L. Frank Baum (12 page)

Over the wall could be heard the shouts and threats of the army of Twi,
who were seeking a way to get at the fugitives; but for the present our
friends knew themselves to be perfectly safe, and they could afford to
laugh at the fury of the entire population of Twi.

After several days of siege Prince Marvel began to feel less confident
of the safety of his little party. The frantic Ki-Ki had built double
battering-rams and were trying to batter down the high wall; and they
had built several pairs of long ladders with which to climb over the
wall; and their soldiers were digging two tunnels in the ground in
order to crawl under the wall.

Not at once could they succeed, for the wall was strong and it would
take long to batter it down; and Nerle stood on top of the wall and
kicked over the ladders as fast as the soldiers of Twi set them up; and
the gray-bearded Ki stood in the garden holding two big flat boards
with which to whack the heads of any who might come through the tunnels.

But Prince Marvel realized that the perseverance of his foes might win
in the end, unless he took measures to defeat them effectually. So he
summoned swift messengers from among the Sound Elves, who are
accustomed to travel quickly, and they carried messages from him to
Wul-Takim, the King of the Reformed Thieves, and to King Terribus of
Spor, who had both promised him their assistance in case he needed it.
The prince did not tell his friends of this action, but after the
messengers had been dispatched he felt easier in his mind.

The little High Ki remained as sweet and brave and lovable as ever,
striving constantly to cheer and encourage her little band of
defenders. But none of them was very much worried, and Nerle confided
to the maiden in yellow the fact that he expected to suffer quite
agreeably when the Ki-Ki at last got him in their clutches.

Finally a day came when two big holes were battered through the wall,
and then the twin soldiers of Twi poured through the holes and began to
pound on the doors of the palace itself, in which Prince Marvel and
Nerle, the Ki and the yellow High Ki had locked themselves as securely
as possible.

The prince now decided it was high time for his friends to come to
their rescue; but they did not appear, and before long the doors of the
palace gave way and the soldiers rushed upon them in a vast throng.

Nerle wanted to fight, and to slay as many of the Twi people as
possible; but the prince would not let him.

"These poor soldiers are but doing what they consider their duty," he
said, "and it would be cruel to cut them down with our swords. Have
patience, I pray you. Our triumph will come in good time."

The Ki-Ki, who came into the palace accompanied by the green High Ki,
ordered the twin soldiers to bind all the prisoners with cords. So one
pair of soldiers bound the Ki and another pair Nerle and the prince,
using exactly the same motions in the operation. But when it came to
binding the yellow High Ki the scene was very funny. For twin soldiers
tried to do the binding, and there was only one to bind; so that one
soldier went through the same motions as his twin on empty air, and
when his other half had firmly bound the girl, his own rope fell
harmless to the ground. But it seemed impossible for one of the twins
to do anything different from the other, so that was the only way the
act could be accomplished.

Then the green-robed High Ki walked up to the one in yellow and laughed
in her face, saying:

"You now see which of us is the most powerful, and therefore the most
worthy to rule. Had you remained faithful to our handsome Ki-Ki, as I
did, you would not now be defeated and disgraced."

"There is no disgrace in losing one battle," returned the other girl,
proudly. "You are mistaken if you think you have conquered me, and you
are wrong to insult one who is, for the time being, your captive."

The maiden in green looked for an instant confused and ashamed; then
she tossed her pretty head and walked away.

They led all the prisoners out into the garden and then through the
broken wall, and up and down the silver steps, into the great square of
the cities of Twi. And here all the population crowded around them,
for this was the first time any of them had seen their High Ki, or even
known that they were girls; and the news of their quarrel and
separation had aroused a great deal of excitement.

"Let the executioners come forward!" cried the Ki-Ki, gleefully, and in
answer to the command the twin executioners stepped up to the prisoners.

They were big men, these executioners, each having a squint in one eye
and a scar on the left cheek. They polished their axes a moment on
their coat-sleeves, and then said to Prince Marvel and Nerle, who were
to be the first victims:

"Don't dodge, please, or our axes may not strike the right place. And
do not be afraid, for the blows will only hurt you an instant. In the
Land of Twi it is usually considered a pleasure to be executed by us,
we are so exceedingly skillful."

"I can well believe that," replied Nerle, although his teeth were
chattering.

But at this instant a loud shout was heard, and the twin people of Twi
all turned their heads to find themselves surrounded by throngs of
fierce enemies.

Prince Marvel smiled, for he saw among the new-comers the giants and
dwarfs and the stern Gray Men of King Terribus, with their monarch
calmly directing their movements; and on the other side of the circle
were the jolly faces and bushy whiskers of the fifty-nine reformed
thieves, with burly Wul-Takim at their head.

The twins of Twi were too startled and amazed to offer to fight with
the odd people surrounding them. Even the executioners allowed their
axes to fall harmlessly to the ground, and the double people, soldiers
and citizens alike, turned to stare at the strangers in wonder.

"We're here, Prince!" yelled Wul-Takim, his bristly beard showing over
the heads of those who stood between.

"Thank you," answered Prince Marvel.

"And the men of Spor are here!" added King Terribus, who was mounted on
a fine milk-white charger, richly caparisoned.

"I thank the men of Spor," returned Prince Marvel, graciously.

"Shall we cut your foes into small pieces, or would you prefer to hang
them?" questioned the King of the Reformed Thieves, loudly enough to
set most of his hearers shivering.

But now the little maid in yellow stepped up to Prince Marvel and,
regarding the youthful knight with considerable awe, said sweetly:

"I beg you will pardon my people and spare them. They are usually good
and loyal subjects, and if they fought against me—their lawful High
Ki—it was only because they were misled by my separation from my other
half."

"That is true," replied the prince; "and as you are still the lawful
High Ki of Twi, I will leave you to deal with your own people as you
see fit. For those who have conquered your people are but your own
allies, and are still under your orders, as I am myself."

Hearing this, the green High Ki walked up to her twin High Ki and said,
boldly:

"I am your prisoner. It is now your turn. Do with me as you will."

"I forgive you," replied her sister, in kindly tones.

Then the little maid who had met with defeat gave a sob and turned away
weeping, for she had expected anything but forgiveness.

And now the Ki-Ki came forward and, bowing their handsome blond heads
before the High Ki, demanded: "Are we forgiven also?"

"Yes," said the girl, "but you are no longer fit to be rulers of my
people. Therefore, you are henceforth deprived of your honorable
offices of Ki-Ki, which I shall now bestow upon these good captains
here," and she indicated the good-natured officers who had first
captured the prince and Nerle.

The people of Twi eagerly applauded this act, for the captains were
more popular with them than the former Ki-Ki; but the blond ones both
flushed with humiliation and anger, and said:

"The captains fought against you, even as we did."

"Yet the captains only obeyed your orders," returned the High Ki. "So
I hold them blameless."

"And what is to become of us now?" asked the former Ki-Ki.

"You will belong to the common people, and earn your living playing
tunes for them to dance by," answered the High Ki. And at this retort
every one laughed, so that the handsome youths turned away with twin
scowls upon their faces and departed amidst the jeers of the crowd.

"Better hang 'em to a tree, little one," shouted Wul-Takim, in his big
voice; "they won't enjoy life much, anyhow."

But the maid shook her pretty head and turned to the prince.

"Will you stay here and help me to rule my kingdom?" she asked.

"I can not do that," replied Prince Marvel, "for I am but a wandering
adventurer and must soon continue my travels. But I believe you will
be able to rule your people without my help."

"It is not so easy a task," she answered, sighing. "For I am singular
and my people are all double."

"Well, let us hold a meeting in your palace," said the prince, "and
then we can decide what is best to be done."

So they dismissed the people, who cheered their High Ki
enthusiastically, returning quietly to their daily tasks and the gossip
that was sure to follow such important events as they had witnessed.

The army of King Terribus and the fifty-nine reformed thieves went to
the twin palaces of the Ki and the Ki-Ki and made merry with feasting
and songs to celebrate their conquest. And the High Ki, followed by
the prince, Nerle, King Terribus and Wul-Takim, as well as by the Ki
and the newly-appointed Ki-Ki, mounted the silver steps and passed over
the wall to the royal palaces. The green High Ki followed them, still
weeping disconsolately.

When they had all reached the throne-room, the High Ki seated herself
on one of the beautiful thrones and said:

"By some strange chance, which I am unable to explain, my twin and I
have become separated; so that instead of thinking and acting alike, we
are now individuals—as are all the strange men who have passed through
the hole in the hedge. And, being individuals, we can no longer agree,
nor can one of us lawfully rule over the Kingdom of Twi, where all the
subjects are twins, thinking and acting in unison."

Said Prince Marvel:

"Your Highness, I alone can explain why you became separated from your
twin. By means of a fairy enchantment, which I learned years ago, I
worked upon you a spell, which compelled your brain to work independent
of your sister's brain. It seems to me that it is better each person
should think her own thoughts and live her own life, rather than be
yoked to another person and obliged to think and act as a twin, or
one-half of a complete whole. And since you are now the one High Ki,
and the acknowledged ruler of this country, I will agree to work the
same fairy spell on all your people, so that no longer will there be
twin minds in all this Land of Twi."

"But all the cows and dogs and horses and other animals are double, as
well as the people," suggested the old Ki, blinking their little eyes
in amazement at the thought of being forever separated from each other.

"I can also work the spell upon all the twin animals," said the prince,
after a moment's hesitation.

"And all our houses are built double, with twin doors and windows and
chimneys, to accommodate our twin people," continued the High Ki. "And
the trees and flowers—and even the blades of grass—are all double.
And our roads are double, and—and everything else is double. I alone,
the ruler of this land, am singular!"

Prince Marvel became thoughtful now, for he did not know how to
separate trees and flowers, and it would be a tedious task to separate
the twin houses.

"Why not leave the country as it is?" asked King Terribus of Spor.
"The High Ki is welcome to come to my castle to live, and then she need
no longer bother about the Land of Twi, which seems to me a poor place,
after all."

"And your sister may come with me to my cave, and be the queen of the
reformed thieves, which is a much more important office than being High
Ki of Twi," added big Wul-Takim, who had placed the maiden in green
upon a cushion at his feet, and was striving to comfort her by gently
stroking her silken hair with his rough hand.

"But I love my country, and do not wish to leave it," answered the
yellow High Ki. "And I love my twin sister, and regret that our minds
have become separated," she continued, sadly.

"I have it!" exclaimed Nerle. "Let the prince reunite you, making you
regular twins of Twi again, and then you can continue to rule the
country as the double High Ki, and everything will be as it was before."

The yellow High Ki clapped her pink hands with delight and looked
eagerly at the prince.

"Will you?" she asked. "Will you please reunite us? And then all our
troubles will be ended!"

This really seemed to Marvel the best thing to be done. So he led the
maid in green to the other throne, where she had once sat, and after
replacing the golden crown upon her brow he whispered a fairy spell of
much mystical power.

Then the prince stepped back and regarded the maidens earnestly, and
after a moment both the High Ki smiled upon him in unison and
said—speaking the same words in the same voices and with the same
accents:

"Thank you very much!"

Having restored the High Ki to their former condition, to the great joy
of the ancient Ki, Prince Marvel led his friends back to the palaces
where his men were waiting.

They were just in time to prevent serious trouble, for the fifty-eight
reformed thieves had been boasting of their prowess to the huge giants
and tiny dwarfs of King Terribus, and this had resulted in a quarrel as
to which were the best fighters. Had not their masters arrived at the
right moment there would certainly have been a fierce battle and much
bloodshed,—and all over something of no importance.