Books: American Fairy Tales
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L. Frank Baum >> American Fairy Tales
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Therefore the black people who dwelt in that region called him
"Ippi"--the jolly one, although they dared not come anigh him on
account of his fierce mother, and his equally fierce uncles and
aunts and cousins, who lived in a vast colony upon the river bank.
And while these black people, who lived in little villages scattered
among the trees, dared not openly attack the royal family of
hippopotamuses, they were amazingly fond of eating hippopotamus meat
whenever they could get it. This was no secret to the
hippopotamuses. And, again, when the blacks managed to catch these
animals alive, they had a trick of riding them through the jungles
as if they were horses, thus reducing them to a condition of
slavery.
Therefore, having these things in mind, whenever the tribe of
hippopotamuses smelled the oily odor of black people they were
accustomed to charge upon them furiously, and if by chance they
overtook one of the enemy they would rip him with their sharp tusks
or stamp him into the earth with their huge feet.
It was continual warfare between the hippopotamuses and the black
people.
Gouie lived in one of the little villages of the blacks. He was the
son of the chief's brother and grandson of the village sorcerer, the
latter being an aged man known as the "the boneless wonder," because
he could twist himself into as many coils as a serpent and had no
bones to hinder his bending his flesh into any position. This made
him walk in a wabbly fashion, but the black people had great respect
for him.
Gouie's hut was made of branches of trees stuck together with mud,
and his clothing consisted of a grass mat tied around his middle.
But his relationship to the chief and the sorcerer gave him a
certain dignity, and he was much addicted to solitary thought.
Perhaps it was natural that these thoughts frequently turned upon
his enemies, the hippopotamuses, and that he should consider many
ways of capturing them.
Finally he completed his plans, and set about digging a great pit in
the ground, midway between two sharp curves of the river. When the
pit was finished he covered it over with small branches of trees,
and strewed earth upon them, smoothing the surface so artfully that
no one would suspect there was a big hole underneath. Then Gouie
laughed softly to himself and went home to supper.
That evening the queen said to Keo, who was growing to be a fine
child for his age:
"I wish you'd run across the bend and ask your Uncle Nikki to come
here. I have found a strange plant, and want him to tell me if it is
good to eat."
The jolly one laughed heartily as he started upon his errand, for he
felt as important as a boy does when he is sent for the first time
to the corner grocery to buy a yeast cake.
"Guk-uk-uk-uk! guk-uk-uk-uk!" was the way he laughed; and if you
think a hippopotamus does not laugh this way you have but to listen
to one and you will find I am right.
He crawled out of the mud where he was wallowing and tramped away
through the bushes, and the last his mother heard as she lay half in
and half out of the water was his musical "guk-uk-uk-uk!" dying away
in the distance.
Keo was in such a happy mood that he scarcely noticed where he
stepped, so he was much surprised when, in the middle of a laugh,
the ground gave way beneath him, and he fell to the bottom of
Gouie's deep pit. He was not badly hurt, but had bumped his nose
severely as he went down; so he stopped laughing and began to think
how he should get out again. Then he found the walls were higher
than his head, and that he was a prisoner.
So he laughed a little at his own misfortune, and the laughter
soothed him to sleep, so that he snored all through the night until
daylight came.
When Gouie peered over the edge of the pit next morning he
exclaimed:
"Why, 'tis Ippi--the Jolly One!"
Keo recognized the scent of a black man and tried to raise his head
high enough to bite him. Seeing which Gouie spoke in the
hippopotamus language, which he had learned from his grandfather,
the sorcerer.
"Have peace, little one; you are my captive."
"Yes; I will have a piece of your leg, if I can reach it," retorted
Keo; and then he laughed at his own joke: "Guk-uk-uk-uk!"
But Gouie, being a thoughtful black man, went away without further
talk, and did not return until the following morning. When he again
leaned over the pit Keo was so weak from hunger that he could hardly
laugh at all.
"Do you give up?" asked Gouie, "or do you still wish to fight?"
"What will happen if I give up?" inquired Keo.
The black man scratched his woolly head in perplexity.
"It is hard to say, Ippi. You are too young to work, and if I kill
you for food I shall lose your tusks, which are not yet grown. Why,
O Jolly One, did you fall into my hole? I wanted to catch your
mother or one of your uncles."
"Guk-uk-uk-uk!" laughed Keo. "You must let me go, after all, black
man; for I am of no use to you!"
"That I will not do," declared Gouie; "unless," he added, as an
afterthought, "you will make a bargain with me."
"Let me hear about the bargain, black one, for I am hungry," said
Keo.
"I will let your go if you swear by the tusks of your grandfather
that you will return to me in a year and a day and become my
prisoner again."
The youthful hippopotamus paused to think, for he knew it was a
solemn thing to swear by the tusks of his grandfather; but he was
exceedingly hungry, and a year and a day seemed a long time off; so
he said, with another careless laugh:
"Very well; if you will now let me go I swear by the tusks of my
grandfather to return to you in a year and a day and become your
prisoner."
Gouie was much pleased, for he knew that in a year and a day Keo
would be almost full grown. So he began digging away one end of the
pit and filling it up with the earth until he had made an incline
which would allow the hippopotamus to climb out.
Keo was so pleased when he found himself upon the surface of the
earth again that he indulged in a merry fit of laughter, after which
he said:
"Good-by, Gouie; in a year and a day you will see me again."
Then he waddled away toward the river to see his mother and get his
breakfast, and Gouie returned to his village.
During the months that followed, as the black man lay in his hut or
hunted in the forest, he heard at times the faraway "Guk-uk-uk-uk!"
of the laughing hippopotamus. But he only smiled to himself and
thought: "A year and a day will soon pass away!"
Now when Keo returned to his mother safe and well every member of
his tribe was filled with joy, for the Jolly One was a general
favorite. But when he told them that in a year and a day he must
again become the slave of the black man, they began to wail and
weep, and so many were their tears that the river rose several
inches.
Of course Keo only laughed at their sorrow; but a great meeting of
the tribe was called and the matter discussed seriously.
"Having sworn by the tusks of his grandfather," said Uncle Nikki,
"he must keep his promise. But it is our duty to try in some way to
rescue him from death or a life of slavery."
To this all agreed, but no one could think of any method of saving
Keo from his fate. So months passed away, during which all the royal
hippopotamuses were sad and gloomy except the Jolly One himself.
Finally but a week of freedom remained to Keo, and his mother, the
queen, became so nervous and worried that another meeting of the
tribe was called. By this time the laughing hippopotamus had grown
to enormous size, and measured nearly fifteen feet long and six feet
high, while his sharp tusks were whiter and harder than those of an
elephant.
"Unless something is done to save my child," said the mother, "I
shall die of grief."
Then some of her relations began to make foolish suggestions; but
presently Uncle Nep, a wise and very big hippopotamus, said:
"We must go to Glinkomok and implore his aid."
Then all were silent, for it was a bold thing to face the mighty
Glinkomok. But the mother's love was equal to any heroism.
"I will myself go to him, if Uncle Nep will accompany me," she said,
quickly.
Uncle Nep thoughtfully patted the soft mud with his fore foot and
wagged his short tail leisurely from side to side.
"We have always been obedient to Glinkomok, and shown him great
respect," said he. "Therefore I fear no danger in facing him. I will
go with you."
All the others snorted approval, being very glad they were not
called upon to go themselves.
So the queen and Uncle Nep, with Keo swimming between them, set out
upon their journey. They swam up the river all that day and all the
next, until they came at sundown to a high, rocky wall, beneath
which was the cave where the might Glinkomok dwelt.
This fearful creature was part beast, part man, part fowl and part
fish. It had lived since the world began. Through years of wisdom it
had become part sorcerer, part wizard, part magician and part fairy.
Mankind knew it not, but the ancient beasts knew and feared it.
The three hippopotamuses paused before the cave, with their front
feet upon the bank and their bodies in the water, and called in
chorus a greeting to Glinkomok. Instantly thereafter the mouth of
the cave darkened and the creature glided silently toward them.
The hippopotamuses were afraid to look upon it, and bowed their
heads between their legs.
"We come, O Glinkomok, to implore your mercy and friendly
assistance!" began Uncle Nep; and then he told the story of Keo's
capture, and how he had promised to return to the black man.
"He must keep his promise," said the creature, in a voice that
sounded like a sigh.
The mother hippopotamus groaned aloud.
"But I will prepare him to overcome the black man, and to regain his
liberty," continued Glinkomok.
Keo laughed.
"Lift your right paw," commanded Glinkomok. Keo obeyed, and the
creature touched it with its long, hairy tongue. Then it held four
skinny hands over Keo's bowed head and mumbled some words in a
language unknown to man or beast or fowl or fish. After this it
spoke again in hippopotamese:
"Your skin has now become so tough that no man can hurt you. Your
strength is greater than that of ten elephants. Your foot is so
swift that you can distance the wind. Your wit is sharper than the
bulthorn. Let the man fear, but drive fear from your own breast
forever; for of all your race you are the mightiest!"
Then the terrible Glinkomok leaned over, and Keo felt its fiery
breath scorch him as it whispered some further instructions in his
ear. The next moment it glided back into its cave, followed by the
loud thanks of the three hippopotamuses, who slid into the water and
immediately began their journey home.
The mother's heart was full of joy; Uncle Nep shivered once or twice
as he remembered a glimpse he had caught of Glinkomok; but Keo was
as jolly as possible, and, not content to swim with his dignified
elders, he dived under their bodies, raced all around them and
laughed merrily every inch of the way home.
Then all the tribe held high jinks and praised the mighty Glinkomok
for befriending their queen's son. And when the day came for the
Jolly One to give himself up to the black man they all kissed him
good-by without a single fear for his safety.
Keo went away in good spirits, and they could hear his laughing
"guk-uk-uk-uk!" long after he was lost in sight in the jungle.
Gouie had counted the days and knew when to expect Keo; but he was
astonished at the monstrous size to which his captive had grown, and
congratulated himself on the wise bargain he had made. And Keo was
so fat that Gouie determined to eat him--that is, all of him he
possibly could, and the remainder of the carcass he would trade off
to his fellow villagers.
So he took a knife and tried to stick it into the hippopotamus, but
the skin was so tough the knife was blunted against it. Then he
tried other means; but Keo remained unhurt.
And now indeed the Jolly One laughed his most gleeful laugh, till
all the forest echoed the "guk-uk-uk-uk-uk!" And Gouie decided not
to kill him, since that was impossible, but to use him for a beast
of burden. He mounted upon Keo's back and commanded him to march. So
Keo trotted briskly through the village, his little eyes twinkling
with merriment.
The other blacks were delighted with Gouie's captive, and begged
permission to ride upon the Jolly One's back. So Gouie bargained
with them for bracelets and shell necklaces and little gold
ornaments, until he had acquired quite a heap of trinkets. Then a
dozen black men climbed upon Keo's back to enjoy a ride, and the one
nearest his nose cried out:
"Run, Mud-dog--run!"
And Keo ran. Swift as the wind he strode, away from the village,
through the forest and straight up the river bank. The black men
howled with fear; the Jolly One roared with laughter; and on, on, on
they rushed!
Then before them, on the opposite side of the river, appeared the
black mouth of Glinkomok's cave. Keo dashed into the water, dived to
the bottom and left the black people struggling to swim out. But
Glinkomok had heard the laughter of Keo and knew what to do. When
the Jolly One rose to the surface and blew the water from his throat
there was no black man to be seen.
Keo returned alone to the village, and Gouie asked, with surprise:
"Where are my brothers:"
"I do not know," answered Keo. "I took them far away, and they
remained where I left them."
Gouie would have asked more questions then, but another crowd of
black men impatiently waited to ride on the back of the laughing
hippopotamus. So they paid the price and climbed to their seats,
after which the foremost said:
"Run, mud-wallower--run!"
And Keo ran as before and carried them to the mouth of Glinkomok's
cave, and returned alone.
But now Gouie became anxious to know the fate of his fellows, for he
was the only black man left in his village. So he mounted the
hippopotamus and cried:
"Run, river-hog--run!"
Keo laughed his jolly "guk-uk-uk-uk!" and ran with the speed of the
wind. But this time he made straight for the river bank where his
own tribe lived, and when he reached it he waded into the river,
dived to the bottom and left Gouie floating in the middle of the
stream.
The black man began swimming toward the right bank, but there he saw
Uncle Nep and half the royal tribe waiting to stamp him into the
soft mud. So he turned toward the left bank, and there stood the
queen mother and Uncle Nikki, red-eyed and angry, waiting to tear
him with their tusks.
Then Gouie uttered loud screams of terror, and, spying the Jolly
One, who swam near him, he cried:
"Save me, Keo! Save me, and I will release you from slavery!"
"That is not enough," laughed Keo.
"I will serve you all my life!" screamed Gouie; "I will do
everything you bid me!"
"Will you return to me in a year and a day and become my captive, if
I allow you to escape?" asked Keo.
"I will! I will! I will!" cried Gouie.
"Swear it by the bones of your grandfather!" commanded Keo,
remembering that black men have no tusks to swear by.
And Gouie swore it by the bones of his grandfather.
Then Keo swam to the black one, who clambered upon his back again.
In this fashion they came to the bank, where Keo told his mother and
all the tribe of the bargain he had made with Gouie, who was to
return in a year and a day and become his slave.
Therefore the black man was permitted to depart in peace, and once
more the Jolly One lived with his own people and was happy.
When a year and a day had passed Keo began watching for the return
of Gouie; but he did not come, then or ever afterwards.
For the black man had made a bundle of his bracelets and shell
necklaces and little gold ornaments and had traveled many miles into
another country, where the ancient and royal tribe of hippopotamuses
was unknown. And he set up for a great chief, because of his riches,
and people bowed down before him.
By day he was proud and swaggering. But at night he tumbled and
tossed upon his bed and could not sleep. His conscience troubled
him.
For he had sworn by the bones of his grandfather; and his
grandfather had no bones.
THE MAGIC BON BONS
There lived in Boston a wise and ancient chemist by the name of Dr.
Daws, who dabbled somewhat in magic. There also lived in Boston a
young lady by the name of Claribel Sudds, who was possessed of much
money, little wit and an intense desire to go upon the stage.
So Claribel went to Dr. Daws and said:
"I can neither sing nor dance; I cannot recite verse nor play upon
the piano; I am no acrobat nor leaper nor high kicker; yet I wish to
go upon the stage. What shall I do?"
"Are you willing to pay for such accomplishments?" asked the wise
chemist.
"Certainly," answered Claribel, jingling her purse.
"Then come to me to-morrow at two o'clock," said he.
All that night he practiced what is known as chemical sorcery; so
that when Claribel Sudds came next day at two o'clock he showed her
a small box filled with compounds that closely resembled French
bonbons.
"This is a progressive age," said the old man, "and I flatter myself
your Uncle Daws keeps right along with the procession. Now, one of
your old-fashioned sorcerers would have made you some nasty, bitter
pills to swallow; but I have consulted your taste and convenience.
Here are some magic bonbons. If you eat this one with the lavender
color you can dance thereafter as lightly and gracefully as if you
had been trained a lifetime. After you consume the pink confection
you will sing like a nightingale. Eating the white one will enable
you to become the finest elocutionist in the land. The chocolate
piece will charm you into playing the piano better than Rubenstein,
while after eating you lemon-yellow bonbon you can easily kick six
feet above your head."
"How delightful!" exclaimed Claribel, who was truly enraptured. "You
are certainly a most clever sorcerer as well as a considerate
compounder," and she held out her hand for the box.
"Ahem!" said the wise one; "a check, please."
"Oh, yes; to be sure! How stupid of me to forget it," she returned.
He considerately retained the box in his own hand while she signed a
check for a large amount of money, after which he allowed her to
hold the box herself.
"Are you sure you have made them strong enough?" she inquired,
anxiously; "it usually takes a great deal to affect me."
"My only fear," replied Dr. Daws, "is that I have made them too
strong. For this is the first time I have ever been called upon to
prepare these wonderful confections."
"Don't worry," said Claribel; "the stronger they act the better I
shall act myself."
She went away, after saying this, but stopping in at a dry goods
store to shop, she forgot the precious box in her new interest and
left it lying on the ribbon counter.
Then little Bessie Bostwick came to the counter to buy a hair ribbon
and laid her parcels beside the box. When she went away she gathered
up the box with her other bundles and trotted off home with it.
Bessie never knew, until after she had hung her coat in the hall
closet and counted up her parcels, that she had one too many. Then
she opened it and exclaimed:
"Why, it's a box of candy! Someone must have mislaid it. But it is
too small a matter to worry about; there are only a few pieces." So
she dumped the contents of the box into a bonbon dish that stood
upon the hall table and picking out the chocolate piece--she was
fond of chocolates--ate it daintily while she examined her purchases.
These were not many, for Bessie was only twelve years old and was
not yet trusted by her parents to expend much money at the stores.
But while she tried on the hair ribbon she suddenly felt a great
desire to play upon the piano, and the desire at last became so
overpowering that she went into the parlor and opened the
instrument.
The little girl had, with infinite pains, contrived to learn two
"pieces" which she usually executed with a jerky movement of her
right hand and a left hand that forgot to keep up and so made
dreadful discords. But under the influence of the chocolate bonbon
she sat down and ran her fingers lightly over the keys producing
such exquisite harmony that she was filled with amazement at her own
performance.
That was the prelude, however. The next moment she dashed into
Beethoven's seventh sonata and played it magnificently.
Her mother, hearing the unusual burst of melody, came downstairs to
see what musical guest had arrived; but when she discovered it was
her own little daughter who was playing so divinely she had an
attack of palpitation of the heart (to which she was subject) and
sat down upon a sofa until it should pass away.
Meanwhile Bessie played one piece after another with untiring
energy. She loved music, and now found that all she need do was to
sit at the piano and listen and watch her hands twinkle over the
keyboard.
Twilight deepened in the room and Bessie's father came home and hung
up his hat and overcoat and placed his umbrella in the rack. Then he
peeped into the parlor to see who was playing.
"Great Caesar!" he exclaimed. But the mother came to him softly with
her finger on her lips and whispered: "Don't interrupt her, John.
Our child seems to be in a trance. Did you ever hear such superb
music?"
"Why, she's an infant prodigy!" gasped the astounded father. "Beats
Blind Tom all hollow! It's--it's wonderful!"
As they stood listening the senator arrived, having been invited to
dine with them that evening. And before he had taken off his coat
the Yale professor--a man of deep learning and scholarly
attainments--joined the party.
Bessie played on; and the four elders stood in a huddled but silent
and amazed group, listening to the music and waiting for the sound
of the dinner gong.
Mr. Bostwick, who was hungry, picked up the bonbon dish that lay on
the table beside him and ate the pink confection. The professor was
watching him, so Mr. Bostwick courteously held the dish toward him.
The professor ate the lemon-yellow piece and the senator reached out
his hand and took the lavender piece. He did not eat it, however,
for, chancing to remember that it might spoil his dinner, he put it
in his vest pocket. Mrs. Bostwick, still intently listening to her
precocious daughter, without thinking what she did, took the
remaining piece, which was the white one, and slowly devoured it.
The dish was now empty, and Claribel Sudds' precious bonbons had
passed from her possession forever!
Suddenly Mr. Bostwick, who was a big man, began to sing in a shrill,
tremolo soprano voice. It was not the same song Bessie was playing,
and the discord was shocking that the professor smiled, the senator
put his hands to his ears and Mrs. Bostwick cried in a horrified
voice:
"William!"
Her husband continued to sing as if endeavoring to emulate the
famous Christine Nillson, and paid no attention whatever to his wife
or his guests.
Fortunately the dinner gong now sounded, and Mrs. Bostwick dragged
Bessie from the piano and ushered her guests into the dining-room.
Mr. Bostwick followed, singing "The Last Rose of Summer" as if it
had been an encore demanded by a thousand delighted hearers.
The poor woman was in despair at witnessing her husband's
undignified actions and wondered what she might do to control him.
The professor seemed more grave than usual; the senator's face wore
an offended expression, and Bessie kept moving her fingers as if she
still wanted to play the piano.
Mrs. Bostwick managed to get them all seated, although her husband
had broken into another aria; and then the maid brought in the soup.
When she carried a plate to the professor, he cried, in an excited
voice:
"Hold it higher! Higher--I say!" And springing up he gave it a
sudden kick that sent it nearly to the ceiling, from whence the dish
descended to scatter soup over Bessie and the maid and to smash in
pieces upon the crown of the professor's bald head.
At this atrocious act the senator rose from his seat with an
exclamation of horror and glanced at his hostess.
For some time Mrs. Bostwick had been staring straight ahead, with a
dazed expression; but now, catching the senator's eye, she bowed
gracefully and began reciting "The Charge of the Light Brigade" in
forceful tones.
The senator shuddered. Such disgraceful rioting he had never seen
nor heard before in a decent private family. He felt that his
reputation was at stake, and, being the only sane person,
apparently, in the room, there was no one to whom he might appeal.
The maid had run away to cry hysterically in the kitchen; Mr.
Bostwick was singing "O Promise Me;" the professor was trying to
kick the globes off the chandelier; Mrs. Bostwick had switched her
recitation to "The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck," and Bessie had
stolen into the parlor and was pounding out the overture from the
"Flying Dutchman."
The senator was not at all sure he would not go crazy himself,
presently; so he slipped away from the turmoil, and, catching up his
had and coat in the hall, hurried from the house.
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