The King of Gee-Whiz

by Emerson Hough

  "I don't see what I could do without my shadow," said the King ofGee-Whiz. "It and my faithful Private Secretary are my best friends andcompanions, and without them I should be very lonesome; for not even aKing, I presume, could eat Waffles all the time. I am sure I should missmy shadow above all things."

  As the King of Gee-Whiz said this, he looked about him uneasily, withsomething of the same feeling he had experienced when he thought someone was behind his bed. There was good reason for this, for in bothcases the Wicked Fairy was directly at his elbow, although the Kingcould not see him.

  "Well, well," said the King, "I will just draw me a jug of syrup, and Iam sure the exercise will do me good. Even a King must have physicalculture, or fall quite behind the times. Let me see. Ah, here is a treewhich looks precisely like a syrup tree."

  So saying, he laid about him with his ax and cleared a little space sothat he could get at the trunk of the tree. It was then that the WickedFairy whispered in his ear, although the King did not know it: "Cut intothat tree, the one with the big green leaves!"

  The King of Gee-Whiz, not knowing that a Fairy was there, thought it washis own voice he had heard. "Eh?" said he. "Ah, to be sure, thiscertainly is the tree. So now for a little exercise, and some syrup formy breakfast." So saying he swung his gold ax and cut deep into thetrunk of the tree the Fairy had shown him.

  CHAPTER XVII

  THE KING AND THE RUBBER TREE

  Now, in the forests of the Island of Gee-Whiz are very many sorts oftrees--palm trees, tall and stately, with parasols at their tops; jujutrees, with rough, sticky sides and long, slender leaves; and strawberrytrees, not in the least resembling our little creeping vines. There arealso orange trees, with ripe yellow oranges, and trees with fruitresembling chocolate eclaires, all ready for eating, and other treeswhich bear fruit much like a charlotte russe. Besides these, there aremany trees such as we all know--hickory, oak, and apple trees, andmaple trees, from which maple sugar comes. It was, of course, from thesugar-maple tree that Zuzu had drawn the syrup for the Waffles; andthat, of course, was the kind of tree into which the King should havecut with his little gold ax. But, being guided by this Wicked Fairy whomhe could not see, the King was not aware of this. The truth is that, ashe swung his ax and cut into the tree before him, it was not a mapletree at all, but a rubber tree. As he struck the trunk, to his greatsurprise, there gushed out not a pale, sticky syrup, but a fresh-lookingliquid, which resembled milk.

  "Bless my soul and body!" said the King. "That does not look right."

  "Oh, yes, it does," whispered the Wicked Fairy in his ear.

  "Eh? What?" said the King, still not knowing it was a Fairy. "Yes, Isuppose this must be right. In any case, I will taste it and see." So heheld out his cup and caught it full of the rubber juice and drank a deepdraft of it. To his great surprise, he began to feel very strange.

  "Bless my soul and body!" exclaimed the King to himself. "This is mostextraordinary. I must say that I feel strange, quite strange, I doindeed. Why, this is not in the least like the syrup I tasted yesterdaymorning. I wonder if I could have made a mistake."

  "It is no mistake," whispered the Fairy, "that is the right tree."

  "Eh? What?" said the King. "Oh, yes, so it is, so it is. At first, itseemed to me that the syrup was not the same."

  "Take some more," whispered the Wicked Fairy; and the King, still notknowing there was a Wicked Fairy there, did so, this time taking a deepdraft.

  "Bless my soul and body!" cried he this time. "I begin to feel verystrange, very strange indeed. I feel really light-headed."

  He looked down at his shadow, but the shadow still was there, keepingtime with every motion, so that he felt much comforted.

  "My shadow is just the same," said the King, "so everything must be allright. But, dear me, what is the matter with my leg?"

  The King had, in stepping back from the tree, caught his foot betweentwo roots, and now, instead of releasing his foot when he pulled at it,he saw, to his great surprise, that he was stretching his leg out totwice its natural length.

  "Dear me!" he said, as he moved back and sat down on a log, looking incuriosity at his leg, which was now about ten or perhaps eleven feetlong and much thinner than before. "Bless my soul and body! If I werenot the King and quite wide-awake, I should say that something washappening to me, I should indeed. This impresses me as being mostextraordinary. Where is my shadow?" He looked around and there was theshadow just the same, with its leg as long as his, which made the Kingagain feel very much better.

  "It does not hurt," said the King, shaking his head; and the shadow alsoshook its head to show that it was not in any pain.

  "Take another drink," whispered the Wicked Fairy to the King.

  "Well, if it does not hurt any," said the King to himself, "and sincethe thing is so curious, I will take another sip of the syrup, Ibelieve." He did so, and this time his hand, which had rested on thetree, remained there when he went back to the log to sit down, his armstretching out as long as his leg. This was very much to the King'ssurprise. He gave a sharp jerk, and both arm and leg shortened as theyflew back quite as though they had been fast to a strong rubber cord. Atthis the King perspired a trifle and moved away toward the other end ofthe log, looking down at his hand and foot as he did so. To his greatsurprise, as he sat down on the log, he felt himself gently bounce upagain in the air, and this was repeated each time as he struck the log,so that it was some moments before he could really settle down. Eventhen he felt very touchy and insecure, so that he scarcely dared draw along breath. Indeed, when at length he did draw a long breath, he found,to his great surprise, that his chest swelled out like a small balloon,so that he was more than three times as large around as he was before.He was much alarmed at this, but smiled again when he saw that hisshadow was quite as large as himself.

  "Bless my soul and body!" said the King to himself, "I wonder if theywill know me now. This is what I call great good fortune! The truth isthat I have always felt larger than I really looked, so I am very glad Icut into this tree and got a taste of something to make me grow to myreal size. I have long looked for something of precisely this sort."

  "Why not get up and dance?" asked the Wicked Fairy in his ear.

  "Eh? What?" said the King. "Dance? Oh, yes, I certainly am happy enoughto dance at this new discovery. Indeed, my spirits have at no time feltmore elastic than at the present moment. So, since there is nothing toprevent it, I think I will do a royal step or two to pass away the timebefore breakfast."

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE KING LOSES HIS SHADOW

  The King of Gee-Whiz stepped out into an open space in the forest, and,to his very great surprise, observed that he could not feel his feettouch the ground. This was really because he was so full of rubber,although he himself had no idea of any such thing at all. He wasconscious only of feeling that he had all along been a greater King thanhe had had credit for being. So he hummed a tune to himself as he beganto dance.

  There was probably never a dance just such as this which the King ofGee-Whiz now began. Had he himself seen it from a distance, he wouldhave been sure that it was not the performance of a dignified andrespectable King. He sprang from one foot to the other, and each time hetouched the ground he rebounded into the air a dozen feet, or possiblyeven more. He alighted upon both feet, muttering as he did so anexclamation of delight, for, strange as that may seem, he was enjoyinghimself very much. Each time that both his feet struck the ground hewent into the air just twice as far as when only one foot was soemployed. He slapped his arms upon his chest, and as he did this, to hisgreat surprise, a squeak came out of his mouth exactly similar to thatwhich comes from the hole in a rubber ball when you squeeze it. Thisstartled him at first, but he was too busy to think about it long.

  He sprang from side to side; and whereas in a common dancing step a Kinggoes scarcely more than two or three feet at a stride, the King nowwould step at least a dozen feet, or, for that matter, perhaps twenty.There seemed to be
no limit to the length of the steps he could take;and whenever he took a step he bounded high into the air, at timeshaving difficulty in keeping himself from turning quite over in the air.Indeed, the temptation to turn hand-springs and somersaults as he haddone when a boy became so strong upon him that only his great kinglydignity served to prevent his doing that very thing.

  "Aha!" cried the King, "this certainly is fine." At least these are thewords which he wished to say, although all that he could hear wereseveral sharp whistles as the breath came out of his mouth.

  The King sprang up and down very hard, anxious to see how high he couldgo into the air. To his great surprise, he found that by making severalleaps up and down he could easily bound upward as high as the top of thetallest palms. This pleased him very much, as in this position hesecured a wider view of his own possessions than he had ever had in hislife before.

  "I shall come back here once in a while," said the King to himself, "andhave another drink at that rubber tree, if this dose wears off after awhile. This really is wonderful. It enlarges my outlook upon lifemany-fold, and although I have previously to this felt very much of aKing, I now begin to understand how much I have underrated my ownabilities in every line of activity. But, by the way," he added tohimself, "this exercise is affecting the royal appetite. I think I'llstep over and have my breakfast."

  So in one or two long strides he walked over to the palace and calledaloud to his Private Secretary and to the Widow Pickle. To his greatsurprise, when he called aloud, the King could not speak a word, butcould only whistle. He put up his hand to his face to feel what was thematter with his voice, but of course he could not feel anything abouthis voice. He did, however, observe, very much to his annoyance, thathis royal aquiline nose had quite disappeared, that his mouth nowextended quite across his face, that his ears were small and almost goneinto his head, and that for a forehead nothing remained but a wide,round expanse, which he could easily dent with his thumb. In short, heresembled, to the touch at least, although, of course, he could not seehimself, nothing in the world so much as a large, soft, rubber ball,hollow and inflated, and with legs and arms attached.

  When the King realized this and found also that his voice was gone, asudden fear fell upon him. "My soul and body!" thought he to himself,"can this be true? If so, I am in the worst sort of a situation, for noone will recognize me!" So saying, he sank down upon the ground near thepalace door, and after a number of bounces up and down at last settledinto an attitude of Deep Thought.

  After the King had thought for quite a time, he happened to look uponthe ground before him. To his great surprise, there was no shadowthere. He had not known that all along it had been the intention of theWicked Fairy to steal his shadow. Such, however, had been the case.While the King was at the top of one of his highest bounds, the WickedFairy, who had remained upon the ground below, took the opportunity toremove his shadow from beneath him; so that after that the King cast noshadow at all. Just how this was done it is hard to say. Perhaps theChemist, Aurelius Pickle, who knew many strange things, could have toldhow this occurred, but he, being dead, could not be asked. It may bethat as the King was stretched out to thrice his natural height, he wasthrice his natural thinness, and that the shadow also became three timesas thin, and so was easy to take away. In any case, certainly the WickedFairy had removed the King's shadow, and, of course, with it the WhiteCricket which had always lived in that shadow. When the King looked downand saw what had happened, he fell back in a deep swoon of terror.

  For a moment all was still; then there came from somewhere off in thedistance, the doleful tones of the Enchanted Banjo.

  THE SORROWFUL SONG OF THE SHADOWLESS KING

  If you find my shadow, O bring it straight to me! A shadowless King is compelled to be gloomy; I sit in the sun and I sob in my sorrow And wonder if I'll have a shadow to-morrow.

  I've lost my shadow; My heart is sad, O! I would be glad, O! If I but had, O! My shadow.

  I look in the corners, I hunt through my palace; I grieve that my shadow was stolen through malice-- Just think, if you please, of a life sad and hollow! When I take a walk there's no shadow to follow.

  I've lost my shadow; It is too bad, O! It makes me mad, O! To think I had, O! My shadow.

  My shadow was ever a thing of great beauty; It did all I did, as was its bounden duty; It echoed my sitting and standing and walking, My riding and ruling, and all but my talking.

  I've lost my shadow; It makes me sad, O! I would be glad, O! If I but had, O! My shadow.

  The King was very proud of his shadow _Page 89_]

  CHAPTER XIX

  TROUBLES AT THE ROYAL PALACE

  About the time these events were happening the Widow Pickle waspreparing to make ready the King's breakfast. As she came from her houseand approached the palace, her eyes rested upon the prostrate body ofthe King.

  "This," said the Widow Pickle, "is the strangest looking object I eversaw in all my life. I wonder what it is."

  At this time there came around the corner of the palace the PrivateSecretary of the King. "Good morning, Widow Pickle," said the PrivateSecretary. "Have you seen his Royal Highness anywhere this morning? Itis nearly his breakfast hour, and no one knows where he is."

  "I don't know either," said the Widow Pickle; "but I do know that it isscandalously late for any decent King to be lying abed. But tell me,what is this thing lying here, do you suppose?"

  As she spoke, she gave the King a poke with her foot, which immediatelymade him resolve to have her beheaded. The King recognized his PrivateSecretary and made frantic efforts to speak to him, all the timegesticulating in the wildest manner; but all he could do was to squeakas before; and the worst of it was that, as he became excited, he beganagain to bound up and down in the most violent manner.

  "Mercy on us!" said the Widow Pickle. "I didn't know it was alive! Whatdo you suppose it is?"

  The Private Secretary took a second look and turned deathly pale.

  "Madam," said he in a whisper, "it is none less than his Royal Highness,though what has come to him I can not say. But that it is the King I canswear by these two fingers on his hands and by the pink strawberry markupon his shoulder."

  "Your Majesty!" cried the faithful Private Secretary, "calm yourself, Ibeseech you. Pray be seated."

  The King continued to bound up and down.

  "Your Majesty," said the Private Secretary, "how came you in thisunfortunate condition? I am very much distressed, indeed, your Majesty.But will you not be seated?"

  The King violently shook his head and resumed his agitation, until atlength the Private Secretary grasped him by one arm and so at lastbrought him to a stop and placed him upon the Royal Throne.

  "Why, your Majesty," said the Private Secretary, "you are light as afeather! Pray, tell me, how has this happened?"

  The King could only squeak as before, but now he made a violent motiontoward his feet. The Private Secretary understood him, as any goodPrivate Secretary should be able to understand even the inmost thoughtsof his King.

  "Quite right, your Majesty," said he. "I shall send at once for theCourt Physician."

  So presently the Court Physician came up on a run, and, seeing what wasthe trouble, took his keen lancet and bled the King in his royal leftfoot. At once there was a sharp, hissing sound, and the dimensions ofthe King began to subside. In a few moments he had shrunk to such a sizethat he could be recognized by all. But now he was in such a rage thathe could not make himself understood, but merely spluttered. Then he wasfor beheading the Widow Pickle at once for kicking him while he washelpless. Then he changed his mind, and ordered everybody banished fromthe Island except himself. This notion also passed, and he at lengthbecame more calm.

  "Your Majesty, it was all those Waffles," cried the Court Physician, whowas jealous
of the Widow Pickle.

  "Not in the least," declared the Widow Pickle. "That was never said ofmy Waffles before, as I am an honest woman."

  The King was a just Monarch, after all, and presently admitted it wasnot the Waffles, but what he had taken to be the syrup, which he was nowready to agree was perhaps a foreign substance of a dangerous nature. Heexplained the appearance of the tree from which he had taken the liquid,and the Court Physician in post-haste set off to the forest. He returnedat length quite out of breath, and assured the King that he had examinedthe tree and found that it was not a syrup tree or _Arbor saccharinus_,but a rubber tree, _Arbor elasticus horribiliensis_, whose juice wascapable of the most singular consequences when taken into the humansystem.

  "That explains all," said the King, who was now leaning weakly back uponthe throne, very weary and pale; "all but one thing." As he spoke, heslowly and tremblingly turned his head and looked upon the ground to seeif he could discover his shadow.