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"Why, this King must be a monster!" cried Trot.
"He is far worse than that," said Pon, mournfully.
"But, see here," interrupted Cap'n Bill, who had
listened carefully to Pon. "This King may not be so much
to blame, after all. Kings are proud folks, because
they're so high an' mighty, an' it isn't reasonable for a
royal Princess to marry a common gardener's boy."
"It isn't right," declared Button-Bright. "A Princess
should marry a Prince."
"I'm not a common gardener's boy," protested Pon. "If I
had my rights I would be the King instead of Krewl. As it
is, I'm a Prince, and as royal as any man in Jinxland."
"How does that come?" asked Cap'n Bill.
"My father used to be the King and Krewl was his Prime
Minister. But one day while out hunting, King Phearse --
that was my father's name -- had a quarrel with Krewl and
tapped him gently on the nose with the knuckles of his
closed hand. This so provoked the wicked Krewl that he
tripped my father backward, so that he fell into a deep
pond. At once Krewl threw in a mass of heavy stones,
which so weighted down my poor father that his body could
not rise again to the surface. It is impossible to kill
anyone in this land, as perhaps you know, but when my
father was pressed down into the mud at the bottom of the
deep pool and the stones held him so he could never
escape, he was of no more use to himself or the world
than if he had died. Knowing this, Krewl proclaimed
himself King, taking possession of the royal castle and
driving all my father's people out. I was a small boy,
then, but when I grew up I became a gardener. I have
served King Krewl without his knowing that I am the son
of the same King Phearse whom he so cruelly made away
with."
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