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  THE TRIBULATION OF TROT

  CHAPTER 9.

  The apartments occupied by the Six Snubnosed Princesses were somagnificent that when Trot first entered them, led by her haughtycaptors, she thought they must be the most beautiful rooms in all theworld. There was a long and broad reception room, with forty-sevenwindows in it, and opening out of it were six lovely bedchambers, eachfurnished in the greatest luxury. Adjoining each sleeping room was amarble bath, and each Princess had a separate boudoir and a dressingroom. The furnishings were of the utmost splendor, blue-gold and bluegems being profusely used in the decorations, while the divans andchairs were of richly carved bluewood upholstered in blue satins andsilks. The draperies were superbly embroidered and the rugs upon themarble floors were woven with beautiful scenes in every conceivableshade of blue.

  When they first reached the reception room Princess Azure cast herselfupon a divan while her five sisters sat or reclined in easy chairs, withtheir heads thrown back and their blue chins scornfully elevated. Trot,who was much annoyed at the treatment she had received, did not hesitateto seat herself, also, in a big easy chair.

  "Slave!" cried Princess Cerulia, "fetch me a mirror."

  "Slave!" cried Princess Turquoise, "a lock of my hair is loosened; bindit up."

  "Slave!" cried Princess Cobalt, "unfasten my shoes; they're too tight."

  "Slave!" cried Princess Sapphire, "bring hither my box of bluechocolates."

  "Slave!" cried Princess Azure, "stand by my side and fan me."

  "Slave!" cried Princess Indigo, "get out of that chair. How dare you sitin our presence!"

  "If you're saying all those things to me," replied Trot, "you may aswell save your breath. I'm no slave." And she cuddled down closer in thechair.

  "You _are_ a slave!" shouted the six, all together.

  "I'm not!"

  "Our father, the Revered and Resplendent Royal Ruler of the Blues, hasmade you our slave," asserted Indigo, with a yawn.

  "But he can't," objected the little girl. "I'm some Royal an' Rapturousan' Ridic'lous myself, an' I won't allow any cheap Boolooroo to order me'round."

  "Are you of royal birth?" asked Azure, seeming surprised.

  "Royal! Why, I'm an American, Snubnoses, and if there's anything royalerthan an American I'd like to know what it is."

  The Princesses seemed uncertain what reply to make to this speech andbegan whispering together. Finally Indigo said to Trot:

  "We do not think it matters what you were in your own country, forhaving left there you have forfeited your rank. By recklessly intrudinginto our domain you have become a slave, and being a slave you must obeyus or suffer the consequences."

  "What cons'quences?" asked the girl.

  "Dare to disobey us and you will quickly find out," snapped Indigo,swaying her head from side to side on its long, swan-like neck, like thependulum of a clock.

  "I don't want any trouble," said Trot, gravely. "We came to Sky Islandby mistake, and wanted to go right away again; but your father wouldn'tlet us. It isn't our fault we're still here, an' I'm free to say you'rea very dis'gree'ble an' horrid lot of people, with no manners to speakof, or you'd treat us nicely."

  "No impertinence!" cried Indigo, savagely.

  "Why, it's the truth," replied Trot.

  Indigo made a rush and caught Trot by both shoulders. The Princess wastwice the little girl's size and she shook her victim so violently thatTrot's teeth rattled together. Then Princess Cobalt came up and slappedone side of the slave's face and Princess Turquoise ran forward andslapped the other side. Cerulia gave Trot a push one way and Sapphirepushed her the other way, so the little girl was quite out of breath andvery angry when finally her punishment ceased. She had not been muchhurt, though, and she was wise enough to understand that thesePrincesses were all cruel and vindictive, so that her safest plan was topretend to obey them.

  "Now, then," commanded Princess Indigo, "go and feed my little blue dogthat crows like a rooster."

  "And feed my pretty blue cat that sings like a bird," said PrincessAzure.

  "And feed my soft blue lamb that chatters like a monkey," said PrincessCobalt.

  "And feed my poetic blue parrot that barks like a dog," said PrincessSapphire.

  "And feed my fuzzy blue rabbit that roars like a lion," said PrincessTurquoise.

  "And feed my lovely blue peacock that mews like a cat," said PrincessCerulia.

  "Anything else?" asked Trot, drawing a long breath.

  "Not until you have properly fed our pets," replied Azure, with ascowl.

  "What do they eat, then?"

  "Meat!"

  "Milk!"

  "Clover!"

  "Seeds!"

  "Bread!"

  "Carrots!"

  "All right," said Trot; "where do you keep the menagerie?"

  "Our pets are in our boudoirs," said Indigo, harshly. "What a littlefool you are!"

  "Perhaps," said Trot, pausing as she was about to leave the room, "whenI grow up I'll be as big a fool as any of you."

  Then she ran away to escape another shaking, and in the first boudoirshe found the little blue dog curled up on a blue cushion in a corner.Trot patted his head gently and this surprised the dog, who wasaccustomed to cuffs and kicks. So he licked Trot's hand and wagged hisfunny little tail and then straightened up and crowed like a rooster.The girl was delighted with the queer doggie and she found some meat ina cupboard and fed him out of her hand, patting the tiny creature andstroking his soft blue hair. The doggie had never in his life knownanyone so kind and gentle, so when Trot went into the next boudoir theanimal followed close at her heels, wagging his tail every minute.

  The blue cat was asleep on a window seat, but it woke up when Trottenderly took it in her lap and fed it milk from a blue-gold dish. Itwas a pretty cat and instantly knew the little girl was a friend--vastlydifferent from its own bad-tempered mistress--so it sang beautifully, asa bird sings, and both the cat and the dog followed Trot into the thirdboudoir.

  Here was a tiny baby lamb with fleece as blue as a larkspur and as softas silk.

  "Oh, you darling!" cried Trot, hugging the little lamb tight in herarms. At once the lamb began chattering, just as a monkey chatters, onlyin the most friendly and grateful way, and Trot fed it a handful offresh blue clover and smoothed and petted it until the lamb was eager tofollow her wherever she might go.

  When she came to the fourth boudoir a handsome blue parrot sat on a blueperch and began barking as if it were nearly starved. Then it cried out:

  "Rub-a-dub, dub,-- Gimme some grub!"

  Trot laughed and gave it some seeds, and while the parrot ate them shestroked gently his soft feathers. The bird seemed much astonished at theunusual caress, and turned upon the girl first one little eye and thenthe other, as if trying to discover why she was so kind. He had neverexperienced kind treatment in all his life. So it was no wonder thatwhen the little girl entered the fifth boudoir she was followed by theparrot, the lamb, the cat and the dog, who all stood beside her andwatched her feed the peacock, which she found strutting around andmewing like a cat for his dinner. Said the parrot:

  "I spy a peacock's eye On every feather--I wonder why?"

  The peacock soon came to love Trot as much as the other bird and all thebeasts did, and it spread its tail and strutted after her into the nextboudoir--the sixth one. As she entered this room Trot gave a start offear, for a terrible roar, like the roar of a lion, greeted her. Butthere was no lion there; a fuzzy blue rabbit was making all the noise.

  "For goodness sake, keep quiet," said Trot. "Here's a nice blue carrotfor you. The color seems all wrong, but it may taste jus' as good as ifit was red."

  Evidently it did taste good, for the rabbit ate it greedily. When it wasnot roaring the creature was so soft and fluffy that Trot played with itand fondled it a long time after it had finished eating, and the rabbitplayed with the cat and the dog and the lamb and did not seem a bitafraid of the parrot or the peacock. But, all of a sudden, i
n pouncedPrincess Indigo, with a yell of anger.

  "So, this is how you waste your time, is it?" exclaimed the Princess,and grabbing Trot's arm she jerked the girl to her feet and beganpushing her from the room. All the pets began to follow her, and seeingthis, Indigo yelled at them to keep back. As they paid no attention tothis command the princess seized a basin of water and dashed the fluidover the beasts and birds, after which she renewed her attempt to pushTrot from the room. The pets rebelled at such treatment, and believingthey ought to protect Trot, whom they knew to be their friend, theyproceeded to defend her. The little blue dog dashed at Indigo and bither right ankle, while the blue cat scratched her left leg with itsclaws and the parrot flew upon her shoulder and pecked her ear. The lambran up and butted Indigo so that she stumbled forward on her face, whenthe peacock proceeded to pound her head with his wings. Indigo,screaming with fright, sprang to her feet again, but the rabbit ranbetween her legs and tripped her up, all the time roaring loudly like alion, and the dog crowed triumphantly, as a rooster crows, while the catwarbled noisily and the lamb chattered and the parrot barked and thepeacock screeched: "me-ow!"

  Altogether, Indigo was, as Trot said, "scared stiff," and she howled forhelp until her sisters ran in and rescued her, pulling her through thebedchamber into the reception room.

  When she was alone Trot sat down on the floor and laughed until thetears came to her eyes, and she hugged all the pets and kissed themevery one and thanked them for protecting her.

  "That's all right; We like a fight,"

  declared the parrot, in reply.

  The Princesses were horrified to find Indigo so scratched and bitten,and they were likewise amazed at the rebellion of their six pets, whichthey had never petted, indeed, but kept in their boudoirs so they couldabuse them whenever they felt especially wicked or ill-natured. None ofthe snubnosed ones dared enter the room where the girl was, but theycalled through a crack in the door for Trot to come out instantly. Trot,pretending not to hear, paid no attention to these commands.

  Finding themselves helpless and balked of their revenge, the SixSnubnosed Princesses finally recovered from their excitement and settleddown to a pleasant sisterly quarrel, as was their customary amusement.Indigo wanted to have Trot patched, and Cerulia wanted her beaten withknotted cords, and Cobalt wanted her locked up in a dark room, andSapphire wanted her fed on sand, and Turquoise wanted her bound to awindmill, and so between these various desires they quarrelled andargued until dinner time arrived.

  Trot was occupying Indigo's room, so that Princess was obliged to dresswith Azure, not daring to enter her own chamber, and the two sistersquarrelled so enthusiastically that they almost came to blows beforethey were ready for dinner.

  Before the Six Snubnosed Princesses went to the Royal Banquet Hall,Cobalt stuck her head through a crack of the door and said to Trot:

  "If you want any dinner, you'll find it in the servants' hall. I adviseyou to eat, for after our dinner we will decide upon a fittingpunishment for you, and then I'm sure you won't have much appetite."

  "Thank you," replied the girl; "I'm right hungry, jus' now."

  She waited until the snubnosed sextette had pranced haughtily away andthen she came out, followed by all the pets, and found her way to theservants' quarters.