L. Frank Baum Read Online Free Page A

because only the king had the right to live there.
    So, finally, he found himself reduced to a bare palace, containing
only a big mahogany bedstead that he slept in, a small stool on
which he sat to pull off his shoes and the moth-eaten ermine robe.
    In this straight he was reduced to the necessity of borrowing an
occasional dime from his chief counselor, with which to buy a ham
sandwich. And the chief counselor hadn't many dimes. One who
counseled his king so foolishly was likely to ruin his own prospects
as well.
    So the king, having nothing more to live for, died suddenly and left
a ten-year-old son to inherit the dismantled kingdom, the moth-eaten
robe and the jewel-stripped crown.
    No one envied the child, who had scarcely been thought of until he
became king himself. Then he was recognized as a personage of some
importance, and the politicians and hangers-on, headed by the chief
counselor of the kingdom, held a meeting to determine what could be
done for him.
    These folk had helped the old king to live riotously while his money
lasted, and now they were poor and too proud to work. So they tried
to think of a plan that would bring more money into the little
king's treasury, where it would be handy for them to help
themselves.
    After the meeting was over the chief counselor came to the young
king, who was playing peg-top in the courtyard, and said:
    "Your majesty, we have thought of a way to restore your kingdom to
its former power and magnificence."
    "All right," replied his majesty, carelessly. "How will you do it?"
    "By marrying you to a lady of great wealth," replied the counselor.
    "Marrying me!" cried the king. "Why, I am only ten years old!"
    "I know; it is to be regretted. But your majesty will grow older,
and the affairs of the kingdom demand that you marry a wife."
    "Can't I marry a mother, instead?" asked the poor little king, who
had lost his mother when a baby.
    "Certainly not," declared the counselor. "To marry a mother would be
illegal; to marry a wife is right and proper."
    "Can't you marry her yourself?" inquired his majesty, aiming his
peg-top at the chief counselor's toe, and laughing to see how he
jumped to escape it.
    "Let me explain," said the other. "You haven't a penny in the world,
but you have a kingdom. There are many rich women who would be glad
to give their wealth in exchange for a queen's coronet—even if the
king is but a child. So we have decided to advertise that the one
who bids the highest shall become the queen of Quok."
    "If I must marry at all," said the king, after a moment's thought,
"I prefer to marry Nyana, the armorer's daughter."
    "She is too poor," replied the counselor.
    "Her teeth are pearls, her eyes are amethysts, and her hair is
gold," declared the little king.
    "True, your majesty. But consider that your wife's wealth must be
used. How would Nyana look after you have pulled her teeth of
pearls, plucked out her amethyst eyes and shaved her golden head?"
    The boy shuddered.
    "Have your own way," he said, despairingly. "Only let the lady be as
dainty as possible and a good playfellow."
    "We shall do our best," returned the chief counselor, and went away
to advertise throughout the neighboring kingdoms for a wife for the
boy king of Quok.
    There were so many applicants for the privilege of marrying the
little king that it was decided to put him up at auction, in order
that the largest possible sum of money should be brought into the
kingdom. So, on the day appointed, the ladies gathered at the palace
from all the surrounding kingdoms—from Bilkon, Mulgravia, Junkum
and even as far away as the republic of Macvelt.
    The chief counselor came to the palace early in the morning and had
the king's face washed and his hair combed; and then he padded the
inside of the crown with old newspapers to make it small enough to
fit his majesty's head. It was a sorry looking crown, having many
big and little holes in it where the jewels had once been; and it
had been neglected and knocked