Web
and Book design,
Copyright, Kellscraft Studio 1999-2014 (Return to Web Text-ures) |
(HOME)
|
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST The Wonderful Book of Magic Whatever
their fears might be, none of Prince
Marvel's party hesitated to follow him along the path through the
forest in
search of the sorcerer, and by and by they came upon a large clearing. In the middle of this open space was a big
building in such bad repair that its walls were tumbling down in
several
places, and all around it the ground was uncared for and littered with
rubbish. A man was walking up and down
in front of this building, with his head bowed low; but when he heard
the sound
of approaching horses' hoofs he looked up and stared for a moment in
amazement. Then, with a shout of rage,
he rushed toward them and caught Prince Marvel's horse by the bridle. "How dare you!" he cried;
"how dare you enter my forest?" Marvel jerked his bridle
from the
man's grasp and said in return: "Who are you?" "Me!
Who am I? Why, I am the great
and powerful Kwytoffle! So beware! Beware my sorcery!" They all looked at the
man
curiously. He was short and very fat,
and had a face like a puff-ball, with little red eyes and scarcely any
nose at
all. He wore a black gown with scarlet
grasshoppers and June-bugs embroidered upon the cloth; and his hat was
high and
peaked, with an imitation grasshopper of extraordinary size perched
upon its point. In his right hand he
carried a small black
wand, and around his neck hung a silver whistle on a silver cord. Seeing that the strangers
were
gazing on him so earnestly, Kwytoffle thought they were frightened; so
he said
again, in a big voice: "Beware my vengeance!" "Beware yourself!"
retorted the prince. "For if you do
not treat us more respectfully, I shall have you flogged." "What!
Flog me!" shouted Kwytoffle,
furiously. "For this I will turn every
one of you into grasshoppers — unless you at once give me all the
wealth you
possess!" "Poor man!" exclaimed
Nerle; "I can see you are longing for that flogging.
Will you have it now?" and he raised his
riding-whip above his head. Kwytoffle stumbled
backward a few
paces and blew shrilly upon his silver whistle. Instantly
a number of soldiers came running from the building, others
following quickly after them until fully a hundred rough-looking
warriors,
armed with swords and axes, had formed in battle array, facing the
little party
of Prince Marvel. "Arrest these strangers!"
commanded
Kwytoffle, in a voice like a roar. "Capture them and bind them
securely,
and then I will change them all into grasshoppers!" "All right," answered the
captain of the soldiers; and then he turned to his men and shouted:
"Forward — double-quick — march!" They came on with drawn
swords; at
first running, and then gradually dropping into a walk, as they beheld
Nerle,
Wul-Takim, King Terribus and Marvel standing quietly waiting to receive
them,
weapons in hand and ready for battle. A
few paces off the soldiers hesitated and stopped altogether, and
Kwytoffle
yelled at the captain: "Why don't you go on? Why don't you capture them?
Why don't you fight them?" "Why, they have drawn
their
swords!" responded the captain, reproachfully. "Who cares?" roared the
sorcerer. "We care," said the
captain, giving a shudder, as he looked upon the strangers. "Their swords are sharp, and some of us
would get hurt." "You're cowards!"
shrieked
the enraged Kwytoffle. "I'll turn
you all into June-bugs!" At this threat the
soldiers dropped
their swords and axes, and all fell upon their knees, trembling visibly
and
imploring their cruel master not to change them into June-bugs. "Bah!" cried Nerle,
scornfully; "why don't you fight? If we
kill you, then you will escape being June-bugs." "The fact is," said the
captain, woefully, "we simply can't fight. For our swords are only tin,
and our axes are made of wood, with silver-paper pasted over them." "But why is that?" asked
Wul-Takim, while all the party showed their surprise. "Why, until now we have
never
had any need to fight," said the captain, "for every one has quickly
surrendered to us or run away the moment we came near.
But you people do not appear to be properly frightened,
and now, alas! since you have drawn upon us the great sorcerer's anger,
we
shall all be transformed into June-bugs." "Yes!" roared Kwytoffle,
hopping up and down with anger, "you shall all be June-bugs, and these
strangers I will transform into grasshoppers!" "Very well," said Prince
Marvel, quietly; "you can do it now." "I will!
I will!" cried the sorcerer. "Then why don't you
begin?" inquired the prince. "Why don't I begin? Why, I haven't got the enchantments with me,
that's
why. Do you suppose we great magicians
carry around enchantments in our pockets?" returned the other, in a
milder
tone. "Where do you keep your
enchantments?" asked the prince. "They're in my dwelling,"
snapped Kwytoffle, taking off his hat and fanning his fat face with the
brim. "Then go and get them,"
said Marvel. "Nonsense! If
I went to get the enchantments you would
all run away!" retorted the sorcerer. "Not so!" protested
Nerle,
who was beginning to be amused. "My
greatest longing in life is to become a grasshopper." "Oh, yes!
Please
let us be grasshoppers!" exclaimed the High Ki maids in the same breath. "We want to hop! We want to hop! Please
— Please
let us hop!" implored the bald-headed Ki, winking their left eyes at
Wul-Takim. "By all means let us
become
grasshoppers," said King Terribus, smiling; and Wul-Takim added: "I'm sure your soldiers
would
enjoy being June-bugs, for then they wouldn't have to work. Isn't that so, boys?" The bewildered soldiers
looked at
one another in perplexity, and the still more bewildered sorcerer gazed
on the
speakers with staring eyes and wide-open mouth. "I insist," said Prince
Marvel, "upon your turning us into grasshoppers and your soldiers into
June-bugs, as you promised. If you do
not, then I will flog you — as I promised." "Very well," returned the
sorcerer, with a desperate look upon his face; "I'll go and find the
enchantment." "And we'll go with you,"
remarked the prince, pleasantly. So the entire party
accompanied
Kwytoffle into the house, where they entered a large room that was in a
state
of much disorder. "Let me see," said the
sorcerer, rubbing his ears, as if trying to think; "I wonder if I put
them
in this cupboard. You see," he explained,
"no one has ever before dared me to transform him into a June-bug or
grasshopper, so I have almost forgotten where I keep my book of
enchantments. No, it's not in the
cupboard," he continued, looking there; "but it surely must be in
this chest." It was not in the chest,
either, and
so the sorcerer continued to look in all sorts of queer places for his
book of
enchantments, without finding it. Whenever
he paused in his search Prince Marvel would say, sternly: "Go on!
Find the book! Hunt it up. We are all anxious to become grasshoppers." And then Kwytoffle would set to work again,
although big drops of perspiration were now streaming down his face. Finally he pulled an old
book from
underneath the pillow of his bed, and crying, "Here it is!" carried
it to the window. He turned a few leaves of
the book
and then said: "How unfortunate! The compound I require to change you into
grasshoppers
must be mixed on the first day of September; and as this is now the
eighth day
of September I must wait nearly a year before I can work the
enchantment." "How about the
June-bugs?"
asked Nerle. "Oh!
Ah!. The June-bug mixture can
only be made at the dark o' the moon,"
said the sorcerer, pretending to read, "and that is three weeks from
now." "Let me read it," said
Prince Marvel, suddenly snatching the book from Kwytoffle's hands. Then he turned to the title-page and read: "'Lives of Famous Thieves
and
Impostors.' Why, this is not a book of
enchantments." "That is what I
suspected," said Terribus. "No one but a sorcerer
can read
the enchantments in this book," declared Kwytoffle; but he hung his
head
with a sheepish look, for he knew his deception had been well
understood. "Is your own history
written in
this volume?" inquired Marvel. "No," answered the
sorcerer. "Then it ought to be,"
said the prince, "for you are no sorcerer at all, but merely a thief
and
an impostor!" |