I must now tell you of a very strange adventure that befell Prince
Zingle, which, had it not turned out exactly as it did, might have
resulted in making him a captive for life in a remarkable country.
By consulting Smith's History of Prince Zingle you will notice that
from boyhood he had a great passion for flying kites, and unlike other
boys, he always undertook to make each kite larger than the last one. Therefore his kites grew in size, and became larger and larger, until at length the Prince made one twice as tall as himself.
When it was finished he was very proud of this great kite, and took it
out to a level place to see how well it would fly, being accompanied by
many of the people of Mo, who took considerable interest in the
Prince's amusement.
There happened to be a strong south wind blowing and, fearing the kite
might get away from him, Zingle tied the string around his waist. It
flew beautifully at first, but pulled so hard the Prince could scarcely
hold it.
At last, when the string was all let out, there came a sudden gust of
wind, and in an instant poor Zingle was drawn into the air as easily as
an ordinary kite draws its tail. Up and up he soared, and the kite
followed the wind and carried him over many countries until the
strength died out of the air, when the kite slowly settled toward the
earth and landed the Prince in the top of a tall tree.
He now untied the string from his waist and fastened it to a branch of
the tree, as he did not wish to lose the kite after all his bother in
making it.
Then he began to climb down to the ground, but on reaching the lower
branches he was arrested by a most curious sight.
Standing on the ground, and gazing up at him, were a dozen monkeys, all
very neatly dressed and all evidently filled with surprise at the
Prince's sudden appearance in the tree.
"What a very queer animal!" exclaimed an old monkey, who wore a tall
silk hat and had white kid gloves on his hands. Gold spectacles rested
on his nose, and he pointed toward the Prince with a gold-headed cane. By his side was a little girl-monkey, dressed in pink skirts and a blue bonnet; and when she saw Zingle she clung to the old monkey's hand and seemed frightened.
"Oh, grandpapa!" she cried; "take me back to mamma; I'm afraid the
strange beast will bite me."
Just then a big monkey, wearing a blue coat with brass buttons and
swinging a short club in his hand, strutted up to them and said:
"Don't be afraid, little one. The beast can't hurt you while I'm
around!" And then he tipped his cap over his left ear and shook his
club at the Prince, as if he did not know what fear meant.
Two monkeys, who were dressed in red jackets and carried muskets in
their hands, now came running up, and, having looked at Zingle with
much interest, they called for some one to bring them a strong rope.
"We will capture the brute and put him in the Zoo," said one of the
soldier-monkeys.
"What kind of animal is it?" asked the other.
"I do not know. But some of our college professors can doubtless tell, and even if they can't they will give it some scientific name that will satisfy the people just as well."
All this time Prince Zingle remained clinging to the branches of the
tree. He could not understand a word of the monkey language, and
therefore had no idea what they were talking about; but he judged from
their actions that the monkeys were not friendly. When they brought a
long and stout rope, and prepared to throw one end of it over his head, in order to capture him, he became angry and called out to them:
"Stop--I command you! What is the meaning of this strange conduct? I am
Prince Zingle, eldest son of the Monarch of Mo, and, since I have been
blown into your country through an accident, I certainly deserve kind
treatment at your hands."
But this speech had no meaning in the ears of the monkeys, who said to
each other:
"Hear him bark! He jabbers away almost as if he could talk!"
By this time a large crowd of monkeys had surrounded the tree, some
being barefooted boy-monkeys, and some lady-monkeys dressed in silken
gowns and gorgeous raiment of the latest mode, and others men-monkeys
of all sorts and conditions. There were dandified monkeys and
sober-looking business monkeys, as well as several who appeared to be
politicians and officials of high degree.