They found the houses of the town all low and square and built of
bricks, neatly whitewashed inside and out. The houses were not set in
rows, forming regular streets, but placed here and there in a haphazard
manner which made it puzzling for a stranger to find his way.
"Stupid people must have streets and numbered houses in their cities,
to guide them where to go," observed the grey donkey, as he walked
before the visitors on his hind legs, in an awkward but comical manner;
"but clever donkeys know their way about without such absurd marks.
Moreover, a mixed city is much prettier than one with straight streets."
Dorothy did not agree with this, but she said nothing to contradict it.
Presently she saw a sign on a house that read: "Madam de Fayke, Hoofist,"
and she asked their conductor:
"What's a 'hoofist,' please?"
"One who reads your fortune in your hoofs," replied the grey donkey.
"Oh, I see," said the little girl. "You are quite civilized here."
"Dunkiton," he replied, "is the center of the world's
highest civilization."
They came to a house where two youthful donkeys were whitewashing the
wall, and Dorothy stopped a moment to watch them. They dipped the
ends of their tails, which were much like paint-brushes, into a pail of
whitewash, backed up against the house, and wagged their tails right
and left until the whitewash was rubbed on the wall, after which they
dipped these funny brushes in the pail again and repeated the performance.
"That must be fun," said Button-Bright.
"No, it's work," replied the old donkey; "but we make our youngsters
do all the whitewashing, to keep them out of mischief."
"Don't they go to school?" asked Dorothy.
"All donkeys are born wise," was the reply, "so the only school we
need is the school of experience. Books are only for those who know
nothing, and so are obliged to learn things from other people."
"In other words, the more stupid one is, the more he thinks he knows,"
observed the shaggy man. The grey donkey paid no attention to this
speech because he had just stopped before a house which had painted
over the doorway a pair of hoofs, with a donkey tail between them and
a rude crown and sceptre above.
"I'll see if his magnificent Majesty King Kik-a-bray is at home," said
he. He lifted his head and called "Whee-haw! whee-haw! whee-haw!"
three times, in a shocking voice, turning about and kicking with his
heels against the panel of the door. For a time there was no reply;
then the door opened far enough to permit a donkey's head to stick out
and look at them.
It was a white head, with big, awful ears and round, solemn eyes.
"Have the foxes gone?" it asked, in a trembling voice.
"They haven't been here, most stupendous Majesty," replied the grey
one. "The new arrivals prove to be travelers of distinction."
"Oh," said the King, in a relieved tone of voice. "Let them come in."
He opened the door wide, and the party marched into a big room, which,
Dorothy thought, looked quite unlike a king's palace. There were mats
of woven grasses on the floor and the place was clean and neat; but
his Majesty had no other furniture at all—perhaps because he didn't
need it. He squatted down in the center of the room and a little
brown donkey ran and brought a big gold crown which it placed on the
monarch's head, and a golden staff with a jeweled ball at the end of
it, which the King held between his front hoofs as he sat upright.
"Now then," said his Majesty, waving his long ears gently to and fro,
"tell me why you are here, and what you expect me to do for you." He
eyed Button-Bright rather sharply, as if afraid of the little boy's
queer head, though it was the shaggy man who undertook to reply.
"Most noble and supreme ruler of Dunkiton," he said, trying not to
laugh in the solemn King's face, "we are strangers traveling through
your dominions and have entered your magnificent city because the road
led through it, and there was no way to go around. All we desire is
to pay our respects to your Majesty—the cleverest king in all the
world, I'm sure—and then to continue on our way."
This polite speech pleased the King very much; indeed, it pleased him
so much that it proved an unlucky speech for the shaggy man. Perhaps
the Love Magnet helped to win his Majesty's affections as well as the
flattery, but however this may be, the white donkey looked kindly upon
the speaker and said:
"Only a donkey should be able to use such fine, big words, and you are
too wise and admirable in all ways to be a mere man. Also, I feel
that I love you as well as I do my own favored people, so I will
bestow upon you the greatest gift within my power—a donkey's head."
As he spoke he waved his jeweled staff. Although the shaggy man
cried out and tried to leap backward and escape, it proved of no use.
Suddenly his own head was gone and a donkey head appeared in its
place—a brown, shaggy head so absurd and droll that Dorothy and Polly
both broke into merry laughter, and even Button-Bright's fox face wore
a smile.
"Dear me! dear me!" cried the shaggy man, feeling of his shaggy new
head and his long ears. "What a misfortune—what a great misfortune!
Give me back my own head, you stupid king—if you love me at all!"
"Don't you like it?" asked the King, surprised.
"Hee-haw! I hate it! Take it away, quick!" said the shaggy man.
"But I can't do that," was the reply. "My magic works only one way.
I can do things, but I can't undo them. You'll have to find the
Truth Pond, and bathe in its water, in order to get back your own
head. But I advise you not to do that. This head is much more
beautiful than the old one."
"That's a matter of taste," said Dorothy.
"Where is the Truth Pond?" asked the shaggy man, earnestly.
"Somewhere in the Land of Oz; but just the exact location of it I
can not tell," was the answer.
"Don't worry, Shaggy Man," said Dorothy, smiling because her friend
wagged his new ears so comically. "If the Truth Pond is in Oz, we'll
be sure to find it when we get there."
"Oh! Are you going to the Land of Oz?" asked King Kik-a-bray.
"I don't know," she replied, "but we've been told we are nearer the
Land of Oz than to Kansas, and if that's so, the quickest way for me
to get home is to find Ozma."
"Haw-haw! Do you know the mighty Princess Ozma?" asked the King, his
tone both surprised and eager.
"’Course I do; she's my friend," said Dorothy.
"Then perhaps you'll do me a favor," continued the white donkey,
much excited.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Perhaps you can get me an invitation to Princess Ozma's birthday
celebration, which will be the grandest royal function ever held in
Fairyland. I'd love to go."
"Hee-haw! You deserve punishment, rather than reward, for giving
me this dreadful head," said the shaggy man, sorrowfully.
"I wish you wouldn't say 'hee-haw' so much," Polychrome begged him;
"it makes cold chills run down my back."
"But I can't help it, my dear; my donkey head wants to bray
continually," he replied. "Doesn't your fox head want to yelp every
minute?" he asked Button-Bright.
"Don't know," said the boy, still staring at the shaggy man's ears.
These seemed to interest him greatly, and the sight also made him
forget his own fox head, which was a comfort.
"What do you think, Polly? Shall I promise the donkey king an
invitation to Ozma's party?" asked Dorothy of the Rainbow's Daughter,
who was flitting about the room like a sunbeam because she could never
keep still.
"Do as you please, dear," answered Polychrome. "He might help to
amuse the guests of the Princess."
"Then, if you will give us some supper and a place to sleep to-night,
and let us get started on our journey early to-morrow morning," said
Dorothy to the King, "I'll ask Ozma to invite you—if I happen to get
to Oz."
"Good! Hee-haw! Excellent!" cried Kik-a-bray, much pleased. "You
shall all have fine suppers and good beds. What food would you
prefer, a bran mash or ripe oats in the shell?"
"Neither one," replied Dorothy, promptly.
"Perhaps plain hay, or some sweet juicy grass would suit you better,"
suggested Kik-a-bray, musingly.
"Is that all you have to eat?" asked the girl.
"What more do you desire?"
"Well, you see we're not donkeys," she explained, "and so we're used
to other food. The foxes gave us a nice supper in Foxville."
"We'd like some dewdrops and mist-cakes," said Polychrome.
"I'd prefer apples and a ham sandwich," declared the shaggy man, "for
although I've a donkey head, I still have my own particular stomach."
"I want pie," said Button-Bright.
"I think some beefsteak and chocolate layer-cake would taste best,"
said Dorothy.
"Hee-haw! I declare!" exclaimed the King. "It seems each one of you
wants a different food. How queer all living creatures are,
except donkeys!"
"And donkeys like you are queerest of all," laughed Polychrome.
"Well," decided the King, "I suppose my Magic Staff will produce the
things you crave; if you are lacking in good taste it is not my fault."
With this, he waved his staff with the jeweled ball, and before them
instantly appeared a tea-table, set with linen and pretty dishes, and
on the table were the very things each had wished for. Dorothy's
beefsteak was smoking hot, and the shaggy man's apples were plump and
rosy-cheeked. The King had not thought to provide chairs, so they all
stood in their places around the table and ate with good appetite,
being hungry. The Rainbow's Daughter found three tiny dewdrops on a
crystal plate, and Button-Bright had a big slice of apple pie, which
he devoured eagerly.
Afterward the King called the brown donkey, which was his favorite
servant, and bade it lead his guests to the vacant house where they
were to pass the night. It had only one room and no furniture except
beds of clean straw and a few mats of woven grasses; but our travelers
were contented with these simple things because they realized it was
the best the Donkey-King had to offer them. As soon as it was dark
they lay down on the mats and slept comfortably until morning.
At daybreak there was a dreadful noise throughout the city. Every
donkey in the place brayed. When he heard this the shaggy man woke
up and called out "Hee-haw!" as loud as he could.
"Stop that!" said Button-Bright, in a cross voice. Both Dorothy and
Polly looked at the shaggy man reproachfully.
"I couldn't help it, my dears," he said, as if ashamed of his bray;
"but I'll try not to do it again."
Of coursed they forgave him, for as he still had the Love Magnet in
his pocket they were all obliged to love him as much as ever.
They did not see the King again, but Kik-a-bray remembered them;
for a table appeared again in their room with the same food upon it
as on the night before.
"Don't want pie for breakfus'," said Button-Bright.
"I'll give you some of my beefsteak," proposed Dorothy; "there's
plenty for us all."
That suited the boy better, but the shaggy man said he was content
with his apples and sandwiches, although he ended the meal by eating
Button-Bright's pie. Polly liked her dewdrops and mist-cakes better
than any other food, so they all enjoyed an excellent breakfast. Toto
had the scraps left from the beefsteak, and he stood up nicely on his
hind legs while Dorothy fed them to him.
Breakfast ended, they passed through the village to the side opposite
that by which they had entered, the brown servant-donkey guiding them
through the maze of scattered houses. There was the road again,
leading far away into the unknown country beyond.
"King Kik-a-bray says you must not forget his invitation," said the
brown donkey, as they passed through the opening in the wall.
"I shan't," promised Dorothy.
Perhaps no one ever beheld a more strangely assorted group than the
one which now walked along the road, through pretty green fields and
past groves of feathery pepper-trees and fragrant mimosa. Polychrome,
her beautiful gauzy robes floating around her like a rainbow cloud,
went first, dancing back and forth and darting now here to pluck a
wild-flower or there to watch a beetle crawl across the path. Toto ran
after her at times, barking joyously the while, only to become sober
again and trot along at Dorothy's heels. The little Kansas girl
walked holding Button-Bright's hand clasped in her own, and the wee
boy with his fox head covered by the sailor hat presented an odd
appeaance. Strangest of all, perhaps, was the shaggy man, with his
shaggy donkey head, who shuffled along in the rear with his hands
thrust deep in his big pockets.
None of the party was really unhappy. All were straying in an unknown
land and had suffered more or less annoyance and discomfort; but they
realized they were having a fairy adventure in a fairy country,
and were much interested in finding out what would happen next.
