L. Frank Baum - Oz 26 Read online

  The Purple Prince Of Oz - Oz 26

  L. Frank Baum

  by RUTH PLUMLY THOMPSON

  Dear Boys and Girls:

  I hope you like this gay Oz adventure. Tell me if you do! It all happened about the time the June Bug came out of storage, and just about the time next year’s snow balls are ripe, I’ll be writing you another story.

  Oz Always,

  RUTH PLUMLY THOMPSON

  This book is cheerfully and affectionately dedicated to

  Oliver Cromwell Curtis, in less serious moments, my Big Brother Tom. Well there is nothing serious about Oz, so cheerio, Tom and many merry wishes!

  LIST OF CHAPTERS

  1 SourGrapes

  2 A Strange Story

  3 The Mist Tree

  4 InFollenshyForest

  5 TheRiver Road

  6 Torpedora, the Glorious

  7 Stair Way.

  8 Nandywog, the Little Giant

  9 The Guide Post Man

  10

  Regalia

  11

  In the Castle of the Red Jinn

  12

  The Grand Advizier Advises

  13

  The Red Jinn’s Looking Glasses

  14

  King, King, Double King!

  15

  Escape from Double Up

  16

  Meanwhile, in Pumperdink

  17

  Ozwoz the Wonderful

  18

  The Elegant Elephant Uses His Head

  19

  More Mysteries

  20

  “The Purple Prince Has Earned His Crown!”

  CHAPTER 1 Sour Grapes

  “WHO is this boy?” wheezed the King of Pumperdink fretfully. “What has he done? Speak up, General, can’t you see I have a headache?” Groaning a little, for he had eaten twenty pickled eggs for breakfast and found them highly indigestible, Pompus stared petulantly at the shabby boy who had just been dragged into his presence. “Who are You?” he demanded, pointing his fat finger crossly

  at the culprit.

  “A runaway!” panted the Royal Gardener, shaking

  his rake.

  “A thief!” added General Quakes grimly.

  “He has eaten all the grapes on your Majesty’s favorite grape vine.

  “Ugh!” winced the King, for the very thought of eating anything made him feel terribly terrible!

  “Tell his Highness why you stole the grapes,” ordered the general, giving the prisoner a little prod.

  “Because I was hungry,” answered the boy, jerking away from his two captors and staring calmly at the King.

  “Hungry?” Pompus, who was really extremely soft-hearted, looked distressed. “Dear, dear, that is too bad! Well, how did you find them?”

  “Sour,” answered the prisoner shortly. “Very

  sour.”

  “Sour? My imperial Pumperdinkian purple grapes sour? Dip him! Dip him in the well! Take him away!” shouted Pompus, annoyed and insulted.

  “What’s all this noise?” murmured a sleepy voice, and Kabumpo, the Elegant Elephant, who had been enjoying his morning nap, thrust his huge head through the curtain in back of the King’s throne. “Why all this excitement so early in the day?”

  “This miserable little runaway has eaten the King’s best grapes,” explained General Quakes, rattling his sword dangerously.

  “Not only that. He says they are sour!” frowned Pompus, blowing out his cheeks and rolling his eyes indignantly around at the Elegant Elephant.

  “Sour grapes! Ho, ho! Kerumph!” rumbled Kabumpo, coming all the way out. “Told you so right to your face? Well, there’s courage for you. What’s your name, young one?”

  “Randy,” answered the prisoner, glancing curiously up at the gorgeously caparisoned elephant.

  “Randy what?” yawned Kabumpo.

  “Just Randy.” Thrusting both hands in his pockets, the boy, who was about ten with black hair and eyes, looked composedly at his captors.

  “Well, I’ll Randy him,” fumed Pompus, clasping his hands on his stomach. “Dip him three times and return him to his family at once!”

  “Where are you from?” roared General Quakes, seizing Randy’s arm. But at this, Randy closed his mouth tight and refused to speak; and though the gardener on one side and the general on the other Continued to shake and question, not a word could they get out of him.

  “I saw him sneaking down the mountains last evening,” insisted the gardener testily. “He must live in the mountains. Where do you belong you little grape eater, you?”

  “Stop!” trumpeted Kabumpo indignantly, as Randy was jerked first by one arm and then the other. “Do you want to pull the boy in two? I, myself, will take this lad for an attendant. Spezzle is old and anxious to retire, so let me have this boy, your Majesty, and I promise he shall never bother you again. Will you come with me and do exactly as I say?” asked the Elegant Elephant, squinting down his trunk at the shabby little Gilliken. Randy looked dubiously up into Kabumpo’s snapping little eyes, but detecting an unmistakable wink, thankfully nodded his head.

  “Then take him away at once Take him away!” ordered Pompus, clapping both hands to his aching middle. “Can’t you see I’m suffering? Go away, all

  of you!”

  “How about the dipping?” sniffed the garden, who felt that the prisoner was getting off far too easily.

  “I’ll attend to that” answered the Elegant Elephant haughtily, and picking Randy up in his trunk he tossed him lightly to his shoulder and stalked with great dignity from the purple throne room.

  Now Pumperdink, as many of you already know, is an old-fashioned Oz Kingdom way up in the northern part of the Gilliken Country, its royal family being one of the oldest and most interesting In Oz. Pompus, the King, rules over his subjects with great ease and cleverness. All who obey the laws are rewarded; all who break the laws are promptly dipped in the royal well. As the well water it purple and dyes offenders as thoroughly and effectively as we dye Easter Eggs, and as the dye sticks for almost two weeks, the Pumperdinkians are very careful not to break the laws, so that revolutions or uprisings are practically unknown in that pleasant and peaceful valley. It is not often that Pompus loses his temper, either-only when he eats pickled eggs. Usually he is the kindest and most considerate of monarchs. Indeed, Pompus and Pozy Pink, his Queen, are famed far and wide for their cheerfulness and generosity.

  As for Pompadore, the King’s son, and his Princess, Peg Amy, and their little daughter Pajonia they make life in the purple castle so delightfully interesting and jolly that I can think of no happier place to live or visit. No wonder Kabumpo prefers Pumperdink to any other kingdom in the realm. And

  speaking of Kabumpo I had better explain at once that the Elegant Elephant was given to Pompus simply Oz ages ago by a famous Blue Emperor. And Kabumpo has shown himself so wise and sagacious has lent such style and elegance to the Court that he has been made a member of the royal family with the rank of Prince and Chancellor.

  The King confers with Kabumpo on every occasion and matter of importance and would not think of undertaking a journey or war without first consulting his Elegant Elephant. Which, of course, only proves that Kabumpo is no ordinary pachyderm. No Kabumpo is the largest elephant in Oz and in that strange and exciting country where animals can talk as well and sometimes better than their masters, It Is no small honor to be the greatest animal of all. Kabumpo sees and does things in a big way and if he is a bit haughty and proud with lesser folk, who can blame him? His heart, when you get right down to it, is in exactly the right place and beats warmly and loyally for his King and country. It was this same big heart that prompted the Elegant Elephant to come to the aid of the
mountain boy, and he had no intention at all of dipping Randy in the purple well. Once back in his huge and comfortable apartment on the first floor of the palace, Kabumpo

  gave him food, new clothes and a long lecture on court etiquette. But the lecture was so mixed with jokes and funny stories that Randy did not mind it at all and by evening was beginning to feel perfectly at ease and at home in the grand and sumptuous quarters of the Elegant Elephant of Oz.

  “As good a place as any to begin,” he sighed, snuggling comfortably down in the soft bed Kabumpo had ordered the palace servants to place in the enormous dressing room. “As good a place as any. Ho, hum, I wonder how long it will take me!”

  CHAPTER 2

  A Strange

  Story

  THE Elegant Elephant was dressing for dinner. Kabumpo always dressed for dinner, wearing his costliest jewels and most elaborately embroidered robes of state as became a member of the royalest family in Oz. As he surveyed himself calmly and leisurely in the glass, Kabumpo was turning over in his mind some stories that might amuse little Princess Pajonia and keep her quiet and happy during the long tedious dinner hour.

  “I’ll tell her the tale of the pink goat,” decided the Elegant Elephant, taking up a small mirror in his trunk and examining himself critically from all sides. “Just pull that robe a bit to the right, Randy, and see that the buckle is caught, will you?” Randy, perched on a tall ladder beside Kabumpo, gave a little sniff of impatience, but carefully straightened the velvet robe, fastened the jeweled buckle and then, resting his elbows on his knees, stared gloomily into the long mirror “That’s it,” approved Kabumpo, paying no attention to Randy’s sulky expression. “You grow handier every day, my boy. Why, soon you’ll be the handiest attendant I ever have had.” Randy said nothing,, but sniffed again, this time quite audibly.

  “Now what’s the matter?” grunted Kabumpo, looking at him sharply. “Many a lad would think it an honor to wait upon the Elegant Elephant of Oz. Have you not a fine bed, new clothes and all you want to eat? Haven’t I taken you riding when no one was about and allowed you to play marbles with my best earrings? And who was it pray, who saved you from being sent home in disgrace? Who made a place for you in the King’s household so you could see something of high life? And now you sit there and sniff at me.

  Hem! Ho! Kerumph!” Snorting

  with displeasure, Kabumpo glared at Randy, and Randy without explanation or apology glared back. But for all his independence and sauciness, there was something extremely likeable about this little Gilliken and though he showed no proper deference or respect for Kabumpo’s rank and position, the Elegant Elephant already felt an unaccountable liking and affection for him. Still, it was unthinkable that any one fortunate enough to associate with an elephant as important and grand as himself should be discontented or unhappy. Kabumpo just couldn’t understand it.

  “You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” he grumbled, shaking his trunk sternly at his little attendant. “What’s the matter with you, anyway?”

  “Oh, nothing,” sighed Randy, running nimbly down the ladder.

  “Nothing’s the matter. That’s just it. Nothing! Nothing ever happens here.” Folding his arms Randy looked scornfully out over the quiet and serene gardens of the castle.

  “Nothing ever happens here!” exclaimed Kabumpo, coming round with one majestic sweep. “How do you know nothing happens? You’ve been here only a week. Let me tell you, my lad, things have happened in Pumperdink that would make your ears

  flap and your chin quiver. Things that would curl up your knees and your nose, young one!”

  “Really!” Randy tried to speak indifferently but could not keep the interest out of his voice; Kabumpo, pulling an enormous gold watch from a pocket in his robe and seeing that there was still half an hour before dinner, demanded mysteriously:

  “Have you ever heard of scroll magic?”

  Randy slowly shook his head.

  “Ha, I thought not. Well, Randy, if it had not been for scroll magic, Prince Pompadore would never have married, Princess Peg Amy would still be a wooden doll and I should never have visited the Emerald City of Oz. It began on just such a day as this,” confessed the Elegant Elephant, looking uneasily out of the window, “just such a day as this. Pompa’s birthday it was, too, and when we blew out the candles on the birthday cake, the cake itself exploded and knocked us all about. And when we picked ourselves up, there was this scroll saying that if Prince Pompadore did not marry a proper princess in a proper span of time, Pumperdink would disappear forever, and even longer, from the Gilliken Country of Oz. Think of that my boy!”

  Without much enthusiasm Randy thought of that and Kabumpo, warming to his tale, hurried on:

  Well after the first shock of the scroll the King and the Prime Pumper decided to marry Pompa to Paleero, who happens to be the only princess around here.”

  “That old witch we saw gathering faggots yesterday?” gasped Randy in a shocked voice. “Why, she’s as old as Stone Mountain!”

  “Older!” rasped Kabumpo, shaking his head angrily at the mere memory of the thing. “And, you know, the King and Pumper were so set on saving the Kingdom at once that I had to run off with Pompa to rescue him from the awful old creature.”

  “Well, what happened then?” asked Randy, edging closer and beginning to play with the fringe on Kabumpo’s robe.

  Pl-enty!,” rumbled the Elegant Elephant, shifting from one foot to the other. “Pompa and I traveling all over Oz to find a proper princess and not only found her and saved Pumperdink from disappearing but rescued Ozma and her courtiers from a giant as well.” The Elegant Elephant tried to look modest as he made this statement, but he did not succeed very well and, as Randy was now all ears, he told with great earnestness and enjoyment the whole story of Peg Amy’s enchantment and Prince

  Pompadore’s strange adventures and marriage.

  “It all began when an old wizard named Glegg fell in love with the young and beautiful Princess of Sun Top Mountain,” explained Kabumpo, with a huge sigh. “Consulting his book of the future, Glegg discovered that the princess was to marry Prince Pompadore of Pumperdink. To prevent this he sent the threatening scroll, hoping to frighten Pompa into a marriage with some other princess. See?” Randy nodded quickly. “But when Glegg asked the princess to marry him, of course she refused, and in a fit of anger he turned her into a little tree in Ozma’s garden. Believing she would tire of this enchantment and finally consent to marry him, Glegg hid his box of magic in a cave under Ozma’s castle and set himself to wait for the princess to change her mind. But what happened?” Kabumpo lifted his trunk scornfully. “Cap’n Bill, an old sailor who lives in the Emerald City, wishing to surprise Trot, a little mortal girl who lives with Ozma, cut down the tree and carved a wooden doll from the wood. Trot, never knowing her doll had been a princess, called her Peg Amy and dressed her and loved her and carried her every place she went.

  Then, Ruggedo, the old Gnome King, who had been banished from his own dominions, took refuge in Glegg’s cave, found his

  box of mixed magic and almost destroyed the Emerald City.”

  “But what about the wooden doll?” begged Randy, Trying to piece all these strange incidents together.

  “Tut, tut! I’m coming to that,” puffed Kabumpo, glancing hurriedly at his watch. “Ruggedo stole the doll, my boy, and took her to his cave. He wanted somebody to scold and shake. He had already hired a rabbit, named Wag, to wait upon him but Wag would not allow the Gnome King even to box his ears, so Ruggedo shook and scolded Peg to his heart’s content, pretending she was Kaliko, his old steward. Fortunately Peg could not feel and Wag, the rabbit, took as good care of her as he could. Now, soon after stealing Peg, Ruggedo found Glegg’s box of magic containing Spike’s hair strengthener, expanding fluid, reanimating rays, some trick tea, and many other powerful salves and appliances. Wishing to be as strong as possible, Ruggedo poured the hair strengthener on his head. It instantly turned his hair into long iron spikes.
Then, wishing to try the expanding fluid, he poured a little on Wag, the rabbit while he was asleep, and on the wooden doll. Immediately they grew as large as you are and when he tried the reanimating rays on Peg she came to life and chased Rug all over the cavern.”

  “Well, good for her!” exclaimed Randy. “Did she catch him?”

  “No,” admitted Kabumpo ruefully, “for Ruggedo, afraid Peg would pay him back for all the shakings, poured all the rest of the expanding fluid over himself. First he expanded east and west till he filled the whole cavern and next he shot up as tall as a giant, bursting through the top of the cave. Then, with Ozma’s castle caught on the spikes of his head like a crown, the Gnome King stepped out of the cave, tramped off to Ev and sat down on a mountain. and here’s where we come in,” announced Kabumpo impressively. “I had about decided that Ozma was the proper princess for Pompa to marry, and right after Ruggedo disappeared with the castle, we arrived in the Emerald City. Almost immediately we met Wag and Peg. They had escaped from the cave and with Glegg’s box of mixed magic were on their way to find the Gnome King, who they felt sure meant to destroy Ozma and her courtiers. We naturally determined to go with them and though the wooden doll did not know she was a princess and we did not know it either, we liked her at once and grew fonder of her all the time. Well-” Kabumpo, taking another look at his watch, hurriedly continued the story, “-after some breath-taking adventures

  we finally reached Ev and with the help of Glegg’s magic, forced Ruggedo to march back to the Emerald City. Once there, he resumed his natural size and shape; the castle was restored to its foundations and the Gnome King himself was banished to a lonely island in the Nonestic Ocean. But Ozma refused to marry Prince Pompadore and when we asked Glegg’s question box who was the proper princess it told us to go to Sun Top Mountain. So, weary and discouraged though we were, we traveled on to Sun Top Mountain, taking Wag and Peg Amy along. When we reached the castle, the princess, of course, was not there, but no sooner had Peg Amy crossed the threshold, than the enchantment of Glegg was broken, and she became her own charming self. As she and Pompadore were very much in love they were married on the spot. Then we all returned to Pumperdink and have been here ever since; little Princess Pajonia was born four years ago last February. Is it all clear now?”