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forgetting that he was in Oz where dying is not as easily done as
said.  Let him go with the barnacles.
But just as the troll started to resettle himself for sleep on
and under the surface of the pool he saw the fish s body turning
faster and faster in the rapid current. He happened to remem-
ber a promise he had made to his mother always to try to find
beauty in the smallest and most insignificant of things. With a
sudden gesture the ugliest troll scooped up the little fish from
the soup s clutches and saved it from becoming chowder.
The troll brought it to his gigantic blubbery ear.  He s still
alive? he said, listening to the tiny heartbeat. Putting on his
seashell glasses, he looked with care at the minute form which
lay inert among the ridges of his palm.
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THE CROWN OF OZ
Though so small it was the most beautiful fish that the
ugliest troll had ever seen. It had a jeweled jasmine body and
translucent apricot fins. Each black eyelid glistened like an onyx.
 What a treasure I have found, exclaimed the troll.  I shall
put it inside the most beautiful shell there is in the entire sea.
He thereupon called to the deeps, which heard the troll on
the voice of the wind. And the sea searched its depths for a shell
fitting for the little fish and delivered it to the troll in a burst of
froth and foam.
Taking the lidded shell and rinsing it in a fountain of clear
amethyst water which flowed through a crack in the cavern wall,
the ugliest troll gently laid the body of the little fish within. Then
he commanded the wind to sing softly and so rouse the fish to
wakening.
The wind sang of the breezes that stir the flowers and trees
and carry the new seeds to the earth s bosom where they grow
anew.
Behold, the limp body of the little fish began to stir and
shortly the fish was moving gently around inside the big shell.
The fish did not notice the ugly troll who was peering in at him
absorbedly. Finally when he did look up he was not startled, for
all he saw was the lovely reflection of himself is the mirror-like
mother-of-pearl lining of the upper shell.
The ugliest troll gazed at the little fish and said,  Little fish,
you are the most beautiful fish in the whole world. Now the
little fish was startled, but when he looked up he could see
nothing out in the gloom beyond the self-contained glow of the
shell s nacre. All he could see was, verily, the most beautiful fish
he had ever seen, brilliant in the gleam of the mother-of-pearl.
This beautiful fish seemed to have the gruffest voice!
 Big fish, big fish, you are the most beautiful fish I have ever
seen, said the little fish to his supposed brother.  I love you,
big fish, concluded the smaller one.
At first, the troll was speechless. The words touched him
inside. At last he got out:  I love you too, little fish.
The little fish then swished his tail and flopped about inside
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THE CROWN OF OZ
the shell, the big reflected fish seeming to imitate his actions.
The ugliest troll smiled for the first time. He appeared beau-
tiful, as great salty tears rats down the furrows in his face and
fogged his seashell glasses.
 This is the first time anybody has ever told me that, he
said to the little fish.
 How strange, said the little fish,  for you are surely the
most beautiful fish that has ever been.
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THE CROWN OF OZ
C H A P T E R S I X T E E N
Fattywiggins, still fumingly angry at the poor little fairy
Peaseblossom, was kicking her heels in the anteroom to the
presence chamber. People kept passing through in both direc-
tions but paying sorely little attention to her. She stalked about,
munching an apple, and presently took up a position at the only
window in the room. From there she looked down curiously to
see the aged crone whom she had just noticed coming from the
audience hall move about in the topiary garden as if in search of
something.
Odd. What could she be looking for?
The garden was a cunningly wrought little enclave close
under the palace wall and filling all of a courtyard. There a clever
assistant of old Lucion, the head gardener, had given his
fantasy free rein and, with consummate craftsmanship, clipped
box shrubbery and yew trees into eight-foot-high figures of pal-
ace favorites: the Scarecrow, Nick Chopper, the Courageous Lion.
Fattywiggins watched as Mombi did something obscure at
the foot of a green sculptured representation of the celebrated
Dorothy Gale.
 Dorothy sniffed Fattyw contemptuously. Ozma had
frankly told the new favorite that missing Dorothy was the
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THE CROWN OF OZ
occasion for her taking unto herself a new protegée at the
Palace of Magic. The Kansas girl and her aunt and uncle had
borrowed Ozma s red wagon and the swift Sawhorse to make
another of their periodic far-flung peregrinations of discovery
about the land of Oz. They had been gone for many weeks.
Fattywiggins didn t like to think about what would happen when
they that is, she returned.
The door to the outer hallway opened again. Fattyw turned
idly to look. That good-looking guardsman. What was he
wanting? The girl had to smile as she saw the fellow squat and
look through the keyhole into the throne room. He quite ignored
the room s other occupant.  When is she coming out? she heard
him mutter impatiently.
 What s up? said F.W., breaking the spell.
Guardsman Langley started and stood up.  My sweetheart s
in there. Serena the Sweetly Singing Seamstress. We haven t
met in months and now it looks like she ll never get away
from Her Highness who, I can see, is still talking to her nineteen
to the dozen.
Fatty drew near, still holding in one hand the purloined
letter, whose corner she had been using to pick her teeth after
the consumption of the apple. A s she too stooped to have a look
Langley caught sight of. the green letter and stared.
When Fattywiggins withdrew her eye from the hole, no wiser
than before, she grasped the direction of the guardsman s glance
and at once said,  Langley, did you see anyone place this letter
under the door while you ve been on duty?
 No, miss. The man looked a bit solemn and Fattyw
wondered whether that was all he might have been able to say
on the subject.
He did continue speaking a little. He asked politely if the
young lady wished him to take the billet and deliver it to their
sovereign. He had a pretty-shrewd idea that whoever had
slipped the envelope under the door toad not intended it for the
young English girl.
 Thanks, said Fats,  but I choose to give it to her myself.
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THE CROWN OF OZ
C H A P T E R S E V E N T E E N
It was not only fairies who of recent years bad come in great
numbers to Oz. Less immediately likable populations such as
gnomes, kobolds, and trolls had also taken advantage of the
general welcome to settle in the magical country. These were
fay-folk thitherto virtually unknown there: trolls and kobolds
absolutely and (g)nomes only so occasional intruders from more
benighted regions beyond the encircling deserts.
Now all that was changed and the mischief-making goblins
were disturbing the peace in a number of places. The trolls in
particular gave cause for concern. For one thing, they were
prolific. Localities that had formerly been troll-free now found [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]