Coursing down the street, Bilbil found himself approaching the bridge of boats and without pausing to think where it might lead him he crossed over and proceeded on his way. A few moments later a great stone building blocked his path. It was the palace of Queen Cor, and seeing the gates of the courtyard standing wide open, Bilbil rushed through them without slackening his speed.
Chapter Thirteen
Zella Saves the Prince
The wicked Queen of Coregos was in a very bad humor this morning, for one of her slave drivers had come from the fields to say that a number of slaves had rebelled and would not work.
'Bring them here to me!' she cried savagely. 'A good whipping may make them change their minds.'
So the slave driver went to fetch the rebellious ones and Queen Cor sat down to eat her breakfast, an ugly look on her face.
Prince Inga had been ordered to stand behind his new mistress with a big fan of peacock's feathers, but he was so unused to such service that he awkwardly brushed her ear with the fan. At once she flew into a terrible rage and slapped the Prince twice with her hand-blows that tingled, too, for her hand was big and hard and she was not inclined to be gentle. Inga took the blows without shrinking or uttering a cry, although they stung his pride far more than his body. But King Rinkitink, who was acting as the queen's butler and had just brought in her coffee, was so startled at seeing the young Prince punished that he tipped over the urn and the hot coffee streamed across the lap of the Queen's best morning gown.
Cor sprang from her seat with a scream of anger and poor Rinkitink would doubtless have been given a terrible beating had not the slave driver returned at this moment and attracted the woman's attention. The overseer had brought with him all of the women slaves from Pingaree, who had been loaded down with chains and were so weak and ill they could scarcely walk, much less work in the fields.
Prince Inga's eyes were dimmed with sorrowful tears when he discovered how his poor people had been abused, but his own plight was so helpless that he was unable to aid them. Fortunately the boy's mother, Queen Garee, was not among these slaves, for Queen Cor had placed her in the royal dairy to make butter.
'Why do you refuse to work?' demanded Cor in a harsh voice, as the slaves from Pingaree stood before her, trembling and with downcast eyes.
'Because we lack strength to perform the tasks your overseers demand,' answered one of the women.
'Then you shall be whipped until your strength returns!' exclaimed the Queen, and turning to Inga, she commanded: 'Get me the whip with the seven lashes.'
As the boy left the room, wondering how he might manage to save the unhappy women from their undeserved punishment, he met a girl entering by the back way, who asked:
'Can you tell me where to find Her Majesty, Queen Cor?'
'She is in the chamber with the red dome, where green dragons are painted upon the walls,' replied Inga; 'but she is in an angry and ungracious mood to-day. Why do you wish to see her?'
'I have honey to sell,' answered the girl, who was Zella, just come from the forest. 'The Queen is very fond of my honey.'
'You may go to her, if you so desire,' said the boy, 'but take care not to anger the cruel Queen, or she may do you a mischief.'
'Why should she harm me, who brings her the honey she so dearly loves?' inquired the child innocently. 'But I thank you for your warning; and I will try not to anger the Queen.'
As Zella started to go, Inga's eyes suddenly fell upon her shoes and instantly he recognized them as his own. For only in Pingaree were shoes shaped in this manner: high at the heel and pointed at the toes.
'Stop!' he cried in an excited voice, and the girl obeyed, wonderingly. 'Tell me,' he continued, more gently, 'where did you get those shoes?'
'My father brought them to me from Regos,' she answered.
'From Regos!'
'Yes. Are they not pretty?' asked Zella, looking down at her feet to admire them. 'One of them my father found by the palace wall, and the other on an ash-heap. So he brought them to me and they fit me perfectly.'
By this time Inga was trembling with eager joy, which of course the girl could not understand.
'What is your name, little maid?' he asked.
'I am called Zella, and my father is Nikobob, the charcoal-burner.'
'Zella is a pretty name. I am Inga, Prince of Pingaree,' said he, 'and the shoes you are now wearing, Zella, belong to me. They were not cast away, as your father supposed, but were lost. Will you let me have them again?'
Zella's eyes filled with tears.
'Must I give up my pretty shoes, then?' she asked. 'They are the only ones I have ever owned.'
Inga was sorry for the poor child, but he knew how important it was that he regain possession of the Magic Pearls. So he said, pleadingly:
'Please let me have them, Zella. See! I will exchange for them the shoes I now have on, which are newer and prettier than the others.'
The girl hesitated. She wanted to please the boy Prince, yet she hated to exchange the shoes which her father had brought her as a present.
'If you will give me the shoes,' continued the boy, anxiously, 'I will promise to make you and your father and mother rich and prosperous. Indeed, I will promise to grant any favors you may ask of me,' and he sat down upon the floor and drew off the shoes he was wearing and held them toward the girl.
'I'll see if they will fit me,' said Zella, taking off her left shoe – the one that contained the Pink Pearl – and beginning to put on one of Inga's.
Just then Queen Cor, angry at being made to wait for her whip with the seven lashes, rushed into the room to find Inga. Seeing the boy sitting upon the floor beside Zella, the woman sprang toward him to beat him with her clenched fists; but Inga had now slipped on the shoe and the Queen's blows could not reach his body.
Then Cor espied the whip lying beside Inga and snatching it up she tried to lash him with it – all to no avail.
While Zella sat horrified by this scene, the Prince, who realized he had no time to waste, reached out and pulled the right shoe from the girl's foot, quickly placing it upon his own. Then he stood up and, facing the furious but astonished Queen, said to her in a quiet voice:
'Madam, please give me that whip.'
'I won't!' answered Cor. 'I'm going to lash those Pingaree women with it.'
The boy seized hold of the whip and with irresistible strength drew it from the Queen's hand. But she drew from her bosom a sharp dagger and with the swiftness of lightning aimed a blow at Inga's heart. He merely stood still and smiled, for the blade rebounded and fell clattering to the floor.
Then, at last, Queen Cor understood the magic power that had terrified her husband but which she had ridiculed in her ignorance, not believing in it. She did not know that Inga's power had been lost, and found again, but she realized the boy was no common foe and that unless she could still manage to outwit him her reign in the Island of Coregos was ended. To gain time, she went back to the red-domed chamber and seated herself in her throne, before which were grouped the weeping slaves from Pingaree.
Inga had taken Zella's hand and assisted her to put on the shoes he had given her in exchange for his own. She found them quite comfortable and did not know she had lost anything by the transfer.
'Come with me,' then said the boy Prince, and led her into the presence of Queen Cor, who was giving Rinkitink a scolding. To the overseer Inga said.
'Give me the keys which unlock these chains, that I may set these poor women at liberty.'
'Don't you do it!' screamed Queen Cor.
'If you interfere, madam,' said the boy, 'I will put you into a dungeon.'
By this Rinkitink knew that Inga had recovered his Magic Pearls and the little fat King was so overjoyed that
