15. The High Ki of Twi
"Tell me, Prince, are we awake or asleep?" asked Nerle, as soon as
they were alone.
"There is no question of our being awake," replied the prince, with
a laugh. "But what a curious country it is--and what a funny people!"
"We can't call them odd or singular," said the esquire, "for
everything is even in numbers and double in appearance. It makes me
giddy to look at them, and I keep feeling of myself to make sure there
is still only one of me."
"You are but half a boy!" laughed the prince--"at least so long as
you remain in the Land of Twi."
"I'd like to get out of it in double-quick time," answered Nerle;
"and we should even now be on the other side of the hedge were it
not for that wicked pair of Ki-Ki, who are determined to kill us."
"It is strange," said the prince, thoughtfully, "that the
fierce-looking old Ki should be our friends and the gentle Ki-Ki our
enemies. How little one can tell from appearances what sort of heart
beats in a person's body!"
Before Nerle could answer the two doors opened and two pairs of
soldiers entered. They drew two small tables before the prince and
two before Nerle, and then other pairs of twin soldiers came and
spread cloths on the tables and set twin platters of meat and bread
and fruit on each of the tables. When the meal had been arranged the
prisoners saw that there was enough for four people instead of two;
and the soldiers realized this also, for they turned puzzled looks
first on the tables and then on the prisoners. Then they shook all their
twin heads gravely and went away, locking the twin doors behind them.
"We have one advantage in being singular," said Nerle, cheerfully;
"and that is we are not likely to starve to death. For we can eat the
portions of our missing twins as well as our own."
"I should think you would enjoy starving," remarked the prince.
"No; I believe I have more exquisite suffering in store for me, since
I have met that gentle pair of Ki-Ki," said Nerle.
While they were eating the two captains came in and sat down in two
chairs. These captains seemed friendly fellows, and after watching
the strangers for a while they remarked:
"We are glad to see you able to eat so heartily; for to-morrow you
will probably die."
"That is by no means certain," replied Marvel, cutting a piece from
one of the twin birds on a platter before him--to the extreme surprise
of the captains, who had always before seen both birds carved alike at
the same time. "Your gray-bearded old Ki say we shall not die."
"True," answered the captains. "But the Ki-Ki have declared you shall."
"Their powers seem to be equal," said Nerle, "and we are to be taken
before the High Ki for judgment."
"Therein lies your danger," returned the captains, speaking in the
same tones and with the same accents on their words. "For it is well
known the Ki-Ki has more influence with the High Ki than the Ki has."
"Hold on!" cried Nerle; "you are making me dizzy again. I can't keep
track of all these Kis."
"What is the High Ki like?" asked Prince Marvel, who was much interested
in the conversation of the captains. But this question the officers
seemed unable to answer. They shook their heads slowly and said:
"The High Ki are not visible to the people of Twi. Only in cases of
the greatest importance are the High Ki ever bothered or even
approached by the Ki and the Ki-Ki, who are supposed to rule the land
according to their own judgment. But if they chance to disagree, then
the matter is carried before the High Ki, who live in a palace
surrounded by high walls, in which there are no gates. Only these
rulers have ever seen the other side of the walls, or know what the
High Ki are like."
"That is strange," said the prince. "But we, ourselves, it seems, are
to see the High Ki to-morrow, and whoever they may chance to be, we
hope to remain alive after the interview."
"That is a vain hope," answered the captains, "for it is well known
that the High Ki usually decide in favor of the Ki-Ki, and against the
wishes of the old Ki."
"That is certainly encouraging," said Nerle.
When the captains had gone and left them to themselves, the esquire
confided to his master his expectations in the following speech:
"This High Ki sounds something terrible and fierce in my ears, and as
they are doubtless a pair, they will be twice terrible and fierce.
Perhaps his royal doublets will torture me most exquisitely before
putting me to death, and then I shall feel that I have not lived
in vain."
They slept in comfortable beds that night, although an empty twin bed
stood beside each one they occupied. And in the morning they were
served another excellent meal, after which the captains escorted them
again to the twin palaces of the Ki and the Ki-Ki.
There the two pairs of rulers met them and headed the long procession
of soldiers toward the palace of the High Ki. First came a band of
music, in which many queer sorts of instruments were played in pairs
by twin musicians; and it was amusing to Nerle to see the twin
drummers roll their twin drums exactly at the same time and the twin
trumpets peal out twin notes. After the band marched the double Ki-Ki
and the double Ki, their four bodies side by side in a straight line.
The Ki-Ki had left their musical instruments in the palace, and now
wore yellow gloves with green stitching down the backs and swung
gold-headed canes jauntily as they walked. The Ki stooped their aged
shoulders and shuffled along with their hands in their pockets, and
only once did they speak, and that was to roar "Great Kika-koo!" when
the Ki-Ki jabbed their canes down on the Ki's toes.
Following the Ki-Ki and the Ki came the prince and Nerle, escorted by
the twin captains, and then there were files of twin soldiers bringing
up the rear.
Crowds of twin people, with many twin children amongst them, turned
out to watch the unusual display, and many pairs of twin dogs barked
together in unison and snapped at the heels of the marching twin soldiers.
By and by they reached the great wall surrounding the High Ki's
palace, and, sure enough, there was never a gate in the wall by which
any might enter. But when the Ki and the Ki-Ki had blown a shrill
signal upon two pairs of whistles, they all beheld two flights of
silver steps begin to descend from the top of the wall, and these came
nearer and nearer the ground until at last they rested at the feet of
the Ki. Then the old men began ascending the steps carefully and
slowly, and the captains motioned to the prisoners to follow. So
Prince Marvel followed one of the Ki up the steps and Nerle the other
Ki, while the two Ki-Ki came behind them so they could not escape.
So to the top of the wall they climbed, where a pair of twin servants
in yellow and green--which seemed to be the royal colors--welcomed
them and drew up the pair of silver steps, afterward letting them down
on the other side of the wall, side by side.
They descended in the same order as they had mounted to the top of the
wall, and now Prince Marvel and Nerle found themselves in a most
beautiful garden, filled with twin beds of twin flowers, with many
pairs of rare shrubs. Also, there were several double statuettes on
pedestals, and double fountains sending exactly the same sprays of
water the same distance into the air.
Double walks ran in every direction through the garden, and in the
center of the inclosure stood a magnificent twin palace, built of
blocks of white marble exquisitely carved.
The Ki and the Ki-Ki at once led their prisoners toward the palace and
entered at its large arched double doors, where several pairs of
servants met them. These servants, they found, were all dumb, so that
should they escape from the palace walls they could tell no tales of
the High Ki.
The prisoners now proceeded through several pairs of halls, winding
this way and that, and at last came to a pair of golden double doors
leading into the throne-room of the mighty High Ki. Here they all
paused, and the Ki-Ki both turned to the prince and Nerle and said:
"You are the only persons, excepting ourselves and the palace
servants, who have ever been permitted to see the High Ki of Twi. As
you are about to die, that does not matter; but should you by any
chance be permitted to live, you must never breathe a word of what you
are about to see, under penalty of a sure and horrible death."
The prisoners made no reply to this speech, and, after the two Ki-Ki had
given them another mild look from their gentle blue eyes, these officials
clapped their twin hands together and the doors of gold flew open.
A perfect silence greeted them, during which the double Ki and the
double Ki-Ki bent their four bodies low and advanced into the
throne-room, followed by Prince Marvel and Nerle.
In the center of the room stood two thrones of dainty filigree work in
solid gold, and over them were canopies of yellow velvet, the folds of
which were caught up and draped with bands of green ribbon. And on
the thrones were seated two of the sweetest and fairest little maidens
that mortal man had ever beheld. Their lovely hair was fine as a
spider's web; their eyes were kind and smiling, their cheeks soft and
dimpled, their mouths shapely as a cupid's bow and tinted like the
petals of a rose. Upon their heads were set two crowns of fine spun
gold, worked into fantastic shapes and set with glittering gems.
Their robes were soft silks of pale yellow, with strings of sparkling
emeralds for ornament.
Anything so lovely and fascinating as these little maids, who were
precisely alike in every particular, neither Prince Marvel nor Nerle
had ever dreamed could exist. They stood for a time spellbound and
filled with admiration, while the two pairs of rulers bowed again and
again before the dainty and lovable persons of their High Ki.
But it was hard for Nerle to keep quiet for long, and presently he
exclaimed, in a voice loud enough to be heard by all present:
"By the Great Kika-koo of our friends the Ki, these darling High Ki of
Twi are sweet enough to be kissed!"
