The Woggle-Bug Book | Page 8

is simply horrible; so at the Woggle-Bug's speech
they set up a howl of fear, and the Shiek shouted:
"Unbind him! Let not a hair of his head be injured!"
At once the knots in the ropes were untied, and the Woggle-Bug was
free. All the Arabs united to show him deference and every respectful
attention, and since his own hat had been destroyed they wound about
his head a picturesque turban of an exquisite soiled white color, having
stripes of red and yellow in it.
Then the Woggle-Bug was escorted to the tents, where he suddenly
remembered his precious plaids, and asked that the cloth he restored to
him.
Thereupon the Shiek got up and made a long speech, in which he
described his grief at being obliged to refuse the request.

At the end of that time one of the women came op to them with a
lovely waistcoat which she had manufactured out of the Wagnerian
plaids; and when the Shiek saw it he immediately ordered all the
tom-toms and kettle-drums in the camp destroyed, as they were no
longer necessary. Then he put on the gorgeous vestment, and turned a
deaf ear to the Woggle-Bug's agonized wails.
But there were some scraps of cloth left, and to show that he was liberal
and good-natured, the Shiek ordered these manufactured into a
handsome necktie, which he presented Woggle-Bug in another long
speech.
Our hero, realizing a larger part of his darling was lost to him, decided
to be content with the smaller share; so he put on the necktie, and felt
really proud of its brilliance and aggressive elegance.
Then, bidding the Arabs farewell, he strode across the desert until he
reached the borders of a more fertile and favored country.
Indeed, he found before him a cool and enticing jungle, which at first
seemed deserted. But while he stared about him a sound fell upon his
ear, and he saw approaching a young lady Chimpanzee. She was
evidently a personage of some importance, for her hair was neatly
banged just over her eyes, and she wore a clean white pinafore with
bows of pink ribbon at the shoulders.
"Good morning, Mr. Beetle," said she, with merry laughter.
"Do not, I beg of you, call me a beetle," exclaimed our hero, rather
peevishly; "for I am actually a Woggle-Bug, and Highly-Magnified at
that!"
"What's in a name?" laughed the gay damsel. "Come, let me introduce
you to our jungle, where strangers of good breeding are always
welcome."
"As for breeding," said the Woggle-Bug, "my father, although of
ordinary size, was a famous Bug-Wizard in his day, and claimed

descent from the original protoplasm which constituted the nucleus of
the present planetary satellite upon which we exist."
"That's all right," returned Miss Chim. "Tell that to our king, and he'll
decorate you with the medal of the Omnipotent Order of Onerous
Orthographers, Are you ready to meander?"
The Woggle-Bug did not like the flippant tone in which maiden spoke;
but he at once followed her.
Presently they came to a tall hedge surrounding the Inner Jungle, and
without this hedge stood a patrol of brown bears who wore red
soldier-caps and carried gold-plated muskets in their hands.
"We call this the bearier," said Miss Chim, pointing to the soldiers,
"because they oblige all strangers to paws."
"I should think it was a bearicade," remarked the Woggle-Bug.
But when they approached the gateway the officer in charge saluted
respectfully to Miss Chim, and permitted her to escort the Woggle-Bug
into the sacred precincts of the Inner Jungle.
Here his eyes were soon opened to their widest capacity in genuine
astonishment.
The Jungle was as clean and as well-regulated as any city of men the
Insect had ever visited. Just within the gate a sleek antelope was
running a pop-corn stand, and a little further on a screech-owl stood
upon a stump playing a violin, while across her breast was a sign
reading: "I am blind--at present."
As they walked up the street they came to a big grey monkey turning a
hand-organ, and attached to a cord was a little nigger-boy whom the
monkey sent into the crowd of animals, standing by to gather up the
pennies, pulling him back every now and then by means of the cord.
"There's a curious animal for you," said Miss Chim, pointing to the boy.

"Those horrid things they call men, whether black or white, seem to me
the lowest of all created beasts."
"I have seen them in a highly civilized state," replied the Woggle-Bug,
"and they're really further advanced than you might suppose."
But Miss Chim gave a scornful laugh, and pulled him away to where a
hippopotamus sat under the shade of a big tree, mopping his brow with
a red handkerchief--for