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014 - Pies of The Princess · Shen of the Sea- A Book for Children

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  Speaker 1: Section fourteen of Shen of the Sea, a Book for Children.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Shen of the Sea, a Book
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  Speaker 1: for Children by Arthur Boy Chrisman. Pies of the Princess.
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  Speaker 1: Three plump mandarins hid behind a single, tiny rose bush.
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  Speaker 1: The Chancellor crawled under a chair. All courtiers fell upon
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  Speaker 1: their chins, and, shivering, prayed that soft words might prevail.
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  Speaker 1: For no slight reason did they shiver and hide and pray.
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  Speaker 1: King yang Ling was angry, and he was an old
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  Speaker 1: fashioned monarch living in the long ago. Nowadays, any greasy
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  Speaker 1: kitchen lout made tweak a king's beard and go for
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  Speaker 1: to boast of his bravery. But then a day's kings
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  Speaker 1: were kings, and their swords were ever sharp. King Yengling
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  Speaker 1: was such a ruler and more angry than is good
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  Speaker 1: to see. His face was purple, and his voice boomed
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  Speaker 1: like a battle drum. Keeper of the treasury, has all
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  Speaker 1: my gold been used to make weights for fishing lines?
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  Speaker 1: Time after time the treasurer knocked his head against the
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  Speaker 1: paving most glorious and peaceful monarch, Your gold is so
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  Speaker 1: plentiful that seven years must pass before I can finish
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  Speaker 1: counting the larger bars, ten years for the smaller That
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  Speaker 1: was rather pleasant news. The King's voice lost some of
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  Speaker 1: its harshness. What of ivory? Has all my ivory been
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  Speaker 1: burned for firewood? A pot to boil? The treasurer continued
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  Speaker 1: to knock his head. Supreme ruler of the world and
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  Speaker 1: the stars, your ivory completely fills a hundred large and
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  Speaker 1: closely guarded vaults. The king hadn't dreamt that his wealth
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  Speaker 1: was so vast. His voice was not more moderately furious,
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  Speaker 1: as he asked, for what reason have you disposed of
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  Speaker 1: my jade? Do you mean to say that my jade
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  Speaker 1: has been used to build a stable for donkeys? Tap
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  Speaker 1: tap tap, When the treasure's head on the marble, paving
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  Speaker 1: oh powerful potentate, the store of green jade grows larger
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  Speaker 1: each day. Your precious white jade is worth more than
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  Speaker 1: green and gold and ivory combined. It is all quite
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  Speaker 1: safe under lock and key and watchful spears. The king
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  Speaker 1: was astonished and put in somewhat better humor. His voice
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  Speaker 1: was no louder than thunder, As he again questioned the treasurer, then,
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  Speaker 1: why tell me why is my daughter, the Princess chin
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  Speaker 1: Uor not given suitable toys? If the treasury holds gold
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  Speaker 1: and ivory and jade, why is my daughter compelled to
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  Speaker 1: use toys of common clay? The treasurer could not explain.
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  Speaker 1: Monarch whose word compels the sun to rise? We have
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  Speaker 1: pleaded with the wee Prince's chin Or. We have given
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  Speaker 1: her a thousand dolls of solid gold, with silver cradles
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  Speaker 1: for each, cradles set with rubies, and the dolls have
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  Speaker 1: eyes of lustrous black pearl. For the princess, we have
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  Speaker 1: made ivory cats and ivory mice for the cats to
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  Speaker 1: catch two thousand of each. For the princess, we have
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  Speaker 1: fashioned from jade, lovely tossing balls, wonderful dishes, and puppy
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  Speaker 1: dogs that bark and come when called. Yet the princess
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  Speaker 1: ignores these things and makes mud pies mud pies Mitas, Majesty,
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  Speaker 1: I do not know why, unless it may be that
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  Speaker 1: the princess is a girl as well as a princess.
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  Speaker 1: A trifle relieved, King Yangling passed into the garden beside
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  Speaker 1: the river bank, he found his daughter, the Princess chin
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  Speaker 1: Uor or Princess many dimples, for that is the meaning
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  Speaker 1: of chin Uor. Nurses standing near kept watch upon wheelbarrels
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  Speaker 1: filling over with golden dolls. But chin Uor had no
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  Speaker 1: thought for such toys. Her royal hands shaped the tastiest
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  Speaker 1: of mud pies, very pretty pies. They were made of
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  Speaker 1: white clay. The king said, littlest and most beautiful daughter,
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  Speaker 1: the golden dolls are longing for your touch. Why do
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  Speaker 1: you not please them? It is not seemingly for a
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  Speaker 1: princess to dabble in play. Then why do you make pies?
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  Speaker 1: The princess had a very good answer ready, because Daddy,
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  Speaker 1: I want to make pies. This nice, large one is
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  Speaker 1: for your dinner. The king was so shocked that he
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  Speaker 1: could say nothing more mud pies for a king's dinner.
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  Speaker 1: Such nonsense. His majesty was scandalized at the thought. He
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  Speaker 1: departed in haste. But the Princess chin Uor smiled and
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  Speaker 1: needed more and more pies. And when he had made enough,
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  Speaker 1: she placed them in a wheelbarrow and trundled them to
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  Speaker 1: the palace. And now the story changes far away to
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  Speaker 1: the west in a mountain named Huge Rocks Piled, the
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  Speaker 1: famous dragon Oo Loong made his home. This fierce dragon
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  Speaker 1: was a creature of consuming greed. He was ever hungry
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  Speaker 1: and anxious to dine a rabbit or an elephant. Nothing
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  Speaker 1: was too large, nothing too small, a turtle or a jellyfish.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing was too hard, nothing too soft. A man he
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  Speaker 1: considered fine eating boys he liked somewhat better girls. Girls
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  Speaker 1: were far superior to boys in the dragon's opinion. Much
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  Speaker 1: sorrow this ferocious loom had created in his majesty's kingdom.
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  Speaker 1: A reward of one hundred silver pieces had been offered
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  Speaker 1: for the dragon's horns, two hundred for his ears. Magicians
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  Speaker 1: had worked charms to slay him, only themselves to be slain.
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  Speaker 1: Hunters had loaded their jingles with yellow paper and had
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  Speaker 1: fired where the dragon was thickest, fired where he was thinnest,
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  Speaker 1: only to be eaten their guns with them. Made angry
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  Speaker 1: by the loss of so many people, King Yang Lang
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  Speaker 1: marched an army into the Mountain of Huge Rocks Piled,
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  Speaker 1: and the army was well armed with thumping drums and
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  Speaker 1: fifes and smoking guns. Then the dragon became doubly furious
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  Speaker 1: and ferocious to punish King Leng Yang. He resolved to
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  Speaker 1: visit the palace that he knew would cause the army
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  Speaker 1: to be withdrawn. Accordingly, at the hour of deepest slumber,
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  Speaker 1: darksome mid of night, he prowled round Yang Lang's palace
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  Speaker 1: seeking entrance. He had no easy task. Upon the King's
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  Speaker 1: door were pictures, also the word Chi written in gold,
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  Speaker 1: and so that door was well protected. The Queen's door, likewise,
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  Speaker 1: was dragon proof. It was covered with whole sentences taken
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  Speaker 1: from them Black Book of Hugh Poe, master Magician. The
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  Speaker 1: door that led to where Princess chin ou Or slept
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  Speaker 1: was made strong by magic words and symbols more of
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  Speaker 1: Hugh pos sorcery. Useless to prowl there, dangerous to prowl there.
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  Speaker 1: The dragon was a knowing beast and prudent. The signs
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  Speaker 1: were against him. Hence he tarried not but crawled down
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  Speaker 1: the hallway, and leaving a wheelbarrow stood in his path.
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  Speaker 1: He could not pass to the right. To the left,
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  Speaker 1: he could not pass, nor could he leap over the obstruction.
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  Speaker 1: But the dragon was not one to be baffled by
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  Speaker 1: such a weak and wooden contrivance. His huge mouth opened
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  Speaker 1: and his white hot breath rushed forth in a twinkling,
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  Speaker 1: The wooden barrel vanished, like a butter cake dropped upon
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  Speaker 1: the summer sun. It melted, burned to a cinder of nothingness.
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  Speaker 1: Now the wheelbarrow, thus destroyed, was property of the Little
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  Speaker 1: Prince's chin uor In it had been golden dolls, dolls
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  Speaker 1: of the princess. The dolls were dolls no longer. Under
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  Speaker 1: the dragon's fiery breath, they changed to a pool of
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  Speaker 1: liquid gold. The hard gold became soft and flowing in
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  Speaker 1: the barrow had been pretty mud pies, pies of the princess.
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  Speaker 1: Under the dragon's burning breath, they were changed to disks
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  Speaker 1: of stony hardness. The soft clay took on a hardness
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  Speaker 1: as of flint. The princess had wished her pies to dry,
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  Speaker 1: and her wish had been granted. Next morning, the palace,
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  Speaker 1: from presents room to pantry buzzed with excitement. Ooh Loong
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  Speaker 1: had dared to intrude within the royal dwelling. It could
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  Speaker 1: not be doubted he had left his footprints in the
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  Speaker 1: molten gold, and the gold, in hardening had preserved his tracks.
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  Speaker 1: Witches and wizards came to make more able charms. Messengers
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  Speaker 1: galloped away to summon the distant army. Let that reprobate
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  Speaker 1: dragon return if he dares, If he dares, let that
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  Speaker 1: reprobate dragon return. The courtiers trembled and gasped, pray, may
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  Speaker 1: the wicked loom never return, never, never return. But little
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  Speaker 1: Princess many Dimples played with her pies and was happy.
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  Speaker 1: Her pies had been baked to a queen's taste, or
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  Speaker 1: rather to the taste of a princess. Beside the river,
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  Speaker 1: she worked faithfully in wet white clay. Such beautiful pies.
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  Speaker 1: I do hope that nice Loom will return, said Princess
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  Speaker 1: chin U. Or he is such a fine oven, I
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  Speaker 1: shall make a hundred more pies for his baking. Pie
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  Speaker 1: after pie. Even the nurses helped. Instead of saying please,
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  Speaker 1: will your Royal Highness not play with this lovely doll,
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  Speaker 1: they said, please is this one rounded enough? And please
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  Speaker 1: shall I scallop the edges of trifle deeper? And shall
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  Speaker 1: I imagine that this one contains cherries or radishes or
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  Speaker 1: whatever it may be that the makers of pies would
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  Speaker 1: say in a royal kitchen. So a hundred pies were made,
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  Speaker 1: and wheeled to the palace. In reality, they numbered a
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  Speaker 1: hundred and one, but the odd one was so thick
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  Speaker 1: that it must be called a cake. Howbeit that is
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  Speaker 1: not so important as you might think. Night followed day,
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  Speaker 1: a habit that most knights have. The soldiers slept as
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  Speaker 1: they had been ordered not to do. The hour approached
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  Speaker 1: when clock hands pointed to the highest sky. Midnight came,
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  Speaker 1: and with it the mountainous mountain Loom, unseen by those
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  Speaker 1: whose duty was seeing. The dragon entered King yang Ling's
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  Speaker 1: court yard, and there he was perplexed and paused. The
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  Speaker 1: King's door was a hodgepodge of magic signs, plastered with
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  Speaker 1: yellow paper. Vain to think of entering there. The Queen's
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  Speaker 1: door was upside down. Best charm of all to think
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  Speaker 1: of entering was vain. The door that led to Princess
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  Speaker 1: chin Uor's sleeping chamber was written thick with words to
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  Speaker 1: still a dragon's heart, circles, to dizzy his head, say
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  Speaker 1: what you please. The witches and wizards had done good
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  Speaker 1: work upon that door. Their charms were written with clearness
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  Speaker 1: and force. The Loom dared not take a second glance.
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  Speaker 1: He felt his limbs grow weak. Wisely, hastened he from
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  Speaker 1: the spell guarded threshold. Now in the reign of the
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  Speaker 1: Emperor Miing, a crazed and navysh fellow known to the
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  Speaker 1: world as Wing Doe, invented a contrivance called by him
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  Speaker 1: look through the Wall, but which we of to day
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  Speaker 1: call a window. His invention gave the Emperor Ming a
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  Speaker 1: severe cold, and Wing Doe came within a sword's width
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  Speaker 1: of losing his ears. But more of that later. Here
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  Speaker 1: it is necessary to say only that look through the
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  Speaker 1: Walls became popular, and many such were to be found
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  Speaker 1: in King Yang Leng's palace. In the Princess chin UAR's
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  Speaker 1: room were many wingdows or windows, and hard to believe
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  Speaker 1: those wingdows were unguarded either by charm or by apple
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  Speaker 1: would be which is as good as a charm? Could
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  Speaker 1: the dragon pass by such a fine chance? Could he
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  Speaker 1: pass the window and not have a try? Would he
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  Speaker 1: had come with purpose to do harm? It is easy
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  Speaker 1: to imagine the thing that happened, and yet not so
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  Speaker 1: easy as may seem. The dragon's lumpy shead entered the window,
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  Speaker 1: his deer horns, his rabbit eyes, his snake tongue all
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  Speaker 1: entered and easily enough. A ponderous sofa cushioned foot he
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  Speaker 1: placed upon the window ledge. Crash and smash and clatter.
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  Speaker 1: The nurses awoke and screamed, save us. The Princess chin
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  Speaker 1: Or awoke and said show. The soldiers in the courtyard
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  Speaker 1: awoke and lighted green fires as they smote their drums, saying, come,
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  Speaker 1: if you dare help, help. The dragon was already awake,
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  Speaker 1: awake to the danger. Promptly he vanished such noise he
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  Speaker 1: could not abide. King Yangling came with a golden torch greatly.
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  Speaker 1: He was pleased that the loon had been routed. But
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  Speaker 1: Princess chin O Uor was far from pleased. Indeed, she
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  Speaker 1: was fretful. From the floor. She took a sliver of
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  Speaker 1: flint hard play. My pies are all broken, All all
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  Speaker 1: are broken, mourned Princess Minnie Dimples. I had them placed
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  Speaker 1: in the window, and the dragon knocked them down and
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  Speaker 1: broke them. And beyond doubt, so had he done, there
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  Speaker 1: were the pieces still. The king remained cheerful. His little
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  Speaker 1: daughter's sadness passed unnoticed. His majesty said, your pies, my daughter,
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  Speaker 1: are excellent food. Let no one deny it. That even
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  Speaker 1: better are they to give warning of the dragon's nearness.
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  Speaker 1: Your pies have provided me with a wonderful idea. Hereafter,
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  Speaker 1: we need have no more fear of the loom. Ho General,
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  Speaker 1: Awaken your soldiers again, let them march to the river
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  Speaker 1: for a week. The King's army did no other labor
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  Speaker 1: than make mud pies, and liked it. The pie were
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  Speaker 1: given heat in giant ovens were baked into stony hardness.
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  Speaker 1: Then they were placed throughout the palace in windows, upon tables, chairs,
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  Speaker 1: upon chests, and shelves, high and low, and everywhere, even
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  Speaker 1: on the chimney tops were rows of glistening pies. The
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  Speaker 1: slightest misstep by a prowling dragon would have caused a
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  Speaker 1: din most tremendous. The royal dining table was a shining
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  Speaker 1: whiteness covered with mudpies. So numerous were the pies of
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  Speaker 1: the princess that no room remained for food. But that
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  Speaker 1: was no cause for worry. The king merely ordered that
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  Speaker 1: his rice be placed upon a baked clay pie. Mandarins
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  Speaker 1: who visited the palace were much surprised at what they saw,
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  Speaker 1: a king eating from common clay. Nevertheless, their own tables
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  Speaker 1: were soon covered with Princess chin u pies for the King,
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  Speaker 1: of course set all fashions. And so we modern peoples
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  Speaker 1: speak of our plates and cups and saucers as china.
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  Speaker 1: China is it, yes, and no, China is merely our
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  Speaker 1: way of pronouncing chin or. Our plates are merely then,
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  Speaker 1: copies of Princess chin Uor's pies. End of section fourteen,
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  Speaker 1: read by Ellen Adams,