'Oh! Are you going to the Land of Oz?' asked King Kik-a-bray.
'I don't know,' she replied, 'but we've been told we are nearer the Land of Oz than to Kansas, and if that's so, the quickest way for me to get home is to find Ozma.'
'Haw-haw! Do you know the mighty Princess Ozma?' asked the King, his tone both surprised and eager.
''Course I do; she's my friend,' said Dorothy.
'Then perhaps you'll do me a favor,' continued the white donkey, much excited.
'What is it?' she asked.
'Perhaps you can get me an invitation to Princess Ozma's birthday celebration, which will be the grandest royal function ever held in Fairyland. I'd love to go.'
'Hee-haw! You deserve punishment, rather than reward, for giving me this dreadful head,' said the shaggy man, sorrowfully.
'I wish you wouldn't say 'hee-haw' so much,' Polychrome begged him; 'it makes cold chills run down my back.'
'But I can't help it, my dear; my donkey head wants to bray continually,' he replied. 'Doesn't your fox head want to yelp every minute?' he asked Button-Bright.
'Don't know,' said the boy, still staring at the shaggy man's ears. These seemed to interest him greatly, and the sight also made him forget his own fox head, which was a comfort.
'What do you think, Polly? Shall I promise the donkey king an invitation to Ozma's party?' asked Dorothy of the Rainbow's Daughter, who was flitting about the room like a sunbeam because she could never keep still.
'Do as you please, dear,' answered Polychrome. 'He might help to amuse the guests of the Princess.'
'Then, if you will give us some supper and a place to sleep to-night, and let us get started on our journey early to-morrow morning,' said Dorothy to the King, 'I'll ask Ozma to invite you — if I happen to get to Oz.'
'Good! Hee-haw! Excellent!' cried Kik-a-bray, much pleased. 'You shall all have fine suppers and good beds. What food would you prefer, a bran mash or ripe oats in the shell?'
'Neither one,' replied Dorothy, promptly.
'Perhaps plain hay, or some sweet juicy grass would suit you better,' suggested Kik-a-bray, musingly.
'Is that all you have to eat?' asked the girl.
'What more do you desire?'
'Well, you see we're not donkeys,' she explained, 'and so we're used to other food. The foxes gave us a nice supper in Foxville.'
'We'd like some dewdrops and mist-cakes,' said Polychrome.
'I'd prefer apples and a ham sandwich,' declared the shaggy man, 'for although I've a donkey head, I still have my own particular stomach.'
'I want pie,' said Button-Bright.
'I think some beefsteak and chocolate layer-cake would taste best,' said Dorothy.
'Hee-haw! I declare!' exclaimed the King. 'It seems each one of you wants a different food. How queer all living creatures are, except donkeys!'
'And donkeys like you are queerest of all,' laughed Polychrome.
'Well,' decided the King, 'I suppose my Magic Staff will produce the things you crave; if you are lacking in good taste it is not my fault.'
With this, he waved his staff with the jeweled ball, and before them instantly appeared a tea-table, set with linen and pretty dishes, and on the table were the very things each had wished for. Dorothy's beefsteak was smoking hot, and the shaggy man's apples were plump and rosy-cheeked. The King had not thought to provide chairs, so they all stood in their places around the table and ate with good appetite, being hungry. The Rainbow's Daughter found three tiny dewdrops on a crystal plate, and Button-Bright had a big slice of apple pie, which he devoured eagerly.
Afterward the King called the brown donkey, which was his favorite servant, and bade it lead his guests to the vacant house where they were to pass the night. It had only one room and no furniture except beds of clean straw and a few mats of woven grasses; but our travelers were contented with these simple things because they realized it was the best the Donkey-King had to offer them. As soon as it was dark they lay down on the mats and slept comfortably until morning.
At daybreak there was a dreadful noise throughout the city. Every donkey in the place brayed. When he heard this the shaggy man woke up and called out 'Hee-haw!' as loud as he could.
'Stop that!' said Button-Bright, in a cross voice. Both Dorothy and Polly looked at the shaggy man reproachfully.
'I couldn't help it, my dears,' he said, as if ashamed of his bray; 'but I'll try not to do it again.'
Of coursed they forgave him, for as he still had the Love Magnet in his pocket they were all obliged to love him as much as ever.
They did not see the King again, but Kik-a-bray remembered them; for a table appeared again in their room with the same food upon it as on the night before.
'Don't want pie for breakfus',' said Button-Bright.
'I'll give you some of my beefsteak,' proposed Dorothy; 'there's plenty for us all.'
That suited the boy better, but the shaggy man said he was content with his apples and sandwiches, although he ended the meal by eating Button-Bright's pie. Polly liked her dewdrops and mist-cakes better than any other food, so they all enjoyed an excellent breakfast. Toto had the scraps left from the beefsteak, and he stood up nicely on his hind legs while Dorothy fed them to him.
Breakfast ended, they passed through the village to the side opposite that by which they had entered, the brown servant-donkey guiding them through the maze of scattered houses. There was the road again, leading far away into the unknown country beyond.
'King Kik-a-bray says you must not forget his invitation,' said the brown donkey, as they passed through the opening in the wall.
'I shan't,' promised Dorothy.
Perhaps no one ever beheld a more strangely assorted group than the one which now walked along the road, through pretty green fields and past groves of feathery pepper-trees and fragrant mimosa. Polychrome, her beautiful gauzy robes floating around her like a rainbow cloud, went first, dancing back and forth and darting now here to pluck a wild-flower or there to watch a beetle crawl across the path. Toto ran after her at times, barking joyously the while, only to become sober again and trot along at Dorothy's heels. The little Kansas girl walked holding Button-Bright's hand clasped in her own, and the wee boy with his fox head covered by the sailor hat presented an odd appeaance. Strangest of all, perhaps, was the shaggy man, with his shaggy donkey head, who shuffled along in the rear with his hands thrust deep in his big pockets.
None of the party was really unhappy. All were straying in an unknown land and had suffered more or less annoyance and discomfort; but they realized they were having a fairy adventure in a fairy country, and were much interested in finding out what would happen next.
8. The Musicker
About the middle of the forenoon they began to go up a long hill. By-and-by this hill suddenly dropped down into a pretty valley, where the travelers saw, to their surprise, a small house standing by the road-side.
It was the first house they had seen, and they hastened into the valley to discover who lived there. No one was in sight as they approached, but when they began to get nearer the house they heard queer sounds coming from it. They could not make these out at first, but as they became louder our friends thought they heard a sort of music like that made by a wheezy hand-organ; the music fell upon their ears in this way:
Tiddle-widdle-iddle oom pom-pom! Oom, pom-pom! oom, pom-pom! Tiddle-tiddle-tiddle oom pom-pom! Oom, pom-pom — pah!
'What is it, a band or a mouth-organ?' asked Dorothy.
'Don't know,' said Button-Bright.
