TROT REGULATES THE PINKIES
CHAPTER 29
The Pinkies were rejoiced to find themselves again in their beloved
land of sunrises and sunsets. They sang and shouted with glee, and
the Band uncovered its pink instruments and played the National Pink
Anthem, while the parrot flew from Trot's shoulder to Cap'n Bill's
shoulder and back again, screaming ecstatically,
"Hooray! We're through the wetful fogs
Where the elephant scared the fretful frogs!"
There was a magnificent sunset in the sky just then, and it cheered
the Pinkies and gave them renewed strength. Away they hastened
across the pink fields to the Pink City, where all the Pink people
who had been left behind ran out to welcome them home again.
Trot and Button-Bright, with Cap'n Bill and Rosalie the Witch, went
to the humble palace, where they had a simple supper of coarse food
and slept upon hard beds. In the houses of the City, however, there
was much feasting and merrymaking, and it seemed to Trot that the
laws of the country which forbade the Queen from enjoying all the
good things the people did were decidedly wrong and needed changing.
The next morning Rosalie said to the little girl, "Will you make
Tourmaline the Queen again when you go away?"
"I'll send for her and see about it," replied Trot.
But when Tourmaline arrived at the palace, dressed all in lovely,
fluffy robes and with a dainty pink plume in her pink hair, she
begged most earnestly not to be made the Queen again.
"I'm having a good time just now after years of worry and
uncomfortable living in this uncomfortable old hut of a palace,"
said the poor girl, "so it would be cruel for you to make me the
servant of the people again and condemn me to want and misery."
"That seems reason'ble," replied Trot thoughtfully.
"Rosalie's skin is just as light a pink as my own," continued
Tourmaline. "Why don't you make her the Queen?"
"I hadn't thought of that," said Trot. Then she turned to Rosalie
and asked, "How would you like to rule the Pinkies?"
"I wouldn't like it," replied the Witch with a smile. "The Queen is
the poorest and most miserable creature in all the kingdom, and I'm
sure I don't deserve such a fate. I've always tried to be a good
witch and to do my duty."
Trot thought this over quite seriously for a time. Then one of her
quaint ideas came to her--so quaint that it was entirely sensible.
"I'm the Queen of the Pinkies just now, am I not?" she asked.
"Of course," answered Rosalie. "None can dispute that."
"Then I've the right to make new laws, haven't I?"
"I believe so."
"In that case," said the girl, "I'm goin' to make a law that the
Queen shall have the same food an' the same dresses an' the same
good times that her people have; and she shall live in a house jus'
as good as the houses of any of her people, an' have as much money
to spend as anybody. But no more. The Queen can have her share of
ever'thing 'cordin' to the new law, but if she tries to get more
than her share, I'll have the law say she shall be taken to the edge
an' pushed off. What do you think of THAT law, Rosalie?"
"It's a good law and a just one," replied the Witch approvingly.
So Trot sent for the Royal Scribbler, who was a very fat Pinky with
large, pink eyes and curly pink hair, and had him carefully write
the new law into the Great Book of Laws. The Royal Scribbler wrote
it very nicely in pink ink, with a big capital letter at the
beginning and a fine flourish at the end. After Trot had signed her
name to it as Queen, she called all of the important people of the
land to assemble in the Court of the Statues and ordered the Royal
Declaimer to read to them the new law. The Pinkies seemed to think
it was a just law and much better than the old one, and Rosalie
said:
"Now no one can object to becoming Queen, since the Ruler of the
Pinkies will no longer be obliged to endure suffering and
hardships."
"All right," said Trot. "In that case, I'll make you the Queen,
Rosalie, for you've got more sense than Tourmaline has and your
powers as a witch will help you protect the people."
At once she made the announcement, telling the assembled Pinkies
that by virtue of her high office as Queen of Sky Island she would
leave Rosalie the Witch to rule over the Pink Country while she
returned to the Earth with her friends. As Rosalie was greatly loved
and respected, the people joyfully accepted her as their Queen, and
Trot ordered them to tear down the old hut and build a new palace
for Rosalie--one which would be just as good as any other house in
the City, but no better. She further ordered a pink statue of
Tourmaline to be set up in the Court, and also a pink statue of
herself, so that the record of all the rulers of the Pinkies should
be complete.
The people agreed to do all this as soon as possible, and some of
the leaders whispered together and then asked Coralie to be their
spokesman in replying to Queen Trot's speech.
Coralie stood on a chair and made a bow, after which she thanked
Trot in the name of the Pinkies for leading them safely into the
Blue Country and out again, and for giving them so good a Queen as
Rosalie. The Pinkies would be sorry to have their new friends, the
Earth people, leave them, but asked the Queen of Sky Island to carry
with her the royal band of pink gold which she now wore upon her
brow, together with the glistening pink jewel set in its center. It
would remind her, Coralie declared, of the Beautiful Land of Sunset
and Sunrise and of the fact that the Pinkies would always be glad to
welcome her back.
Trot knew she would never return to Sky Island, but she did not tell
them that. She merely thanked Coralie and the Pinkies and said they
might all come to the Court after dinner and see her and her
comrades fly away through the sky.
