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.''I'm not such a stupid as that comes to,' returned Her Majesty.'What I mean is that by the time he is starved there will hardly bea picking upon his bones.'The king gave a great laugh.'Well, my spouse, you may have him when you like,' he said.'Idon't fancy him for my part.I am pretty sure he is tough eating.''That would be to honour instead of punish his insolence,' returnedthe queen.'But why should our poor creatures be deprived of somuch nourishment? Our little dogs and cats and pigs and smallbears would enjoy him very much.''You are the best of housekeepers, my lovely queen!' said herhusband.'Let it be so by all means.Let us have our people in,and get him out and kill him at once.He deserves it.Themischief he might have brought upon us, now that he had penetratedso far as our most retired citadel, is incalculable.Or rather letus tie him hand and foot, and have the pleasure of seeing him tornto pieces by full torchlight in the great hall.''Better and better!' cried the queen and the prince together, bothof them clapping their hands.And the prince made an ugly noisewith his hare-lip, just as if he had intended to be one at thefeast.'But,' added the queen, bethinking herself, 'he is so troublesome.For poor creatures as they are, there is something about thosesun-people that is very troublesome.I cannot imagine how it isthat with such superior strength and skill and understanding asours, we permit them to exist at all.Why do we not destroy thementirely, and use their cattle and grazing lands at our pleasure?Of course we don't want to live in their horrid country! It is fartoo glaring for our quieter and more refined tastes.But we mightuse it as a sort of outhouse, you know.Even our creatures' eyesmight get used to it, and if they did grow blind that would be ofno consequence, provided they grew fat as well.But we might evenkeep their great cows and other creatures, and then we should havea few more luxuries, such as cream and cheese, which at present weonly taste occasionally, when our brave men have succeeded incarrying some off from their farms.''It is worth thinking of,' said the king; 'and I don't know why youshould be the first to suggest it, except that you have a positivegenius for conquest.But still, as you say, there is somethingvery troublesome about them; and it would be better, as Iunderstand you to suggest, that we should starve him for a day ortwo first, so that he may be a little less frisky when we take himout.''Once there was a goblinLiving in a hole;Busy he was cobblin'A shoe without a sole.'By came a birdie:"Goblin, what do you do?""Cobble at a sturdieUpper leather shoe."'"What's the good o' that, Sir?"Said the little bird."Why it's very Pat, Sir -Plain without a word.'"Where 'tis all a hole, Sir,Never can be holes:Why should their shoes have soles, Sir,When they've got no souls?"''What's that horrible noise?' cried the queen, shuddering frompot-metal head to granite shoes.'I declare,' said the king with solemn indignation, 'it's thesun-creature in the hole!''Stop that disgusting noise!' cried the crown prince valiantly,getting up and standing in front of the heap of stones, with hisface towards Curdie's prison.'Do now, or I'll break your head.''Break away,' shouted Curdie, and began singing again:'Once there was a goblin, Living in a hole -''I really cannot bear it,' said the queen.'If I could only get athis horrid toes with my slippers again!''I think we had better go to bed,' said the king.'It's not time to go to bed,' said the queen.'I would if I was you,' said Curdie.'Impertinent wretch!' said the queen, with the utmost scorn in hervoice.'An impossible if,' said His Majesty with dignity.'Quite,' returned Curdie, and began singing again:'Go to bed,Goblin, do.Help the queenTake off her shoe.'If you do,It will discloseA horrid setOf sprouting toes.''What a lie!' roared the queen in a rage.'By the way, that reminds me,' said the king, 'that for as long aswe have been married, I have never seen your feet, queen.I thinkyou might take off your shoes when you go to bed! They positivelyhurt me sometimes.''I will do as I like,' retorted the queen sulkily.'You ought to do as your own hubby wishes you,' said the king.'I will not,' said the queen.'Then I insist upon it,' said the king.Apparently His Majesty approached the queen for the purpose offollowing the advice given by Curdie, for the latter heard ascuffle, and then a great roar from the king.'Will you be quiet, then?' said the queen wickedly.'Yes, yes, queen.I only meant to coax you.''Hands off!' cried the queen triumphantly.'I'm going to bed.Youmay come when you like.But as long as I am queen I will sleep inmy shoes.It is my royal privilege.Harelip, go to bed.''I'm going,' said Harelip sleepily.'So am I,' said the king.'Come along, then,' said the queen; 'and mind you are good, orI'll -''Oh, no, no, no!' screamed the king in the most supplicating oftones.Curdie heard only a muttered reply in the distance; and then thecave was quite still.They had left the fire burning, and the light came through brighterthan before.Curdie thought it was time to try again if anythingcould be done.But he found he could not get even a finger throughthe chink between the slab and the rock.He gave a great rush withhis shoulder against the slab, but it yielded no more than if ithad been part of the rock.All he could do was to sit down andthink again.By and by he came to the resolution to pretend to be dying, in thehope they might take him out before his strength was too muchexhausted to let him have a chance.Then, for the creatures, if hecould but find his axe again, he would have no fear of them; and ifit were not for the queen's horrid shoes, he would have no fear atall.Meantime, until they should come again at night, there was nothingfor him to do but forge new rhymes, now his only weapons.He hadno intention of using them at present, of course; but it was wellto have a stock, for he might live to want them, and themanufacture of them would help to while away the time.CHAPTER 20Irene's ClueThat same morning early, the princess woke in a terrible fright.There was a hideous noise in her room - creatures snarling andhissing and rocketing about as if they were fighting.The momentshe came to herself, she remembered something she had never thoughtof again - what her grandmother told her to do when she wasfrightened.She immediately took off her ring and put it under herpillow.As she did so she fancied she felt a finger and thumb takeit gently from under her palm.'It must be my grandmother!' shesaid to herself, and the thought gave her such courage that shestopped to put on her dainty little slippers before running fromthe room.While doing this she caught sight of a long cloak ofsky-blue, thrown over the back of a chair by the bedside.She hadnever seen it before but it was evidently waiting for her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
