The Mysterious Shin Shira

The Mysterious Shin Shira

Project Gutenberg's The Mysterious Shin Shira, by George Edward
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Title: The Mysterious Shin Shira
Author: George Edward Farrow
Illustrator: W.G. Easton
Release Date: February 24, 2006 [EBook #17843]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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MYSTERIOUS SHIN SHIRA ***

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[Illustration: "A short distance beyond lay a terrible dragon."]
[See page 28.]

THE MYSTERIOUS SHIN SHIRA
BY
G.E. FARROW
AUTHOR OF The WALLYPUG of WHY
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATED BY W.G. EASTON
LONDON HENRY FROWDE HODDER & STOUGHTON

CONTENTS
PAGE
Mystery No. I SHIN SHIRA APPEARS 9
Mystery No. II SHIN SHIRA AND THE DRAGON 23
Mystery No. III THE MAGIC CARPET 33
Mystery No. IV SHIN SHIRA AND THE DUCHESS 50
Mystery No. V SHIN SHIRA AND THE LAME DUCK 65
Mystery No. VI SHIN SHIRA AND THE DIAMOND 81
Mystery No. VII SHIN SHIRA AND THE ROC 98
Mystery No. VIII SHIN SHIRA AND THE MAD BULL 114
Mystery No. IX SHIN SHIRA AND THE QUEEN OF HEARTS 130
Mystery No. X and Last SHIN SHIRA DISAPPEARS 146

LIST OF COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS
To face page
"A SHORT DISTANCE BEYOND LAY A TERRIBLE DRAGON"
(See page 28) Frontispiece
"THE EXECUTIONER IN HIS AGITATION DROPPED HIS AXE"
20
"WE FLOATED AWAY OVER THE ROOFS OF THE HOUSES" 38
"SHIN SHIRA PLACED THEM IN THE CRYSTAL BOWL" 58
"HIS PINIONS WERE STRONG AND MIGHTY" 108
"THIS WAS CAREFULLY SET BEFORE THE KING" 138

MYSTERY NO. I
SHIN SHIRA APPEARS
It was very remarkable how I first came to make his acquaintance at all.
Shin Shira I mean. I had been sitting at my desk, writing, for quite a
long time, when suddenly I heard, as I thought, a noise in another part
of the room. I turned my head hastily and looked towards the door, but
it was fast closed and there was apparently nobody in the room but
myself.
"Strange!" I murmured, looking about to try and discover what had
caused the sound, and then my eyes lighted, to my great surprise, upon
a pair of bright yellow morocco shoes with very long, pointed toes,
standing on the floor in front of a favourite little squat chair of mine
which I call "the Toad."
I gazed at the yellow shoes in amazement, for they certainly did not

belong to me, and they had decidedly not been there a short time before,
for I had been sitting in the chair myself.
I had just got up to examine them, when, to my utter astonishment, I
saw a pair of yellow stockings appearing above them; an instant later, a
little yellow body; and finally, the quaintest little head that I have ever
seen, surmounted by a yellow turban, in the front of which a large jewel
sparkled and shone.
It was not the turban, however, but the face beneath it which claimed
my greatest attention, for the eyes were nearly starting out of the head
with fright, and the expression was one of the greatest anxiety.
It gave way, however, to reassurance and content directly the little man
had given a hurried glance round the room, and he sank comfortably
down into "the Toad" with a sigh of relief.
"Phew!" he exclaimed, drawing out a little yellow fan from his sleeve
and fanning himself vigorously, "that was a narrow squeak! I really
don't think that I've been in such a tight corner before for two hundred
years at least." And he tucked his fan away again and beamed upon me
complacently.
I was so astounded at the sudden appearance of this remarkable little
personage that for the moment I quite lost the use of my tongue; and in
the meantime my little visitor was glancing about the room with
piercing eyes that seemed to take in everything.
"H'm!--writer, I suppose?" he said, nodding his head towards my desk,
which was as usual littered with papers. "What line? You don't look
very clever," and he glanced at me critically from under his bushy
eyebrows.
"I only write books for children," I answered, "and one doesn't have to
be very clever to do that."
"Oh, children!" said the little Yellow Dwarf--as I had begun to call him
in my own mind. "No, you don't have to be clever, but you have to

be--er--by the way, do you write fairy stories?" he interrupted himself
to ask.
"Sometimes," I answered.
"Ah! then I can put you up to a thing