"Please bring my mamma some gold and some diamonds, a whole bushel,"
said Lulu; and Zuzu said, "I wish the same, because I have often heard mamma express a wish for those very things."
"Very well," said the Private Secretary, "she shall have them just as soon as his Majesty can telephone to the Fairy Valley. His Majesty is very liberal in such matters as these."
"Telephone?" cried Zuzu. "Do you have telephones here?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: Zuzu and Lulu bowed very low _Page 50_]
"Certainly we do. How could the King order such gold and diamonds as he may need, if he were not able to telephone for them to the Fairies? You see, we get these things only through the Fairies, who live far toward the interior of the Island, in a place which not even I myself have ever seen."
"Well, I would like to know how any one can telephone to a Fairy," said Zuzu, who had never heard of such a thing before.
"It is the simplest thing in the world," replied the Private Secretary.
"The morning is the best time for the use of the Fairy Telephone. You will notice that then the dew lies heavy upon all the world. All the leaves and blades of gra.s.s are wet with it, and it shines in the early sunlight, to my mind far more beautifully than any diamond. Now, over this dewy world of leaves and gra.s.s and boughs and ferns, which touch each other quite across the Island, you will see many little fine lines, finer than hairs, woven in and out. Sometimes you will see long floating films and sometimes braided nets. These are the webs of the spiders, which spin all the time without any one asking them to work. Now, these webs of the spiders are the lines of the Fairy Telephone, and they run from this Island quite over into the valley where the Fairies live."
"But how can you hear?" asked Lulu. "I have had spider webs in my hands, but I heard nothing at all."
"That was because you did not have a Cricket to put to your ear at the same time," said the Private Secretary. "If you have a good Cricket and place it at your ear, it will say things to you. Have you not heard Crickets chirping, chirping away, hour after hour?"
"Of course! of course!" cried both the Twins, "we have heard that."
"Well," said the Private Secretary, "that is all there is about it. The Crickets are simply telephoning from the Fairies to you, and it has been your own fault that you have not had messages from the Fairies before now. Only I should say you must remember to have a White Cricket for good Fairies. A Black Cricket will telephone only to bad Fairies. His Majesty, of course, has a fine White Cricket, which has always lived under his shadow; and it is with this that he telephones to the Fairy Valley."
"I wish I had a Cricket," said Zuzu.
"Very well," said the Private Secretary, "you shall have one presently; but remember that is two wishes you have already had. And remember only a White Cricket is the right kind."
Before Zuzu could think or wish again, Lulu broke in. "I shall wish for a dewy morning and plenty of spider webs," said she.
"Very well," said the Private Secretary, "I shall make a note of your second wish. You have now but two wishes left for the week; although I must say that for inexperienced wishers you have done very well."
"But why can"t we ourselves go to the Fairy Valley," asked Zuzu, "if it is right here on this Island?"
The Private Secretary frowned. "Surely," said he, "you are a very ignorant person if you can have such a thought as that. The Fairy Valley is known to none of us of the royal household. Besides, you quite forget about the Dragon which guards the entrance to the Valley. Listen! It seems to me I hear the Dragon"s voice at this moment."
They all stopped and listened, and, to be sure, they heard at that moment a low, hoa.r.s.e, roaring sound come across the forest, sounding something like the bark of the sea-lion in the zoological gardens, so that any who have heard that will know very well how the voice of a Dragon sounds. For, as it seems, this is what Zuzu and Lulu heard.
"Yes," said the Private Secretary, "there is the Dragon roaring now."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER XIV
JANKOW THE DRAGON
"I don"t exactly like that sound," said Zuzu, drawing back. "It makes my shoulders creep." Lulu also hesitated.
"Don"t fear," said the Private Secretary. "In my belief the Dragon is not so bad as his voice and actions would seem to indicate. I have lived here all my life, and although I have known our Dragon to threaten to do a great many things, I have never known him really to harm anybody in his life. It seems necessary for a Dragon to roar a great deal; but in my experience they are not dangerous if properly approached and handled with care."
Zuzu and Lulu, none the less, were very much afraid as they went on through the woods with the Private Secretary. The voice of the Dragon seemed to them very loud and ferocious. They held on tight to the hands of the Private Secretary, who led them on until at last they came out into a wide, open s.p.a.ce in front of a high and jagged pile of rocks. In these rocks there was a narrow sort of gorge or pa.s.sageway, and directly in front of this opening or door, as they presently discovered, lay the head and shoulders of the most dreadful looking Dragon either Zuzu or Lulu had ever heard of in all their lives.
The head of the Dragon was as large as a two-horse carriage and its mouth was as wide as a door; so that both of the Twins could have stepped into the mouth had they cared to do so. As they approached, they saw that the roof of the Dragon"s mouth was dark red, the sides of its mouth and its tongue a light red in color. It had teeth as long as one"s arm. Fire at times came out of its nostrils, and its eyes, which were as large as bushel baskets and very bright red in color, rolled from side to side in the most remarkable and threatening manner.
"Oh, I wish it would stop," exclaimed Lulu, beginning to cry, as the Dragon went on growling and roaring.
"Arnggh! Arnggh!" it roared, and started up on its forefeet as though to talk to these intruders. As it did this, it moved its long body quite to the extremity of its tail, and the Twins could hear its heavy scales rattling at least fifty feet back in the dark pa.s.sage where the rest of the body and the tail of the Dragon were lying. At these sights and sounds it was all the Private Secretary could do to keep the Twins from running away, but he held them tight by the hands.
"Good morning, Jankow," said he to the Dragon. "How are you feeling to-day? Does the same tooth still bother you?"
"Of course it does," said the Dragon. "How do you suppose you would feel if you had a tooth that had been bothering you for fifty years?"
"I understand," said the Private Secretary, "but thus far the Royal Dentist has always declined to pay you a visit, Jankow, for fear you would swallow him while he was at work."
The Dragon only roared a few more times at this, but at length he asked, "Who are these two young persons you have with you?"
"These," said the Private Secretary, "are the Royal Hereditary Twins, who have been expected on the Island for a thousand years. You will see that one has the Royal Hereditary malazite blue hair, while the other has the genuine and ancient corazine green hair. Moreover, as you will observe, they both bear the Royal Wishing Wands, which all must obey. It is the wish of his Majesty that they have a pleasant life upon our Island."
"Well, I hope they will have a better time than I have had," said the Dragon mournfully. "What self-respecting Dragon would ask a place like mine? I am forced to obey the King or he will close my mouth; and I am obliged to obey the Fairies in the valley below, else they will pinch my tail. And I was once the Royal Army of the first King of Gee-Whiz, a thousand years ago!"
"You will see, my young friends," said the Private Secretary, "that Dragons grow very old and are sometimes, I fear, as short-tempered as they are long-lived; although I mean no offense to Jankow, who really has a tooth which should have been extracted, had he not been so proud of retaining a full set of teeth. And what he says about being the Royal Army is quite true."
"Indeed, it is," said the Dragon proudly. "I was the sole defense of this Island against the Wicked Fairies a thousand years ago, but now I am obliged to defend the Fairies as well. Were it not for me, they would get out of the Secret Valley and make trouble perhaps even now. I keep everybody in on one side and everybody out on the other. So I may say that I am still the support of this kingdom, although I am older than I once was."
"Oh, I see," cried Lulu. "That is why they telephone to the Fairies."
"Yes," growled the Dragon, "that is how they get around me. The new King has in some mysterious way discovered the use of the telephone. It makes me more than ever discontented with my place. And I can tell them that for a faithful, hard-working Dragon they"d have a hard enough time getting my superior, of that I am very sure. And all this indignity to me, who lost a limb in the service of my country!"
"What does he mean by that?" asked Lulu of the Private Secretary.
"It is true," said the latter. "He should have eight legs, including the two in front, which are by far the largest and most important of the eight. But if you will observe closely, you will see that Jankow"s left foreleg is of wood and merely painted over."
"Yes, and needs a fresh coat of paint as well," growled the Dragon, none the less thrusting out his wooden leg that all might see it. "I am a very much neglected Royal Army, as you can readily see for yourself.
Moreover, this loss of one of my most important legs confines me to this spot. I have been here for over a thousand years. A great many persons think they would like nothing so much as to be a Dragon, but I can tell them that they might not find it so pleasant after all, for being an honest and hard-working Dragon is no light task."
"Don"t you go to sleep each night?" asked Zuzu.
"I never go to sleep at all. For over a thousand years I have not had a nap. There is nothing in the world can put me to sleep."
"Except _one_ thing," said the Private Secretary, smiling.
The Dragon scowled at him. "What is the use of mocking me?" it said. "Of course, I know that the Enchanted Banjo might put me to sleep, but that plays only for the King; but not until that takes place does any person get by Jankow, the Royal Dragon."
"We quite trust you, Jankow," said the Private Secretary, "and I agree with you that you are a most excellent and satisfactory Dragon. But now, my young friends, if you please, we would better start back to the royal palace, for his Majesty will be waking before long. I only hope that the royal Waffles will continue to be satisfactory!"