The Mysterious Shin Shira | Page 3

I held my tongue and
said nothing, as though gathering cabbages in order to make an apple
pie was the most natural thing in the world to do.
He waited for a moment and then continued--
"I stood talking to the man for some time, and at last I asked what was
the matter with his face.
"'I've the toothache,' he said ruefully, 'and that's why I was singing; I'm
told that it's a capital remedy.'
"'I'll see if I can't find a better one,' said I, taking up this little book,
which I always carry with me." And Shin Shira held out for my
inspection a tiny volume bound in yellow leather, with golden clasps,

which was attached to his girdle by a long golden chain.
"This," he explained, "is a very remarkable book, and has been in our
family for many hundreds of years. It contains directions what to do in
any difficulty whatsoever, with the aid of the fairy power, which, as I
have told you, I inherit from my fairy ancestor.
"The only difficulty is that, as I am partly a mortal, sometimes (owing
perhaps to my fairy great-great-great-grandmother being in a bad
temper at the moment) the fairy spell refuses to work, and then I am left
in the lurch.
"This time, however, it worked splendidly, for I had only to turn to the
word 'Toothache' to discover that the fairy remedy was to 'rub the other
side of the face with a stinging nettle, and the pain and swelling would
instantly disappear.'
"Fortunately there were plenty of nettles to be found in a neglected
corner of the garden, and I quickly applied the remedy, which worked,
as the saying is, 'like magic,' for the Grand Panjandrum's Chief Cook's
face resumed its normal size at once, and the pain vanished
immediately.
"It is needless to say that he was very grateful, and we were walking
back to the Palace, where he had just promised to regale me with some
of the choicest viands in his larder, when we met, coming towards us, a
most doleful-looking individual, clothed in black and wearing a most
woebegone visage.
"'It's the Court Physician,' said the Cook; 'I wonder why he is looking
so melancholy. May I venture to ask, sir,' he inquired respectfully, 'the
occasion of your sorrow?'
"'I am to be executed to-morrow by the Grand Panjandrum's order,' said
the Court Physician dolefully, wiping a tear of self-pity from his eye.
"The Chief Cook shrugged his shoulders. 'H'm!' said he, 'if that's the
case, and His Supreme Importance has ordered your execution, nobody

can possibly prevent it, and there is nothing left but to grin and bear it.'
"'No,' said the Court Physician indignantly. 'I may have to bear it, but I
shall not grin. I absolutely refuse! They can't do more than kill me, and
I won't grin, so there!'
"The Chief Cook looked horrified. 'It's one of the laws of the land,' he
said, 'that whenever one suffers anything at the hands of the Grand
Panjandrum, one must grin and bear it; it's a most terrible offence not to
do so.'
"'I don't care,' said the Court Physician recklessly, 'I shan't grin, and
there's an end of it.'
"'Why are you sentenced to death?' I asked.
"'His Supreme Importance, the Grand Panjandrum, has had the
toothache for three days, and I have been unable to subdue it without
drawing the tooth, which His Supreme Importance refuses to permit me
to do, and in a fit of temper yesterday he said that if he were not better
to-day I should be executed to-morrow--and it's worse.'
"The Chief Cook looked at me delightedly.
"'If that's all,' he said, 'this gentleman, whose name I am unfortunately
unacquainted with, has a remedy which will soon get you out of your
trouble, and I shouldn't wonder if, after all, His Supreme Importance's
toothache were the means of raising us all to honour and distinction;'
and he proceeded to tell the Court Physician how I had been successful
in ridding him of the toothache.
"The Court Physician was greatly interested, and after I had read to him
the directions in the book, he suggested that he should take me to the
Palace at once and into the presence of the Grand Panjandrum.
"'For no doubt the operation must be performed by yourself, since you
alone possess the fairy power,' said he. And so we made the best of our
way to the beautiful building which I could see in the distance.

"I wish I could describe to you the magnificence of that marvellous
place. The jewelled windows and golden staircase; the wonderful
velvety carpets and silken hangings; the hundreds of silent servants
dressed in the beautiful royal livery of the Grand Panjandrum, who
flitted about