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favorite lady in waiting, severely in the ribs. What
do you intend to do about it?" As the queen fin-
ished speaking a smaller unicorn trotted forward.
There was a large purple bruise on her side and on
her face an expression of sullen anger.
"Oh, but that was the fault of the fog," burst out
Snuffer, coming hastily to Realbad's assistance. "He
couldn't help it, you know."
"I trust her Ladyship will accept my sincere apol
ogies," murmured Realbad, doffing his plumed hat
and bowing deeply before Ann Gora.
"Well, Ann?" The queen tossed her head self-
consciously. "Will you accept the fellow's apology
or not?"
"Not!" shrilled Ann Gora, drawing back her lips
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and showing a double row of teeth.
"How mad are you?" asked the queen in an inter-
ested voice.
"Wee-gh! Wa-aah! Wu-uuuh!" trumpeted
her Ladyship, stamping all four feet and lashing her
tail. "Wee-eeeh! W~aaaah! Wu-mp!" Ann
Gora's outrageous outcries ran up and down Ojo's
spine, and Realbad, snatching out his handkerchief,
mopped his forehead anxiously.
"Perhaps Ann would like the feather out of my
hat, or my belt to wear for a collar?" he suggested
hopefully. After a whispered conference with her
favorite, the queen threw up her head.
'Neigh!" announced her Highness with stomach-
shaking violence. "Neigh!"
"I told you her 'neigh' was terrible," groaned the
blue dwarf, covering his ears. "Hurry, think of
something else or we'll all be deafened."
"What would your Highness like me to do?"
Demanded the bandit in an exasperated voice, as the
horrid echoes of the queen's neigh finally died away.
After another conference with her lady in waiting
the queen spoke, again.
"Ann Gora would like to poke you as hard as you
poked her," she stated frankly.
"So---o! This Ann Gora means to gore us," growled
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Snuffer, grabbing a lantern from the tree and wav-
ing it over his head. "Well, just let her try it."
"Sh-h! I have the ring," whispered Realbad un-
der his breath. "She cannot hurt me but she can
poke a real hole in you. Careful, old fellow, this is
my affair." Ojo, as ready as Snuffer to fly to Real-
bad's assistance, subsided at the bandit's words.
With horrified eyes and clutching tightly to Snuffer's
paw he watched the perverse little unicorn dash at
Realbad and thrust her sharp horn deeply into his
chest It came out without leaving even a hole in
his leather coat and Ann Gora found the experience
so novel that she poked him five or six times before
Roganda lifted her hoof.
"Stop!" directed the queen sharply. "He only
poked you once, Ann. This two-leg is brave as well
as handsome. Pat him!" commanded her Majesty,
nodding at the dwarf. "Pat them all!" And turning
on her heel, or rather on her heels, Roganda moved
off majestically, followed more slowly by her lady
in waiting. Ann Gora kept looking over her shoulder
at Realbad as if she could not believe he were true.
"Well, if this doesn't beat the gypsies," puffed
Snuffer, as the dwarf, with a wink at Ojo, began to
brush him briskly with the silver brush. The bear's
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fur was dusty and tangled and the brushing felt so
good that he gradually became calmer.
"Each of you fellows pick a lantern and let's go,"
he advised in a low voice, "before any more goring
begins. Queens with two feet are dangerous enough,
but queens with four feet and a horn are simply
im-possible."
"And how she can blow it," shuddered Realbad,
shaking his head to get the heart-breaking sound out
of his ears. "Do all her Majesty's subjects blow upon
their horns and thrust them out like swords?" he
inquired, turning to Pat.
"Roganda's the only one who can blow her horn
or lengthen it out into a pike," the dwarf told them.
"That's why she is queen. And say, why not stay
here till the fog lifts? I am sure her Highness is
pleased with you now, and whoever eats the silver
apples of the unicorns will not feel the pangs of
hunger for seven days." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]