The Floating Prince and Other Fairy Tales. Frank Richard Stockton
all discussing, with much zest, the scheme of the new kingdom.
About noon, they began to be hungry, and so they sat down in a shady place, the giant having said that he had something to eat in a bag which he carried at his side. He opened this bag, and spread out half a dozen enormous loaves of bread, two joints of roast meat, a boiled ham, and about a bushel of roasted potatoes.
"Is that the food for your whole army?" asked Lorilla.
"Oh, no," answered the giant, who was a young fellow with a good appetite. "I brought this for myself, but there will be enough for you two. I don't believe I should have eaten it quite all, anyway."
"I should hope not," said the prince. "Why, that would last me several weeks."
"And me a thousand years," said Lorilla.
"You will talk differently, if you ever grow to be as big as I am," said the giant, smiling, as he took a bite from a loaf of bread.
When the meal was over, they all felt refreshed, and quite eager to meet the next comer, who was to be the admiral, or commander of the navy, of the new kingdom. For some time, they went on without seeing any one, but, at last, they perceived, in a field at some distance, a man on stilts. He was tending sheep, and wore the stilts so that he could the better see his flock, as it wandered about.
"There's the admiral!" said the giant. "Let me put you down, and run over and catch him."
So saying, he set the prince on the ground, and ran toward the shepherd, who, seeing him coming, at once took to flight. His stilts were so long that he made enormous steps, and he got over the ground very fast. The giant had long legs, and he ran swiftly, but he had a great deal of trouble to get near the man on stilts, who dodged in every direction, and rushed about like an enormous crane. The poor frightened sheep scattered themselves over the fields, and hid in the bushes.
At last, the giant made a vigorous dash, and swooping his long arm around, he caught the shepherd by one stilt, and waving him around his head, shouted in triumph.
The prince and Lorilla, who had been watching this chase with great interest, cheered in return.
"Now we have an admiral," said the fairy, as the giant approached, proudly bearing the shepherd aloft. "Don't you think it would be well for you to get out your crown and scepter? He ought to understand, at once, that you are the king."
So Nassime took his crown and scepter from his bag, and putting the one on his head, held the other in his hand. He looked quite kingly when the giant came up, and set the shepherd down on his knees before him, with his stilts sticking out ever so far behind.
THE GENERAL TRIES TO SECURE AN ADMIRAL.
"I am glad to see you," said the prince, "and I herewith make you admiral of my royal navy."
"Admiral?" cried the poor frightened man. "I don't understand."
"Oh, it's all right," exclaimed the merry little Lorilla, as she slipped out of the prince's sash, and ran up to the shepherd. "We're going to have a splendid kingdom, and we're just getting together the head officers. I'm chief councilor, that giant is the general of the army, and we want you to command the navy. There'll be a salary, after a while, and I know you'll like it."
As she went on to explain the whole matter, to the shepherd, his fear left him, and he smiled.
"I shall be very glad to be your admiral," he then said, to the prince, whereupon the giant lifted him up on his feet, or rather on to the stilts, which were strapped to his feet and ankles, and the affair was settled. The party now went on, the giant and the man on stilts side by side, the prince on the giant's arm, and Lorilla in Nassime's sash.
"What other great officer must we have?" asked she of Nassime.
"The chief officer of the treasury, or chancellor of the exchequer. I see him now."
It was true. Along a road in a valley below them a man was walking. Instantly all were excited. The giant and the man on stilts wished to run after the new-comer, but the prince forbade it, saying it would be better to approach him quietly.
The man, who halted when he saw them, proved to be a clam-digger, with his clam-rake over one shoulder, and a large basket in his hand. The prince did not waste many words with this person, who was a rather humble-minded man, but briefly explained the situation to him, and told him that he was now the chancellor of the exchequer, in charge of the treasury of the kingdom of Nassimia.
The man, remarking that he saw no objection to such a position, and that it might, in the end, be better than clam-digging, joined the prince's party, which again proceeded on its way.
That night, they all slept in a palm-grove, first making a supper of cocoa-nuts, which the giant and the admiral picked from the tops of the trees.
"Now, then," said Nassime, in the morning, "what we must have next, is an aristocracy. Out of this upper class, we can then fill the government offices."
"Very true," said the giant, "and we shall want an army. I do not feel altogether like a general, without some soldiers under me.
"And I must have a navy," said the admiral.
"And there must be common people," remarked the chancellor of the exchequer. "For we shall need some folks on whom I can levy taxes with which to carry on the government"
"You are all right," said Nassime, "and this is the way we will manage matters. All the people we meet to-day shall be the aristocrats of Nassimia; all we meet to-morrow shall form the army, and all we see the next day shall be taken to make up the navy. After that, we will collect common people, until we have enough."
"I can tell you now," said the admiral, "how to get a lot of aristocrats all together in a bunch. A mile ahead of where we now are, is a school-house, and it is full of boys, with a gray-headed master. Those fellows ought to make excellent aristocrats."
"They will do very well," said Nassime, "and we will go quietly forward and capture them all."
When they reached the school-house, Nassime, with his crown on his head and his scepter in his hand, took his position at the front door, the giant crouched down by the back door, the chancellor stood by one window and the admiral tried to stand by the other, but his stilts were so long that he looked over the roof, instead of into the window.
"Is not that a well near you?" said the little councilor Lorilla, who was perched on a vine, for safe-keeping. "Step into that, and you will, most likely, be just tall enough."
The admiral stepped into the well, which was close to the house, and found that he stood exactly high enough to command the window.
When all were posted, Nassime opened his door, and stepping a short distance into the room, declared his title and position, and called upon them all to consider themselves members of the aristocracy of his kingdom. The moment he said this, the astonished and frightened boys sprang to their feet and made a rush for the back door, but when they threw it open, there squatted the giant, with a broad grin on his face, and his hands spread out before the door-way. They then turned and ran, some for one window and some for the other, but at one stood the treasurer, brandishing his clam-rake, and at the other the admiral, shaking his fists. There was no escape—one or two, who tried to pass by Nassime, having been stopped by a tap on the head from his scepter—and so the boys crowded together in the middle of the room, while some of the smaller ones began to cry. The master was too much startled and astonished to say a word.
Then came running into the room little Lorilla, and mounting to the top of the school-master's table, she addressed the school, telling them all about the new kingdom, and explaining what a jolly time they would have. It would be like a long holiday, and although their master would go with them, to teach them what they would have to know in their new position, it would not be a bit like going to school.
As soon