“Why didn’t your grandfathers just divide up the land between the families?” Karl asked.
“Oh, no! That would have been worse, don’t you see?” Irene explained. “Then that would have divided the Dwarfs, too, and they really act just like one big family. So, our grandfathers agreed that there should be one king, one kingdom, but where everyone was equal and happy and could get along with one another.”
“You said that there was some kind of contest,” Karen tried to bring the subject back to the point. “They have to fight or something?”
Queen Irene laughed, and everyone was pleasantly affected by it. “No. No fighting. There were several games which the contestants had to compete. One was wrestling to see who was the strongest. Another was a mind game to see who was the smartest. Another was a game to see who had the best imagination. And there were several other games. After a weeklong contest, my grandfather became the first king. Then his only son competed against my husband’s father and lost. He married a woman from one of the other families on the Island and had three children, the youngest of whom is my husband.”
“There are three kings in the FOB now,” Karl pointed out. “What happened to the contest idea?”
“Right,” Karen chimed in. “And what happened to all the humans who had come with your grandfathers?”
“Our people are scattered throughout the FOB,” Irene told them, “and they tired of the contest way of choosing a king. Besides, not very many of them wanted to be the king, because being a king is a rather difficult job—a full-time job, I might add. They all took a vote soon after my husband’s father had become king and decided that they would allow the reigning king to choose his successor. Of course there are conditions. Should the Dwarfs themselves not like a particular king, then they had the right to vote the king out of his position and force another contest to be held for a better king.”
Karl shook his head, as this kind of government was hard to understand. He couldn’t believe that people could get along so well and not be fighting each other for power. It just seemed so unnatural. “Just seems to good to be true,” he thought aloud.
“You are used to the outside world,” Irene said with great patience. “This Island changes people. My husband’s behavior was what we could call an anomaly, because he had reverted back to the kind of behavior my grandfathers had left in the outside world. There is no need for all that negative competition that divided neighbors into the rich and the poor, the smarter and the not-so-smart, the ‘right’ idea and the ‘left’ idea. We have been able to live in a world where most of the jealousy, envy, and other negative emotions have no place. Getting along and loving each other as brothers and sisters of a big family is most important.”
“Even if you are Dwarfs and humans,” Karen said.
“That is correct.”
Queen Irene was about to say something more when a Dwarf dressed in a smart outfit that marked him as a messenger for King Crane intruded into the room. “The Council of the Kings is about to begin. King Crane has respectfully asked that all be present.”
“We’re ready,” Uniqua announced, and she turned to the twins first, who got up from the bed, and then scowled at Cassandra, who seemed content just to remain in her corner. “Let’s go, Cassandra. You cannot sulk here all day, and, besides, it would be rude to our gracious hosts.”
“Gracious hosts,” growled Cassandra in a tone whereby the last thing she regarded was that these people were hosts much less gracious.
“Please let me escort you,” Queen Irene said sweetly, and presently the Group accompanied her and the messenger Dwarf back into the throne room.
The throne room was the same as before, except that it seemed more packed with Dwarfs than before, almost impossibly so because there was no room for anyone to stand except on someone’s toes. The three brother kings were already seated on their thrones, but as the Group trooped into the room they stood up to greet them.
This is when our friends were able to see a huge difference in King Kurt. No longer garbed in war armor that hid his face and body, he wore a very simple gown of white that swept to the floor with a gold-gilded rope belt about his middle. His face, now uncovered, was beautiful and glowing. In fact, he had never been more handsome, even before he had been terribly burned. And, the smile on his face that was reflected in his eyes was genuine with happiness and peace that he had never experienced before.
As Queen Irene led the Group up to the thrones, King Crane turned to his brother King Kurt to allow him to speak first.
“My friends, my family, my people, and especially to our special visitors,” King Kurt addressed everyone in the huge room. “Today marks two special occasions. The first is to convey my heartfelt thanks to our visitors for their courage and kindness—an act of selflessness that I can never repay in kind. I hereby decree that these visitors will always remain my truest friends and are welcome in my house any time they wish to visit.
“The second is my announcement to renounce my kingship.” For the first time since the arrival of the Group noises like gasps of astonishment erupted from the audience. “Since my healing—for I have been truly transformed—I have had a lot of time to think about my life and everything I have done as a king. I find myself unworthy of being a king. Therefore, if it is the will of the people, I wish instead that you accept my beautiful and loving wife, Irene, to be your Queen and rule over you, as she has the grace and the wisdom to do so far more than I am capable of.”
Immediately, a cacophony of voices erupted, each person trying to make themselves heard. (A cacophony is when you have a lot of different sounds all mingled together, and you cannot quite make out any one sound, and usually the sounds that are made are not very pleasant to hear. It is kind of like when an orchestra is tuning up, and each instrument is playing its own melody or sound without any organization.) There were cries of “No, no!” along with “Three cheers for Queen Irene!” and other shouts of opinion.
King Kurt raised his right hand for silence so that he could be heard. “My decision is final. I have too much love for all of you to continue as your king. I will be content to remain as husband to my loving wife and a friend to all of you, my beloved Dwarfs.
“Furthermore, I shall no longer be called Kurt, for it is a name that belongs to the past, to the man that I was. I am no longer that man, for he was an unpleasant man. Because I have changed, so, too, I must change my name to reflect the new man I have become. I prefer now to accept the name Real.” (As in the Real Deal, for that was what he came to be called among the people later).
“Thank you for your understanding. My brother, King Crane, that is all I have to say. Please continue.” King Kurt, now just plain Real, bowed his head and took a half step back towards his throne. His wife crossed in front of the Group and stood by his side.
King Crane cleared his throat quietly and looked upon our friends with much concern. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t get much sleep last night. I’ve been thinking about you seven all night. You came into our lands rather abruptly, even though it wasn’t really your fault. My soldiers acted hastily and unnecessarily attacked you. For that I apologize. What amazes me the most, however, is the action of these two children, who were able to overcome two of my soldiers, dress themselves up in excellent disguises, and enter our kingdom as two of our own Dwarfs. I have never seen such fighting skill as demonstrated by these three Rabbits, and I daresay that they could take on the entire army of Dwarfs.” He smiled, and the Rabbits felt a little proud from such praise. “And then there is a Dragon in our midst, and that is truly remarkable. Never in wildest dreams would I have believed such a thing could be possible, that a Dragon would enter our lands and yet be the most peaceful and controlled creature. Your patience with us is a marvel, for I understand well why you should want to hate us and desire revenge for what happened to your parents.”
Cassandra’s scowl did not entirely disappear from her face, but she seemed to be a little bit mollified by
the King’s kind words.
“As a King, it is my duty to protect my people and my land from all enemies. Part of me would advise that you seven be immediately removed from our land and prevented from ever returning. But then, as my good brother King Bart has been quick to point out in our closed meetings that so much good has come from your visit, and that we should welcome you with open arms and wish you to remain with us for as long as you want.
“I cannot make a decision at this time until we have heard your story, something that we should have done a long time ago. So, if you will be so kind, we want to hear from you why you have come to the land of the FOB, what is your quest, and how we may be able to assist you.” He then returned to his throne, and the two brothers sat down on them as one.
I know that I stated that the throne room was really crowded, but somehow two Dwarfs brought up two small wooden chairs for the children to sit on. Then Uniqua related all of their adventures up to this point in our story. Since you already know of these adventures, we will jump to the end of Uniqua’s narration and get to the important part, where King Crane makes a decision.
He listened carefully to everything that the Unicorn said. King Bart often would gasp and hold his hand over his heart when Uniqua talked about the dangerous parts, and Real would lean forward when she explained how the Group managed to escape from their difficulties. Even the audience of Dwarfs was enthralled with the adventures, and you can be assured that songs and stories were created that day based on the adventures of our seven friends.
“It seems obvious to me,” King Crane began, “that you have many quests to fulfill, and there is not much time to do them all. You have promised so much, much more than I would have done.” Here he looked at the children. “Being children, perhaps you did not understand that you were taking on more than you could handle. Yet, I admire your willingness—and indeed your successes this far—to go so far out of your way to help other people. Your courage and your faith is a lesson to all of us. You go where so many fear.
“And, you have wisely chosen faithful friends who are willing to face all the dangers thus far, and I, therefore, give much credit to your friends who have stood beside you. For if you did not have these friends, I doubt that you would have succeeded in any of your difficulties.
“I agree that you must reach the Mountain of Power and have audience with the Lord of Power. But I must warn you that the difficulties you have experienced so far were easy compared to the difficulties you will face in the future. As you have found friends and help among the other races of Islanders, so, too, must we offer friendship and help.”
He turned to a Dwarf standing behind his throne and said, “Please ask Captain Helf to join us.” (See, I told you we would be seeing more of this Dwarf.)
As the messenger moved to the back of the throne room to summon the Captain, King Crane went on with his speech. “You see, children and friends, on the western and northern borders of our land there are mountain chains that are nearly impassible. Years ago, some of the Dwarfs attempted to climb over those mountains. Others tried to dig tunnels through or under the mountains. All attempts to climb or dig failed; we really don’t know why because none of those expeditions returned. To get to Big City, you have to either go over the mountains or through them, and there may be only one way you might succeed, which I will explain to you shortly.”
He did not have time to say much more, for the messenger quickly returned with Captain Helf in tow. The Captain walked around to the front of the thrones and bowed low.
“Captain,” King Crane addressed him, “we need your advice. Our new friends must travel to the Big City. I believe that you might have a way to help them.”
Captain Helf stroked his beard as he thought, and then he answered: “If Your Majesties will recall, there may be way, but a long time ago you three thought it too dangerous to try. If you again remember, your decision was not to make the attempt, as there seemed to be no good reason to travel outside our lands. I speak, of course, of the flying boat.”
“Yes, yes,” King Bart enjoined. “I remember that well. Such a flimsy thing. I remember suggesting that we dismantle the thing because I feared that someone would get hurt.”
“And in my old self,” Real spoke up, “I wanted to use it as a weapon of attack. I see now that not only was I foolish in my thinking and selfish desires, but I might have sent many of my Dwarfs to a needless death.”
“Your arguments move me to dismiss the idea altogether,” King Crane announced. “No, I cannot allow even you, my friends—” (he was addressing the Group) “—to use such a dangerous craft. Perhaps if there was a way that they—” (he was now speaking to his brothers and the Captain) “—could sail around the northeastern part of the Island.”
“That wouldn’t be such a good idea, Your Majesty,” Helf objected. “You see, we tried that once before ourselves, even though we Dwarfs absolutely hate the sea.” He turned to Uniqua and further explained: “We get seasick too easily. The earth might rock back and forth occasionally, but we have never enjoyed the constant rocking back and forth of the water. Plus, we aren’t very good swimmers; our bodies tend to be like rocks, and we quickly sink to the bottom.”
The twins tried to hide their smiles, because they considered themselves to be excellent swimmers, being that they lived on the ocean.
“So, Your Majesties, going under the mountains is impossible. Going through the mountains is equally impossible. Sailing around the northern point of the Island is rather dangerous, for there are some very strange currents there, and one must also consider that they would have to come to close to Lava World. And that is one place, everyone knows, is a place we all want to avoid.” (Now at this point in Helf’s speech, the twins were at once interested. When someone says that “You want to avoid something,” there is just this natural curiosity in humans—especially children—that makes them want to not avoid that something but go and check it out. And Lava World just seemed to be interesting enough to want to go there despite Helf’s warnings.) “No, Your Majesties, the only way to cross the mountains of the west and north is to try and fly over them.”
“What do my new friends say?” King Crane asked, looking doubtful at Uniqua.
“We must try to do everything we can to get to Big City,” the Unicorn answered. “You see, if we do not, the children will die. If they cannot keep their promise to the Submarians, then the magic pearls they were forced to eat will kill them. If we should all perish in the attempt to cross the mountains, at least we will have tried to keep our promise. I speak for all of us that we want to use this flying boat.”
“Can you fly this boat?” King Crane asked with a great deal of skepticism.
“If your people can teach us, we will do so,” Uniqua confidently stated.
“I will go with them,” Helf interjected. “And so, too, will my good friend Captain Lump. He knows that flying boat forwards and backwards. If anyone can fly that boat over the mountains, he is our man.”
“I cannot order any of my Dwarfs to go,” King Crane said sadly. “My head tells me to order you all not to go.”
“And my heart would break should any of you be harmed or hurt in any way,” added King Bart.
“As for me,” Real began, “my old self would have gone himself. Danger is like an adventure. What say you, my Queen?”
Irene, of course, had not said anything up to this point. I believe she was still in a kind of shock to realize that her husband had abdicated his throne (which is giving up all of his power and title) and that she was now in charge of one-third of the Dwarfs and the FOB. At first, she felt a little timid, as she was not accustomed to talking in public about decisions much less being a part of the discussions.
“I say that we must let them go,” she finally spoke. “We have only two choices: the children stay and die, or allow the children to go. They might die, as the Unicorn stated. Or, they might succeed in their quest. What was it that our grandfathers used to say? ‘If one does
not try, one surely cannot succeed.’ We must also trust in the Lord of Power. If he does not want the children to succeed, why would he have allowed Who to tell the children to travel to the Mountain of Power in the first place?”
In the end, it was Queen Irene’s words that won the day. It was not an easy decision, and no one was really very happy about it. But the Group would be allowed to use the flying boat and attempt the dangerous crossing of the mountains.
And now we get to see this marvelous flying boat. For that we must travel from King Crane’s palace to the exact center of the FOB, which is the middle of King Crane’s territory. If you were to look up at the dark ceiling you might be able to see a faint circular outline where the roof actually opened up to the sky above. Then, if you can imagine a straight vertical line between this opening in the roof and a large stone platform on the ground, then you will immediately notice that the flying boat sat directly under this opening.
Remember when Queen Irene spoke of her grandfather arriving to the Island in a fishing boat? Well, it was his boat that now sat atop this stone platform. It had first been refurbished (meaning repaired, repainted, and generally made to look nice) and placed here as a monument to the humans that had come to the land of the Dwarfs. Only a few years ago had the Dwarf engineers started tinkering with the boat to make it fly, thinking that, since all other attempts to physically cross over or tunnel through the mountains had failed, the only option not tried yet was to fly over them. Three more masts were erected: one at the bow, one at the stern, and the other amidships. To these masts, they fastened extra sails, but the key element to give the ship flight were these large bladders installed at the upper ends of the masts. And, the masts were hollow, so that heated air from below decks could be pumped into these bladders. As the hot air rose, so, too, the ship gained buoyancy and flight. The Dwarfs had succeeded in making it fly around inside the building before the three kings put an end to any further progress.
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