Complete Works of L. Frank Baum

by L. Frank Baum

  At once they all rushed out to the alley and began digging in the rubbish heap. By and by Cap’n Bill uncovered the lunch basket, and pulling on this he soon drew up the two seats and, finally, the Magic Umbrella.

  “Hurrah!” shouted Button-Bright, grabbing the umbrella and hugging it tight in his arms.

  “Hooray!” shrieked the parrot;

  “Cap’n Bill’s a lucky fellah,

  ‘Cause he found the old umbrella!”

  Trot’s face was wreathed in smiles.

  “This is jus’ the best luck that could have happened to us,” she exclaimed, “‘cause now we can go home whenever we please.”

  “Let’s go now — this minute — before we lose the umbrella again,” said Button-Bright.

  But Trot shook her head.

  “Not yet,” she replied. “We’ve got to straighten out things in Sky Island, first of all. A Queen has some duties, you know, and as long as I’m Queen here I’ve got to live up to the part.”

  “What has to be did, mate?” inquired Cap’n Bill.

  “Well, we’ve fixed the Blue Country pretty well, by makin’ ‘Sizzle the Boolooroo of it; but the Pinkies mus’ be looked after, too, ‘cause they’ve stood by us an’ helped us to win. We must take ‘em home again, safe an’ sound, and get a new Queen to rule over ‘em. When that’s done we can go home any time we want to.”

  “Quite right, Trot,” said the sailor, approvingly. “When do we march?”

  “Right away,” she replied. “I’ve had enough of the Blue Country. Haven’t you?”

  “We have, mate.”

  “We’ve had plenty of it,” observed Button-Bright.

  “And the Pinkies are anxious to get home,” added Rosalie, who was present.

  So Cap’n Bill unhooked the seats from the handle of the umbrella and wound the ropes around the two boards and made a package of them, which he carried under his arm. Trot took the empty lunch-basket and Button-Bright held fast to the precious umbrella. Then they returned to the palace to bid good-bye to Ghip-Ghisizzle and the Blues.

  The new Boolooroo seemed rather sorry to lose his friends, but the people were secretly glad to get rid of the strangers, especially of the Pinkies. They maintained a sullen silence while Coralie and Captain Tintint formed their ranks in marching order, and they did not even cheer when Trot said to them in a final speech:

  “I’m the Queen of Sky Island, you know, and the new Boolooroo has got to carry out my orders and treat you all nicely while I’m away. I don’t know when I’ll come back, but you’d better watch out an’ not make any trouble, or I’ll find a way to make you sorry for it. So now, good-bye!”

  “And good riddance!” screamed the Six Snubnosed Girls who had once been Princesses, and who were now in the crowd that watched the departure.

  But Trot paid no attention to them. She made a signal to the Pinkie Band, which struck up a fine Pink March, and then the Army stepped out with the left foot first, and away went the conquerors down the streets of the Blue City, out of the blue-barred gateway and across the country toward the Fog Bank.

  The Elephant’s Head Comes to Life

  WHEN they reached the edge of the Fog Bank the Pinkies all halted to put on their raincoats and Button-Bright put up his umbrella and held it over himself and Trot. Then, when everybody was ready, they entered the Fog and Rosalie the Witch made a signal to call the Frog King and his subjects to aid them, as they had done before.

  Pretty soon the great frogs appeared, a long line of them facing Trot and her Pink Army and sitting upon their haunches close together.

  “Turn around, so we can get upon your backs,” said Rosalie.

  “Not yet,” answered the Frog King, in a gruff, deep voice. “You must first take that insulting umbrella out of my dominions.”

  “Why, what is there about my umbrella that seems insulting?” asked Button-Bright, in surprise.

  “It is an insinuation that you don’t like our glorious climate, and object to our delightful fog, and are trying to ward off its soulful, clinging kisses,” replied the Frog King, in an agitated voice. “There has never been an umbrella in my kingdom before, and I’ll not allow one in it now. Take it away at once!”

  “But we can’t,” explained Trot. “We’ve got to take the umbrella with us to the Pink Country. We’ll put it down, if you like, an’ cross the bank in this drizzle — which may be clingin’ an’ soulful, but is too wet to be comfort’ble. But the umbrella’s got to go with us.”

  “It can’t go another inch,” cried the obstinate frog, with an angry croak, “nor shall any of your people advance another step while that insulting umbrella is with you.”

  Trot turned to Rosalie.

  “What shall we do?” she asked.

  “I really do not know,” replied the Witch, greatly perplexed.

  “Can’t you make the frogs let us through?” inquired the boy.

  “No; I have no power over the frogs,” Rosalie answered. “They carried us before as a favor, but if the king now insists that we cannot pass with the umbrella we must go back to the Blue Country or leave your umbrella behind us.”

  “We won’t do that!” said Button-Bright, indignantly. “Can’t we fight the frogs?”

  “Fight!” cried Trot; “why, see how big they are. They could eat up our whole army, if they wanted to.”

  But just then, while they stood dismayed at this unfortunate position, a queer thing happened. The umbrella in Button-Bright’s hand began to tremble and shake. He looked down at the handle and saw that the red eyes of the carved elephant’s head were rolling fiercely and sending out red sparks of anger in all directions. The trunk swayed from side to side and the entire head began to swell and grow larger.

  In his fright the boy sprang backward a step and dropped the umbrella to the ground, and as he did so it took the form of a complete elephant, growing rapidly to a monstrous size. Then, flapping its ears and wagging its tail — which was merely the covered frame of the umbrella — the huge elephant lifted its trunk and charged the line of astonished frogs.

  In a twinkling the frogs all turned and made the longest leaps their powerful legs enabled them to. The King jumped first of all and in a panic of fear the others followed his example. They were out of sight in an instant, and then the elephant turned its head and looked at Button-Bright and at once trotted into the depths of the fog.

  “He wants us to follow,” said the boy, gasping in amazement at this wonderful transformation. So immediately they began marching through the fog behind the elephant, and as the great beast advanced the frogs scrambled out of his way and hid themselves in the moist banks until he had passed them by.

  Cap’n Bill had to mind his wooden leg carefully and the old sailor was so excited that he mumbled queer sentences about “Araby Ann Knights,” and “ding-donged magic” and the “fool foolishness of fussin’ with witches an’ sich,” until Trot wondered whether her old friend had gone crazy or was only badly scared.

  It was a long journey, and all the Pinkies were dripping water from their raincoats, and their little fat legs were tired and aching, when the pink glow showing through the fog at last announced the fact that they were nearing the Pink Country.

  At the very edge of the Fog Bank the elephant halted, winked at Button-Bright, lowered its head and began to shrink in size and dwindle away. By the time the boy came up to it, closely followed by Trot and Cap’n Bill, the thing was only the well-known Magic Umbrella, with the carved elephant’s head for a handle, and it lay motionless upon the ground. Button-Bright cautiously picked it up and as he examined it he thought the tiny red eyes still twinkled a little, as if with triumph and pride.

  Trot drew a long breath.

  “That was some magic, I guess!” she exclaimed. “Don’t you think so, Rosalie?”

  “It was the most wonderful thing I ever saw,” admitted the Witch. “The fairies who control Button-Bright’s umbrella must be very powerful, indeed!”

  Trot Regulates the
Pinkies

  THE Pinkies were rejoiced to find themselves again in their beloved land of sunrises and sunsets. They sang and shouted with glee and the Band uncovered its pink instruments and played the National Pink Anthem, while the parrot flew from Trot’s shoulder to Cap’n Bill’s shoulder and back again, screaming ecstatically:

  “Hooray! we’re through the wetful fogs

  Where the elephant scared the fretful frogs!”

  There was a magnificent sunset in the sky just then and it cheered the Pinkies and gave them renewed strength. Away they hastened across the pink fields to the Pink City, where all the Pink people who had been left behind ran out to welcome them home again.

  Trot and Button-Bright, with Cap’n Bill and Rosalie the Witch, went to the humble palace, where they had a simple supper of coarse food and slept upon hard beds. In the houses of the City, however, there was much feasting and merrymaking, and it seemed to Trot that the laws of the country which forbade the Queen from enjoying all the good things the people did were decidedly wrong and needed changing.

  The next morning Rosalie said to the little girl:

  “Will you make Tourmaline the Queen again, when you go away?”

  “I’ll send for her and see about it,” replied Trot.

  But when Tourmaline arrived at the palace, dressed all in lovely fluffy robes and with a dainty pink plume in her pink hair, she begged most earnestly not to be made the Queen again.

  “I’m having a good time, just now, after years of worry and uncomfortable living in this uncomfortable old hut of a palace,” said the poor girl, “so it would be cruel for you to make me the servant of the people again and condemn me to want and misery.”

  “That seems reason’ble,” replied Trot, thoughtfully.

  “Rosalie’s skin is just as light a pink as my own,” continued Tourmaline. “Why don’t you make her the Queen?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” said Trot. Then she turned to Rosalie and asked: “How would you like to rule the Pinkies?”

  “I wouldn’t like it,” replied the Witch, with a smile. “The Queen is the poorest and most miserable creature in all the kingdom and I’m sure I don’t deserve such a fate. I’ve always tried to be a good witch and to do my duty.”

  Trot thought this over quite seriously for a time. Then one of her quaint ideas came to her — so quaint that it was entirely sensible.

  “I’m the Queen of the Pinkies just now, am I not?” she asked.

  “Of course,” answered Rosalie; “none can dispute that.”

  “Then I’ve the right to make new laws, haven’t I?”

  “I believe so.”

  “In that case,” said the girl, “I’m goin’ to make a law that the Queen shall have the same food an’ the same dresses an’ the same good times that her people have; and she shall live in a house jus’ as good as the houses of any of her people, an’ have as much money to spend as anybody. But no more. The Queen can have her share of ever’thing, ‘cordin’ to the new law, but if she tries to get more than her share I’ll have the law say she shall be taken to the edge an’ pushed off. What do you think of that law, Rosalie?”

  “It’s a good law, and a just one,” replied the Witch approvingly.

  So Trot sent for the Royal Scribbler, who was a very fat Pinky with large pink eyes and curly pink hair, and had him carefully write the new law in the Great Book of Laws. The Royal Scribbler wrote it very nicely in pink ink, with a big capital letter at the beginning and a fine flourish at the end. After Trot had signed her name to it as Queen she called all of the important people of the land to assemble in the Court of the Statues and ordered the Royal Declaimer to read to them the new law. The Pinkies seemed to think it was a just law and much better than the old one, and Rosalie said:

  “Now no one can object to becoming the Queen, since the Ruler of the Pinkies will no longer be obliged to endure suffering and hardships.”

  “All right,” said Trot. “In that case I’ll make you the Queen, Rosalie, for you’ve got more sense than Tourmaline has and your powers as a witch will help you to protect the people.”

  At once she made the announcement, telling the assembled Pinkies that by virtue of her high office as Queen of Sky Island she would leave Rosalie the Witch to rule over the Pink Country while she returned to the Earth with her friends. As Rosalie was greatly loved and respected, the people joyfully accepted her as their Queen, and Trot ordered them to tear down the old hut and build a new palace for Rosalie — one which would be just as good as any other house in the City, but no better. She further ordered a pink statue of Tourmaline to be set up in the Court, and also a pink statue of herself, so that the record of all the rulers of the Pinkies should be complete.

  The people agreed to do all this as soon as possible, and some of the leaders whispered together and then asked Coralie to be their spokesman in replying to Queen Trot’s speech.

  Coralie stood on a chair and made a bow, after which she thanked Trot in the name of the Pinkies for leading them safely into the Blue Country and out again, and for giving them so good a Queen as Rosalie. The Pinkies would be sorry to have their new friends, the Earth people, leave them, but asked the Queen of Sky Island to carry with her the royal band of pink gold which she now wore upon her brow, together with the glistening pink jewel set in its center. It would remind her, Coralie declared, of the Beautiful Land of Sunset and Sunrise and of the fact that the Pinkies would always be glad to welcome her back.

  Trot knew she would never return to Sky Island, but she did not tell them that. She merely thanked Coralie and the Pinkies and said they might all come to the Court after dinner and see her and her comrades fly away through the sky.

  The Journey Home

  AFTER the Pinkies had been dismissed, their new Queen Rosalie, by means of a clever charm, conjured up a dinner table set with very nice things to eat. They all enjoyed a hearty meal and afterward sat and talked over their adventures.

  “Will you take the parrot home with you, Trot?” asked Cap’n Bill.

  “Guess not, Cap’n,” she answered. “Mother wouldn’t like to have him hangin’ ‘round an’ screechin’ bad po’try ev’ry minute. I’ll give him to Rosalie, for I’m sure she’ll take good care of him.”

  Rosalie accepted the gift with pleasure, but the parrot looked sober awhile and then said:

  “This looks to me like a give-away;

  But here I am, and here I’ll stay.

  The country’s pink, but we’ll all be blue

  When Trot goes home, as she says she’ll do.”

  They now packed the lunch-basket with the remains of the feast, for they knew a long journey was before them and feared they might be hungry before they landed again. Cap’n Bill straightened out the ropes and adjusted the seats, while Button-Bright examined the umbrella to see if it had been injured in any way when the elephant tramped through the Fog Bank.

  The boy looked into the small red eyes of the carved elephant’s-head handle with some misgivings, but as seen in the strong sunshine the eyes were merely red stones, while the handle plainly showed the marks of the tool that had carved it.

  When all was ready they went into the Court of the Statues, where all the Pinkies were assembled — together with their Pink Band — and Cap’n Bill hooked the swinging seats onto the handle of the Magic Umbrella.

  Trot kissed Rosalie and Coralie and Tourmaline good-bye and said to them:

  “If you ever happen to come to Earth you must be sure to visit me and I’ll try to give you a good time. But p’raps you’ll stay here all your lives.”

  “I think we shall,” replied Rosalie, laughing, “for in all Sky Island there will be no Magic Umbrella for us to fly with.”

  “And when you see Polychrome,” added Trot, “jus’ give her my love.”

  Then she and Button-Bright seated themselves in the double seat, which was flat upon the pink ground, and Cap’n Bill sat before them on his own seat, to which the lunch basket had been fastene
d by means of a stout cord.

  “Hold fast!” said the sailorman, and they all held fast to the ropes while the boy, glancing up toward the open umbrella he held, said solemnly and distinctly:

  “Take us to Trot’s house on the Earth.”

  The umbrella obeyed, at once mounting into the air. It moved slowly at first but gradually increased its speed. First it lifted the seat of the boy and girl, then Cap’n Bill’s seat and finally the lunch-basket.

  “Fly high! — mind your eye!

  Don’t cry! — bye-bye!”

  shouted the parrot from the Pink Witch’s shoulder.

  Trot leaned over and waved her hand. The Pink Band played as loud as it could — in order that the travelers might hear it as long as possible — and Rosalie and Coralie and Tourmaline threw kisses to their vanishing friends as long as they remained in sight.

  * * * * * * * *

  “Seems good to be on the way home again,” remarked Trot, as the umbrella bumped into a big black cloud.

  “It reely does, mate,” answered the sailorman, joyously.

  Fast through the cloud the umbrella swept and then suddenly it sailed into a clear blue sky, across which a great and gorgeous Rainbow spread its radiant arch. Upon the bow danced the dainty Daughters of the Rainbow, and the umbrella passed near enough to it for the passengers to observe Polychrome merrily leading her sisters, her fleecy robes waving prettily in the gentle breeze.

  “Good-bye, Polly!” cried Button-Bright, and Trot and Cap’n Bill both called out: “Good-bye!”

  Polychrome heard and nodded to them smilingly, never halting in her graceful dance. Then the umbrella dropped far below the arch, which presently faded from view.

  It was an exciting ride. Scenes presented themselves entirely different from those they had seen on their former voyage, for the sky changes continually and the clouds of the moment are not the clouds of an hour ago. Once they passed between two small stars as brilliant as diamonds, and once an enormous bird, whose wings spread so wide that they shadowed the sun, soared directly over them and lost itself in the vague distance of the limitless sky.