The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo and His People | Page 5

is on another man. You must
confine yourself to kissing my wooden head."
"I'm sorry," sighed the Queen, "for I like to kiss the real head best."
"And so you shall," said the King's head; "I don't approve your kissing
that wooden head at all."

The poor lady looked from one to the other in perplexity. Finally a
happy thought occurred to her.
"Why don't you trade heads?" she asked.
"Just the thing!" cried the King; and, the wood-chopper consenting, the
exchange was made, and the Monarch of Mo found himself in
possession of his own head again, whereat he was so greatly pleased
that he laughed long and merrily.
The wood-chopper, however, did not even smile. He couldn't because
of the wooden face. The head he had made for the King he now was
compelled to wear himself.
"Bring hither the princesses," commanded the King. "This good man
shall choose his bride at once, for he has restored to me my own head."
But when the princesses arrived and saw that the wood-chopper had a
wooden head, they each and all refused to marry him, and begged so
hard to escape that the King was in a quandary.
"I promised him one of my daughters," he argued, "and a King never
breaks his word."
"But he hadn't a wooden head then," explained one of the girls.
The King realized the truth of this. Indeed, when he came to look
carefully at the wooden head, he did not blame his daughters for not
wishing to marry it. Should he force one of them to consent, it was not
unlikely she would call her husband a blockhead--a term almost certain
to cause trouble in any family.
After giving the matter deep thought, the King resolved to go to the
Purple Dragon and oblige it to give up the wood-chopper's head.
So all the fighting men in the kingdom were got together, and, having
picked ripe swords off the sword-trees, they marched in a great body to
the Dragon's castle.

Now the Purple Dragon realized that if it attempted to fight all this
army, it would perhaps be cut to pieces; so it retired within its castle
and refused to come out.
The wood-chopper was a brave man.
"I'll go in and fight the Dragon alone," he said; and in he went. By this
time the Dragon was both frightened and angry, and the moment it saw
the man it rushed forward and made a snap at his head.
The wooden head came off at once, and the Dragon's long, sharp teeth
got stuck in the wood and would not come out again; so the monster
was unable to do anything but flop its tail and groan.
The wood-chopper now ran to the cupboard, took out his head and
placed it upon his shoulders where it belonged. Then he proudly
walked out of the castle and was greeted with loud shouts by the army,
which carried him back in triumph to the King's palace.
And, now that he wore his own head again, one of the prettiest of the
young princesses willingly agreed to marry him; so the wedding
ceremony was performed amidst great rejoicing.

The Third Surprise THE TRAMP DOG AND THE MONARCH'S
LOST TEMPER
One day the Monarch of Mo, having nothing better to do, resolved to
go hunting blackberries among the bushes that grew at the foot of the
mountains.
So he put on an old crown that would not get tarnished if it rained, and,
having found a tin pail in the pantry, started off without telling any one
where he was going.
For some distance the path was a nice, smooth taffy, that was very
agreeable to walk on; but as he got nearer the mountains the ground
became gravelly, the stones being jackson-balls and gum-drops; so that

his boots, which were a little green when he picked them, began to hurt
his feet.
But the King was not easily discouraged, and kept on until he found the
blackberry bushes, when he immediately began to fill his pail, the
berries being remarkably big and sweet.
While thus occupied he heard a sound of footsteps coming down the
mountain side, and presently a little dog ran out from the bushes and
trotted up to him.
Now there were no dogs at all in Mo, and the King had never seen a
creature like this before; therefore he was greatly surprised, and said:
"What are you, and where do you come from?"
The dog also was surprised at this question, and looked suspiciously at
the King's tin pail; for many times wicked boys had tied such a pail to
the end of his tail. In fact, that was the reason he had run away from
home and found his way, by