first?” demanded Kabumpo, plunging down the steps of the castle two at a time. “Great Grump, what’s this?” A huge figure, so covered with mud and water weeds as to be entirely indistinguishable, stepped stiffly across the courtyard. Beside him trudged the Gilliken boy whistling cheerily and unconcernedly.
“Randy! Randy, my boy, how did you get back so soon?”
“Back?” called Randy in surprise. “Why, I never went away.” Clicking the instrument that controlled Johnwan, he brought the muddy warrior to a neat halt before his two comrades. “I just put on Jinnicky’s specs and asked them to find Johnwan’s signal,” explained Randy eagerly. “I ran away from Faleero’s hut and the looking glasses brought me right to this terrace, and pressed in the gold dust between the flags I discovered the controller.”
“Then what?” asked Jinnicky. “Why, then,” continued Randy, In a matter of fact voice, “thinking Johnwan might have fallen, I gave him the signal to rise, face about and march home. And you see it worked, for here he is!”
“Very good!” approved Jinnicky. “Get a hose!”
“That won’t be necessary,” rumbled Kabumpo. Setting Jinnicky on the ground he waddled over to the fountain, filled his trunk with water and gave Johnwan several complete and cleansing showers. Soon all the mud was washed away, and the wooden soldier, a bit worse for wear and tear and with the unconscious Faleero still under his arm, emerged. “Well, I hope this will be a lesson to her,” muttered Jinnicky severely. “‘I’ll bet Johnwan has
walked on the bottom of a dozen lakes.” “But what shall we do with her now?” demanded Randy worriedly. “She may come to any minute.” “Oh, let the King decide,” sniffed the Red Jinn airily. “We’ve done our share and I’m hungry!”
CHAPTER 20
“The Purple Prince Has Earned His Crown!”
JOHNWAN, in spite of his washed out appearance,
caused a real sensation when he stalked into the
throne room with Faleero, who had recovered her
senses, screaming and kicking under his arm. Ozma,
always quick to think and act, immediately touched
her magic belt and before the old fairy could cause
further mischief or unhappiness turned her to a
raven. Croaking with fright and anger Faleero flew
out of the window and that was the last anyone ever
saw or heard of the Princess of Follensby Forest.
The three old ladies in waiting had already fled back
to the hut in the clearing. Kettywig, after a stern
lecture, had been sent home, and so, in complete possession
of his crown, his kingdom, his family and his
castle, Pompus proudly led his distinguished guests
and rescuers into dinner.
The cook who had been turned into a cocoanut pie -which, fortunately, nobody had eaten-had been restored by Ozma to his proper shape; also the four guardsmen, so that all was as before and everyone was happy and content.
Now there have been many feasts and celebrations in the palace of Pumperdink, but the feast celebrating the restoration of the lost sovereigns surpassed them all. The chefs had truly outdone themselves and the jolly red face of Jinnicky, who was seated between the prince and princess, shone with enjoyment and satisfaction. Beside the King at the head of the table sat Ozma of Oz and Randy. On either side of the Queen, at the foot, sat The Wizard of Oz and Dorothy. The Scarecrow was next to Princess Pajonia and she crowed with delight at his droll tricks and stories. Johnwan stood stiffly at attention behind Randy’s chair and Kabumpo, after swallowing three bales of hay and a dozen buckets of peanuts, ambled round the table laughing and joking with everyone.
The King and his courtiers could not hear enough
of the strange adventures of Randy, the Elegant Elephant
and the Red Jinn, and all over and in great
detail Kabumpo told the entire story. The. Scarecrow was highly interested in the Guide Post Man and meant to hunt him up at his first opportunity. Ozma was curious to learn all about the Double King, while Nandywog, the little giant, pleased Dorothy best of all. The Wizard, after noting in his green memorandum book the exact location of Torpedo Town, got into a lively argument with Jinnicky about red magic.
They had quite forgotten their professional jealousies and while each realized that without Jinnicky’s looking glasses little could have been done, as Randy had actually brought about the release of the Royal Family, neither felt that he had triumphed over the other, and in consequence they were fast becoming friends. Indeed, by ice cream and cake time, there was such a feeling of good fellowship and jollity that the very candles seemed to jig in their holders. Even the solemn-faced footmen forgot their pomposity and importance and joined boisterously in the singing of Pumperdink’s National Air.
After the last note had died away, Pompus rose with as much dignity as his happiness and weight would permit and offered Randy a permanent home in the palace with the title of Younger Prince of the Realm. At this the cheering was deafening, Kabumpo trumpeting his approval above all the rest.
But before Randy could accept Jinnicky bounced to his feet and declared that Randy was to return with him. He intended to make him his sole heir, sharer of his magic formulas and ruler after him in his mighty dominions in Ev. Ozma and Dorothy smiled sympathetically and the whole company in breathless interest waited for the mountain boy to make his choice. But he never did, for as he stood up and bowed first to the King and then to Jinnicky, there came a loud and sudden crash and in through the shattered glass of the long window behind the King shot two thin and excited old gentlemen. The first wore a tall, pointed cap and a long cloak covered with stars and moons. The second was dressed in purple satin knee breeches and doublet with a fine three-cornered hat. He carried a velvet cushion on which there blazed a tall and splendid crown of amethyst. The royal diners and celebrities were too astonished to move or speak, but the gentleman in the three-cornered hat promptly saved them that trouble. Skipping over to Randy, he called out in a high, trembling voice:
“The Prince of the Purple Mountain has earned his crown and won his Kingdom! Randywell, Handywell, Brandenburg Bompadoo, I hereby crown you King of Regalia and all the Regalians!
Long live
King Randy!” Placing the crown on Randy’s head, Hoochafoo, for it was Hoochafoo, as you have guessed all along, embraced his nephew so heartily that the crown fell off and rolled under the table.
“A King!” coughed Kabumpo, falling against a pillar. “And to think he once fastened my collars. Great Grump! I said he was no common mountain boy.” While the company recovered from their surprise and amazement as best they could, a footman hastily restored Randy’s crown, and Jinnicky, bounding out of his chair, was the first to congratulate the new ruler.
“I liked you from the very first,” declared the Red Jinn, clapping Randy on the back and then embracing him affectionately.
“And remember, if you ever tire of your own kingdom you can always have half of mine!”
“And mine!” boomed Pompus heartily.
“And mine,” echoed little Princess Pajonia, waving her golden spoon.
“But tell us, how did you come here?” begged Ozma, turning curiously to the wise man. “And tell us how Randy happened to be disguised and why he came to Pumperdink in the first place?”
“We came by the magic of the amethyst ball,” answered Chalulu impressively. “In Regalia, a kingdom
of which your Highness may have heard, it is the law that when the King shall disappear, retire or cease to rule, his son shall go forth on a journey of adventure and alone and without help prove his fitness to receive the crown. Without knowing the conditions of this scroll,” Chalulu raised the long parchment roll in one hand, “the Prince must fulfill all its tests. When this is done, the amethyst ball in the palace transports me, the oldest wise man and the oldest member of the King’s family, to the exact spot whe
re he happens to be. Each time his Highness fulfilled a condition of the test, the ball flashed fire. Seven flashes told us he had successfully passed them all and the eighth flash brought us to this strange imperial palace.” Chalulu bowed to King Pompus, then to Queen Pozy and then to all of the others.
“And here we are happy to find our young King in a distinguished company of friends and celebrities.” “Oh, yes!” Randy assured him quickly. “I shall hate to leave here, uncle.”
“What were those conditions you were talking about?” asked Kabumpo, in a muffled voice to hide his grief at losing Randy. The very thought of the separation made the poor elephant choke and sputter.
“Well,” sniffed the wise man, who enjoyed being
the center of attention. “Suppose I read them.”
A chair was brought for Uncle Hoochafoo and while all the others resumed their seats, the wise man read the conditions from the royal scroll of Regalia. Randy was perhaps the most interested listener, for though he knew he must prove himself in seven ways, he had not known the nature of the tests he must pass at all.
“The prince,” began Chalulu, looking benevolently at Randy over his specs, “must first make three true friends.”
“Kabumpo was the first,” said the boy, putting his arm around the Elegant Elephant’s trunk, for Kabumpo had come to stand right beside him.
“And I suppose Nandywog was the second. Jinnicky certainly was the third, but now I have hundreds!” He glanced proudly down the long table and with smiles, nods and approving cheers the gay company assured him that he had.
“Second, the prince must serve a strange King,” announced Chalulu, when at last the cheering had died away.
“I was the King, but I am a strange King no longer. You certainly served me, my boy, served me right!” Placing his hand on Randy’s shoulder,
Pompus beamed at Regalia’s newly crowned sovereign.
“Third, he must save a Queen,” continued the wise man in a calm voice.
“I was the Queen.” Waving her silk handkerchief, Pozy nodded happily at her rescuer.
“Fourth, the prince must prove his bravery in battle,” read Chahulu without looking up.
“Pooh, he proved his bravery dozens and dozens of times,” trumpeted Kabumpo proudly, “but the first and best was when he caught that bundle of blazing twigs and threw them back at Faleero.”
“Fifth, ahem-fifth !” Chalulu cleared his throat and waited a few minutes for silence, “fifth, the prince must overcome a fabulous monster.”
“Well, he did that, too,” cried Jinnicky. “Upon the combinoceros he fell and saved himself and us!” “Sixth, the prince must disenchant a princess,” continued Chalulu imperturbably. “He did more than that,” Peg Amy assured them, holding little princess Pajonia high in her arms. “He disenchanted two princesses and a prince, so three cheers for Randywell, Handywell, Brandenburg Bompadoo!”
“And lastly,” finished the wise man, as Randy, overcome by embarrassment, got behind Kabumpo, “lastly, he must receive from a wizard some important
magic treasure.”
“Oh, that’s Johnwan!” exclaimed Randy coming out eagerly. “Look, Uncle Hoochafoo, this great wooden soldier is mine.
Jinnicky gave him to me and as soon as he copies him for his own army, he’s coming to Regalia to be my bodyguard.”
“Dear, dear, dear!” murmured Uncle Hoochafoo, drawing out his monocle and eyeing Johnwan dubiously. “Is this a magic treasure?”
“Of course! Of course!” Clicking Johnwan’s control, Randy made him face about, march and salute and even the wise man had to admit the points and excellence of the wooden warrior. By the time the excitement following the crowning of Randy and the reading of the scroll had died down, by the time the wise man and Hoochafoo had been told the story of the new King’s adventures, the clock in the great tower had tolled two, and in spite of their interest and thankfulness the company began to yawn and blink with weariness. Pompus begged all his royal visitors to spend not only the night but a week in his palace. Ozma, however, had important matters to settle in the Emerald City next day and after expressing her happiness and delight at the satisfactory way everything had turned out she left on a
fast wish with Dorothy, the Wizard, Jack and the Scarecrow. Randy would dearly have loved to stay, but his uncle and the wise man, feeling that the formal coronation must take place at once, insisted that they must leave immediately for Regalia.
“My mercy me!” sniffed Jinnicky, shaking hands and then clasping the boy King to his shiny bosom.
“How ever am I to get along without you? Will you come to see the old man soon and often?”
“I certainly will,” promised Randy, pressing Jinnicky’s plump hand. Then, to keep from breaking down, he pointed a mischievous finger at Jinnicky’s head. “Why, Jinnicky,” he murmured in a scandalized voice, “you need a hair cut!”
“Ha, had Hee, hee! That’s what Alibabble will be telling me,” blubbered the Red Jinn, pretending to laugh so hard that he cried, but really crying so hard he couldn’t laugh. Kabumpo felt even worse, for he had known Randy longer. Not trusting himself to speak the boy gave Kabumpo a huge hug. Then, lifting one of the Elegant Elephant’s enormous ears he whispered hurriedly:
“Never mind, as soon as I’m crowned I’ll run away and come back. As-” But before he could finish, Chalulu, who was terribly weary, touched the amethyst ball he had under his arm and seizing Randy
by one hand and the purple-bearded uncle by the other, flashed out of sight and Pumperdink.
“Well, sniff, sniff!” The Red Jinn sobbed unashamedly, leaning against Kabumpo. “He’s gone, and all our good times with him! My mercy me! I’d set my heart on taking him home with me!”
“Never you mind,” wheezed Kabumpo, patting Jinnicky hard on the back with his trunk. “There’s no law against visiting. And if your Highness will, and can spare me, I’ve a notion to spend three months of every year in Regalia with Randywell, Handywell, Brandenburg Bompadoo I”
“Hear! Hear!” chuckled Pompus indulgently.
‘Well, under the circumstances, old fellow, we shall have to allow it.”
Why, I could do that, too,” declared Jinnicky, beginning to cheer up a little. “My mercy me, we’ll go together! Of course,” went on Jinnicky, with a wink at King Pompus, “he’s the kind of animal who calls an orange a citrus fruit and a porch a piazza, but I’m kind of fond of the big begonia anyway.” The Red Jinn, amid roars of laughter, shook his head several times to prove this statement.
“You’re not such a bad little fellow yourself!” boomed Kabumpo, taking off Jinnicky’s lid and setting
it back slightly askew.
“Thanks!” Jinnicky smiled with real pleasure. “I’ll be back for you in a month and a day. A month and a day, remember! Then off we’ll go to Regalia and take Johnwan to Randy. Good-bye! Good-bye everyone! I’ve had a magnificus time here.” Hanging his baskets on Johnwan’s arm, the Red Jinn rang his silver dinner bell, and when the little slave appeared with his tray, Jinnicky seized his hand and grasping the wooden soldier by the coat tails vanished away to Ev, leaving not even a ripple in the air behind him.
“Great gooseberries! These disappearances are making me positively giddy,” gulped the King, staring ruefully at all the empty chairs. “How Quiet it will seem in the palace without that Jinn. Ho, hum! What a day! What a day! And it’s already to-morrow and after I’ve had a nap I’ll have to think of some fitting way to reward Randy and this Red Jinn for their trouble.”
“You, my dear General,” Pompus turned to General Quakes, who was yawning in a well-bred fashion behind his hand, “you shall be Prime Minister as well as commander of my army and have Pumper’s place and salary besides, for I do not believe we ever will see that old rascal again.” General Quakes
bowed to show his appreciation and as Kabumpo, on his way to bed, affectionately touched the King on the shoulder, Pompus seized his old friend and adviser firmly by the trunk.
>
“What shall we do for you?” he asked eagerly.
“I promise, Kabumpo, you shall have anything your heart desires!” Kabumpo nodded absently, for now that Randy was gone he could think of nothing he wanted. Calling drowsy good-nights and good wishes the royal family and courtiers and servants went yawning to bed to dream of magic transformations, strange journeys and monsters. But Kabumpo had the best dream of all. With Randy and the little Red Jinn on his back, with Johnwan marching sturdily before, Kabumpo dreamed he was climbing the purple mountains of Regalia. And when Kabumpo’s dream does come true-when the Elegant Elephant and Jinnicky really go to visit Randy in Regalia-that, my dears, will be another book and another story!
The End
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 Sour Grapes
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10 Regalia
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
L. Frank Baum - Oz 26 Page 13
