Genre Fairy Tale. Page - 16

rshes of Sonaput.

THIS Uninhabited Island

Is off Cape Gardafui,

By the Beaches of Socotra

And the Pink Arabian Sea:

But it's hot--too hot from Suez

For the likes of you and me

Ever to go

In a P. and 0.

And call on the Cake-Parsee!

HOW THE LEOPARD GOT HIS SPOTS

IN the days when everybody started fair, Best Beloved, the Leopard lived in a place called the High Veldt. 'Member it wasn't the Low Veldt, or the Bush Veldt, or the Sour Veldt, but the 'sclusively bare, hot, shiny High Veldt, where there was sand and sandy-coloured rock and 'sclusively tufts of sandy- yellowish grass. The Giraffe and the Zebra and the Eland and the Koodoo and the Hartebeest lived there; and they were 'sclusively sandy-yellow-brownish all over; but the Leopard, he was the 'sclusivest sandiest-yellowish-brownest of them all--a greyish-yellowish catty-shaped kind of beast, and he matched the 'sclusively yellowish-greyish-brownish colour of the High Veldt to

up all these years to get his crown, and everything!"

And wise people shook their heads and foretold a decline in the National Love of Sport. And, indeed, soccer was not at all popular for some time afterward.

Lionel did his best to be a good King during the week, and the people were beginning to forgive him for letting the Dragon out of the book. "After all," they said, "soccer is a dangerous game, and perhaps it is wise to discourage it."

Popular opinion held that the Soccer Players, being tough and hard, had disagreed with the Dragon so much that he had gone away to some place where they only play cats' cradle and games that do not make you hard and tough.

All the same, Parliament met on the Saturday afternoon, a convenient time, for most of the Members would be free to attend, to consider the Dragon. But unfortunately the Dragon, who had only been asleep, woke up because it was Saturday, and he considered the Parliament, and afterwards there were not any Members left, so they t

ely to befighting and much trouble as the result.'"

"Is that all the Book says?" asked Ozma.

"Every word," said Dorothy, and Ozma and Glinda bothlooked at the Record and seemed surprised andperplexed.

"Tell me, Glinda," said Ozma, "who are theFlatheads?"

"I cannot, your Majesty," confessed the Sorceress."Until now I never have heard of them, nor have I everheard the Skeezers mentioned. In the faraway corners ofOz are hidden many curious tribes of people, and thosewho never leave their own countries and never arevisited by those from our favored part of Oz, naturallyare unknown to me. However, if you so desire, I canlearn through my arts of sorcery something of theSkeezers and the Flatheads."

"I wish you would," answered Ozma seriously. "Yousee, Glinda, if these are Oz people they are mysubjects and I cannot allow any wars or troubles in theLand I rule, if I can possibly help it."

"Very well, your Majesty," said the Sorceress, "Iwill try to get some information to guide you. P

h all fringed with ferns and creepers. They passed through the arch into a deep, narrow gully whose banks were of stones, moss-covered; and in the crannies grew more ferns and long grasses. Trees growing on the top of the bank arched across, and the sunlight came through in changing patches of brightness, turning the gully to a roofed corridor of goldy-green. The path, which was of greeny-grey flagstones where heaps of leaves had drifted, sloped steeply down, and at the end of it was another round arch, quite dark inside, above which rose rocks and grass and bushes.

"It's like the outside of a railway tunnel," said James.

"It's the entrance to the enchanted castle," said Kathleen. "Let's blow the horns."

"Dry up!" said Gerald. "The bold Captain, reproving the silly chatter of his subordinates ,"

"I like that!" said Jimmy, indignant.

"I thought you would," resumed Gerald "of his subordinates, bade them advance with caution and in silence, because after all there might be some

gover the fire.

'Good evening, mother. I see you have lived long in this world; doyou know anything about the three bulrushes?'

'Yes, indeed, I've lived long and been much about in the world, butI have never seen or heard anything of what you ask. Still, if youwill wait till to-morrow I may be able to tell you something.'

Well, he waited till the morning, and quite early the old womanappeared and took out a little pipe and blew in it, and in a momentall the crows in the world were flying about her. Not one wasmissing. Then she asked if they knew anything about the threebulrushes, but not one of them did.

The prince went on his way, and a little further on he found anotherhut in which lived an old man. On being questioned the old mansaid he knew nothing, but begged the prince to stay overnight, andthe next morning the old man called all the ravens together, butthey too had nothing to tell.

The prince bade him farewell and set out. He wandered so far thathe crossed seven kingdoms, an

in, and charged back with a roar.

Both Tom and Astro and Tony Richards and McAvoy grabbed at their respective unit mates and tried to restrain them. In the struggle to keep Roger and Davison apart, Astro accidentally pushed Richards to one side.

"What in blazes--!" yelled Richards. He suddenly released Davison and gave Astro a shove that sent the big cadet sprawling. And then, without warning, McAvoy swung at Tom. The curly-haired cadet saw the blow coming a fraction of a second too late and caught it on the side of his head. He fell back into the bushes.

Roger yelled in anger at the sudden attack, and grabbing Davison by the front of his tunic, slammed a hard right into the cadet's stomach. Richards grabbed Roger, holding him around the head and neck, as McAvoy swung at him viciously. Seeing their unit mate pommeled, Tom and Astro charged back and the battle was on. The two units forgot about the watch officers and the strong possibility of being caught and slugged it out in the darkness

ared the King.

"You will have to go to the Land of Oz to recover it, and your Majestycan't get to the Land of Oz in any possible way," said the Steward,yawning because he had been on duty ninety-six hours, and was sleepy.

"Why not?" asked the King.

"Because there is a deadly desert all around that fairy country, whichno one is able to cross. You know that fact as well as I do, yourMajesty. Never mind the lost Belt. You have plenty of power left,for you rule this underground kingdom like a tyrant, and thousands ofNomes obey your commands. I advise you to drink a glass of meltedsilver, to quiet your nerves, and then go to bed."

The King grabbed a big ruby and threw it at Kaliko's head. TheSteward ducked to escape the heavy jewel, which crashed against thedoor just over his left ear.

"Get out of my sight! Vanish! Go away--and send General Blug here,"screamed the Nome King.

Kaliko hastily withdrew, and the Nome King stamped up and down untilthe General of his armies appeared.

e, and that in itself was such a wonderful thing that he could think of nothing else.

And while the Boy was asleep, dreaming of the seaside, the little Rabbit lay among the old picture-books in the corner behind the fowl-house, and he felt very lonely. The sack had been left untied, and so by wriggling a bit he was able to get his head through the opening and look out. He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him. Near by he could see the thicket of raspberry canes, growing tall and close like a tropical jungle, in whose shadow he had played with the Boy on bygone mornings. He thought of those long sunlit hours in the garden-how happy they were-and a great sadness came over him. He seemed to see them all pass before him, each more beautiful than the other, the fairy huts in the flower-bed, the quiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken and