  "So there you are!" Pinny Penny straightened up with a little grimace, for he had been planting flowers in a new rock garden he was planning for the King. With an expression about equally compounded of exasperation and affection, he looked at his former Master and the white horse who had, without sound or warning, dropped down in the path before him. "I thought you'd come back," continued Pinny Penny, calmly rubbing the mud from his fingers and putting out his hand. "So it was your horse, after all." His gaze rested speculatively on the splendid white steed and richly jeweled robes of Skamperoo. "And you've made your fortune, I see! Well, welcome home anyway, your crown's hanging on a nail back of the throne and I think you will find everything in order." "In order! Why, it looks wonderful!" shouted Skamperoo, leaping exuberantly out of the saddle, and honestly surprised and pleased at the pleasure he felt in seeing old Pinny Penny again. "You've had the palace painted and this garden and that fountain and the flowers. They're all new, aren't they?" "Yes," agreed Pinny Penny guardedly. "I made a few new laws while you were gone, Skamper, making the tax only one-twentieth of our subjects' earnings. They were so grateful and delighted, they've been sending you presents ever since. Then the guards (having no drill or marching to bother them, I did away with THAT, too), the guards in their odd time agreed to work around the castle and we've been brightening up the old place quite a bit. I tell you," Pinny Penny exhaled his breath noisily, "we'll make a going and coming country of this yet!" "Of course we will," said Skamperoo, bouncing happily along at his side. "I've had a lot of experience since I saw you, old Skinny Pins. Ho, Pinny, my boy, I've been an Emperor in Oz!" "OZ? Never!" Closing his lips into a thin line, Pinny Penny looked from his Master to Chalk, who was stepping sedately along on his other side. "But it's perfectly true," whinnied the white horse, prancing a bit from sheer enjoyment, "and now we are home with five splendid wishes." "Wishes?" sniffed Pinny Penny, rearing his head suspiciously. "What good are wishes?" "But these wishes really work and come true," explained Chalk with a toss of his head, "and what's more they are going to work and come true for Skampavia!" "Any wish you work hard enough for will come true," insisted Pinny Penny stubbornly. "Wishes—POOH! Wishes—POOH! 'If wishes were horses, beggars would ride!'" finished the little Prime Minister half under his breath. "But don't you see?" Skamperoo grasped Pinny Penny firmly by the shoulders. "This is one time when wishes WERE horses and beggars DID ride. My first wish was for a horse and here he is, and as true as you are and as wise and clever. Why, even if the magic emeralds give me nothing more, I am still the luckiest fellow on this side of the Deadly Desert!" "Moons, stars, and rainbows! I believe you have gotten some sense," gasped Pinny Penny, staring with wide eyes into Skamperoo's face. "And that's the first good I ever knew to come of magic." Pulling Pinny Penny down to his old bench, now neatly mended and painted green, the King of Skampavia told his little Prime Minister the whole story I have just been telling you. When he finished and settled back complacently, Pinny Penny instead of looking glad or pleased stared mournfully at the ground. "Now what's the matter?" demanded Skamperoo, clapping him impatiently on the back, while Chalk, breaking off a little branch with his teeth, tickled Pinny Penny mischievously under the chin. "Why are you so sad and solemn?" "Because"—Pinny Penny ground the toe of his boot deeply into the gravel in the path—"if you really have five more magic wishes, you'll probably be going to some grand other place and be spending the rest of your life in travel." "If that were so, we wouldn't be here at all," puffed Skamperoo. "Now get this through your head, old fellow. We are here by our own wish and from now on my own country is good enough for me and when we've made these five good wishes—good enough for anybody!" "There you go! There you go!" groaned Pinny Penny, covering his face with his hands. "It's the wishes I'm afraid of." "Well, you needn't be!" With a great effort Skamperoo made his first really great and wise decision. "You shall make the wishes yourself, Pinny Penny, and I shall save only one in case of trouble!" "Bravo! Bravo!" snorted Chalk, prancing three times round the green bench. "Me? You really mean me?" quavered Pinny Penny, pointing an unbelieving finger at his own mid-section. Then, as Skamperoo nodded and before he could change his mind, the old Chancellor fairly leapt into the air. "I wish the King of this country to always be as wise and generous as he has succeeded in being at this moment, as wise as the young Fairy Ruler of Oz," panted Pinny Penny. "I wish that the people of Skampavia, using the powers and abilities they already have, shall make this a rich, happy, and prosperous Kingdom. I wish that the climate and soil, the only bad features about which we might complain, shall become mild and fertile! That's all, that's all I can think of!" confessed Pinny Penny, shrinking happily back on the bench. "Then I'll make a wish," whinnied Chalk, shaking his beautiful golden mane. "I wish that we three may never be separated! Long live the KING AND HIS PRIME MINISTER!" "And his horse!" cried Skamperoo, bounding up to seize Chalk's bridle. "And his horse!" echoed Pinny Penny heartily, running round to seize Chalk's bridle on the other side. "We three for Skampavia forever!" Then, with Chalk stepping proudly in the center, these three strangely assorted comrades made their way into the palace. Knowing the power of the magic emeralds, and also the magic power of knowledge and experience, I am sure that Skampavia under its new regime, will soon be as happy and prosperous as any Nation in Oz! |
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