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28 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey · Adventure Books Collection

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  Chapter twenty eight, How a little burden may grow to be a grievous one,
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  story of a man with a monkey in his hood, My terrible suffering
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  concerning the awful panic that seized upon the Colti Corps, my visit to the
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  deserted ice Palace, and what happened to Fuffkuja end of his brief but strange
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  career a frozen kiss on a blade of horn, Or how Shneboulay chose a
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  husband, Ah, little princess. How easy was it for thee to say
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  that I would soon grow accustomed to the slender burden, And note it no
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  more? How prone are we to call light the burdens which we lay upon
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  the shoulders of others for our own benefit. True, Fuffkujo was not as
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  long as a horse, nor as broad as an ox. And when in
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  accordance with the King's decree, the hood had been completed, and the little
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  animal who stowed away therein close against my back, so as to get a
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  goodly share of the warmth of my body, it seemed to me that Shneboulay
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  was right, that I would soon become accustomed to the load, and noted
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  no, And so it seemed the second and third day, but not on
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  the fourth, for on that day the little load appeared to have gained somewhat
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  in weight, and although I was quick to feign that it was not so,
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  when Princess Shneboulet quizzed me, saying, dear little Baron, did I
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  not tell thee that thou wouldst soon? Forget that Fuffkujak slept on thy shoulders,
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  and in my heart I felt that he really had grown a mite heavier.
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  On the fifth day, Bulgar and I were bidden to a merry making
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  at the Palace of Ice, and as I rose from my divan to betake
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  me thither, methought, I was strangely heavy hearted, and so did Bulgar,
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  for he made several efforts to draw a smile or a cheery tone from
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  me, but in vain. Suddenly I realized that there was a weight pressing
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  against my back. No, not a heavy weight, but a weight all
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  the same. And then I whispered to myself, why if I am going
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  to be a merry making, I'll cast it off? And then I wakened
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  from my deep abstraction and murmured, how strange that I should have forgotten the
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  Fuffkuja was in my hood, and so I went to the merry making with
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  Fuffkuja nestled between my shoulders, and the Colti corpse laughed at the little baron
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  and his child, as they called him, and drew near and raised the
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  flap and peeped in at the curious creature within the hood. And when Fuffkujov
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  felt their icy breasths, he buried his nose in the fir and sighed and
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  whimpered. Then for a moment, when the Princess Shnebule came and sat beside
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  me and praised me for my readiness to carry out her wishes, and thanked
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  me so sweetly for my goodness to her, I forgot all about the little
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  load laid upon me, and I ate the frozen tidbits from the royal kitchen
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  and laughed and joked with Lord's frosty Fizz and glacier Boy, just as had
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  been my wont before Gelidus had decreed that Fuffkujo should make his bed on my
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  shoulders. But when the fete was over, and I stepped from the broad
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  portal of the Ice Palace and looked up at the mighty lens set in the
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  mountain side, through which the moonlight of the outer world was streaming in subdued
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  but glorious splendor. I suddenly felt my legs bend under me. I staggered
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  from right to left. I clutched at shadows. I was, it seemed
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  to me, about to be crushed beneath a terrible burden. I quickened my
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  pace, I broke into a run. I threw my arms into the air,
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  as if I would cast off the wake that was smothering me. And
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  so I came to my lodging, puffing, panting, gasping. Why What
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  a fool? Was my first word when I had got my breath. It's
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  only little fuff could john my back? Stowed away in my fur hood,
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  I must be beside myself to a thought that a great monster was seated there,
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  and that he was gradually pressing me down, crushing the life out of
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  me by degrees, flattening me to the very ground, and I not able
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  to escape from his terrible embrace or to squirm out from under his awful limbs
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  wrapped around my neck and body. All night long, this monster was clinging
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  to me and urging me to a faster pace. Up and down, across
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  and around I knew not where, on bootless errands, ending only to begin
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  again on searches after nothing hidden nowhere, trying a thousand lids and finding every
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  one law, returning home, only to go forth again, up and away
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  and out on interminable highways, vanishing in a point far on ahead, with
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  that grievous burden forever on my shoulders, growing heavier and heavier, till it
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  seemed that I must go down with it into the dust. But no,
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  it knew full well that it must not ride me to death. So when
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  I was ready to drop, it throw off part of its weight to give
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  me courage to begin again. When the morning came, my pulse was galloping,
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  and my cheeks were on fire. I could feel the blood pounding against
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  my temples, and it was natural that my face should be crimsoned over with
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  the flush of fever. Half in a daze, I walked forth toward the
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  grand staircase leading up to the Ice Palace, when suddenly I was startled by
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  a fearful scream. I halted and looked up when another and another burst upond
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  my ears. The terrified colti quarts were fleeing before me in every direction,
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  shrieking as they fled. Fly, brothers Fly. The little baron is burning.
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  The little baron is burning. Fly, brothers Fly. In a few
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  moments, terror had seized upon every living creature in the icy domain of King
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  Gelidas. They fled from me in mad haste, taking refuge in the distant
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  caverns and corridors, filling the air with their wild outcries, no one being
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  brave enough to halt and take a second look. My inflamed countenance filled them
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  with such awful terror that they could only tear along and cry, Fly,
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  brothers fly. The little baron is burning. The little baron is burning.
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  With bulgar at my heels, I turned and sprang up the staircase, with
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  the intention of seeking out King Gelidas and explaining the matter to him. But
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  he too had fled, and with him every sentinel and serving man, every
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  courtier and counselor. The palace was as still as death. I hastened through
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  its silent corridors, calling out, Schnebeleh, Princess Schnebeley, Surely there are
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  not afraid of me. Turn back, I will not harm thee I'm not
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  burning. Turn back, Oh, turn back with this I reached the throne
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  room, not a living creature was to be seen. The vast chamber was
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  still as death. I staggered to a divan, and, pillowing my poor
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  aching head on a cushion, I fell into a sound and refreshing sleep.
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  When I awoke, I rubbed my eyes and looked about me, and at
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  first I thought that I was still alone in the great round chamber with its
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  walls of ice. But no there on the divan sat Schnebuleh, and she
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  smiled and said, in mock displeasure, thou art not a very watchful nurse,
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  little Baron, For in thy sleep thou didst squeeze fuff Guja so tightly
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  against a cushion, and he crawled out from thy hood and nestled in my
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  arms in thy arm, Schneebuleh, I exclaimed breathlessly, for I feared for
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  the worst, and springing up, I drew aside the soft belt which she
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  had wrapped around fuff Guja, and there they dead. Poor little beast had
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  been so happy to crawl into the arms of one he loved so dearly,
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  and had cuddled up closer and closer to her in search of greater warmth,
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  but only to come nearer and nearer to a heart that could not warm him.
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  And so the insidious chill of death, which bringeth sweet and pleasant drowsiness
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  with it, had stole over him, and he had died. And Schnebule's
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  tears, freezing as they fell, now showered like the gentle hail of tiny
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  gems upon the little lead beasts. No longer fuff Cujay, but once again
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  the little man with the frozen smile. Presently the Colti corps were recovered from
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  their senseless fear, and first one by one, then group wise they returned
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  to their homes, King Gelidus and his court, coming back too, to
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  the fair palace which they had abandoned in their wild fright. When the cry
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  had gone up, the little baron was burning. Everybody was sorry to hear
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  that fuff Cuja had died the second time. And many were the frozen tears
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  that dropped from the chilly cheeks of the Colti corpse as they looked upon the
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  little man with a frozen smile as he lay on the white pelt beside the
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  Princess Schnebelet. That day we bore him back to the ice grotto, and
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  having laid him in the hollow molded by his body in the crystal block,
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  it was closed again so skillfully by the king's quarrymen that no eye was keen
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  enough to note where the cleavage had been, and the same uncanny glint was
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  in his eyes. And when the Colti corps saw this, their icy hearts
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  felt a cold shiver of satisfaction. For not only was the little man with
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  a frozen smile, back in his crystal cell again, but all the fears
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  and dreadful fancies which his coming to life again had given rise to, were
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  past and gone forever in peace and quiet and sweet contentment rained throughout the icy
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  realm of his frigid Majesty Galadas, King of the Colti Corpse. Now nothing
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  remained to make his cold heart crack with joy but to see his beloved child
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  Sneeberly make choice of a husband, and he had not long to wait for
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  one day. Upon entering the palace, she saw a youth lying at the
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  foot of the stairway, overcome with sleep. In one hand he held an
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  alabaster lamp, and in the other a new wick, which he was about
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  to fit into it for the youth was a lamp trimmer in the ice palace
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  of King Galidas, And when the Princess Sneberile saw him lying there, overcome
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  with sleep, she stooped and kissed him on the cheek, and passed on
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  without another thought about the matter, one way or the other. And the
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  kiss froze on the cheek of the lamp trimmer, where Schnebilet had pressed it.
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  Presently, King Gelidas came tramping into the hallway with his breath white upon
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  his beard, and he saw the youth lying there, and the frozen kiss
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  on his cheek, and he bade glacier boy scrape the delicate frost crystals from
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  the youth's face with a blade of polished horn. What hast there, father
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  of mine, asked the princess, when she saw him bearing the blade of
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  horn along so carefully a kiss which some one pressed upon the cheek of one
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  of my lamp tremmers, now lying on the staircase overcome with sleep, replied
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  King Gilidas, in ringing icy tones. Why, father of mine, exclaimed
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  the Princess Snebulet, Now that thou speakest of it, I really believe the
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  kiss is milling, for I recollect kissing someone. As I entered the palace,
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  I was deep in thought, but no doubt the youth pleased me as
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  he lay there asleep, with lamp in one hand and wick in the other,
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  and that lamp tremor trimmed no more lamps in the ice palace of his
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  frigid magic Ste Gelidus, King of the Colti Corpse. No doubt he made
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  Schneebily a very good husband, and I am quite sure that she made him
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  a good wife. I would have been glad to tarry for the nuptial feast,
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  but that was out of the question. I had stayed too long already.
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  End of Chapter twenty eight.