<p align="center" class="b1"><SPAN name="chapter13"><i>The Thirteenth Surprise</i></SPAN><br/>THE<br/>STOLEN
PLUM PUDDING</p>
<br/><p align="center"><ANTIMG src="images/fatewm.jpg" alt="The fate of the Wise
Men"></p>
<br/><br/><p><b><span class="b3">T</span>HE</b> King's plum-pudding crop had for some time
suffered from the devastations of a secret enemy. Each day, as he examined the vines, he found more
and more of the plum-pudding missing, and finally the monarch called his Wise Men together and asked
them what he should do.<br/><br/>The Wise Men immediately shut their eyes and pondered so long over the
problem that they fell fast asleep. While they slept still more of the plum-pudding was stolen. When
they awoke the King was justly incensed, and told the Wise Men that unless they discovered the thief
within three days he would give them no cake with their ice-cream.<br/><br/>This terrible threat at last
aroused them to action, and, after consulting together, they declared that in their opinion it was the
Fox that had stolen the pudding.<br/><br/>Hearing this, the King ordered out his soldiers, who soon
captured the Fox and brought him to the palace, where the King sat in state, surrounded by his Wise
Men.<br/><br/>"So ho! Master Fox," exclaimed the King, "we have caught you at last."<br/><br/>"So it
seems," returned the Fox, calmly. "May I ask your Majesty why I am thus torn from my home, from my
wife and children, and brought before you like any common criminal?"<br/><br/>"You have stolen the plum-
pudding," answered the King.<br/><br/>"I beg your Majesty's pardon for contradicting you, but I have
stolen nothing," declared the Fox. "I can easily prove my innocence. When was the plum-pudding
taken?"<br/><br/>"A great deal of it was taken this morning, while the Wise Men slept," said the
King.<br/><br/>"Then I can not be the thief," replied the Fox, "as you will admit when you have heard my
story."<br/><br/>"Ah! Have you a story to tell?" inquired the King, who dearly loved to hear
stories.<br/><br/>"It is a short story, your Majesty; but it will prove clearly that I have not taken
your pudding."<br/><br/>"Then tell it," commanded the King. "It is far from my wish to condemn any one
who is innocent."<br/><br/>The Wise Men then placed themselves in comfortable positions, and the King
crossed his legs and put his hands in his pockets, while the Fox sat before them on his haunches and
spoke as follows:</p>
<p align="center"><ANTIMG src="images/fox.jpg" alt="The Fox"><br/>THE FOX'S
STORY.</p>
<p>"It has been unusually damp in my den of late, so that both my family and myself have
suffered much. First my wife became ill, and then I was afflicted with a bad cold, and in both cases
it settled in our throats. Then my four children, who are all of an age, began to complain of sore
throats, so that my den became a regular hospital.<br/><br/><ANTIMG src="images/condoc.jpg" align="left" alt="The fox's wife asks him to consult Dr. Prariedog">"We tried all the medicines we knew of, but
they did no good at all. My wife finally begged me to go to consult Doctor Prairiedog, who lives in a
hole in the ground away toward the south. So one morning I said good by to my family and ran swiftly
to where the doctor lives.<br/><br/>"Finding no one outside the hole to whom I might apply for admission
I walked boldly in, and having followed a long, dark tunnel for some distance, I suddenly came to a
door.<br/><br/>"'Come in!' said a voice; so in I walked, and found myself in a very beautiful room,
lighted by forty-eight fireflies, which sat in a row on a rail running all around the apartment. In
the center of the room was a table, made of clay and painted in bright colors; and seated at this
table, with his spectacles on his nose, was the famous Doctor Prairiedog, engaged in eating a dish of
stewed snails.<br/><br/>"'Good morning,' said the Doctor; 'will you have some breakfast?'<br/><br/>"'No,
thank you,' I replied, for the snails were not to my liking; 'I wish to procure some medicine for my
children, who are suffering from sore throats.'<br/><br/>"' How do you know their throats are sore?'
inquired the Doctor.<br/><br/>"'It hurts them to swallow,' I explained.<br/><br/>"'Then tell them not to
swallow,' said the Doctor, and went on eating.<br/><br/>"'Sir!' I exclaimed, 'if they did not swallow,
they would starve to death.'<br/><br/>"'That is true,' remarked the Doctor; 'we must think of something
else.' After a moment of silence he cried out: 'Ha! I have it! Go home and cut off their necks, after
which you must turn them inside out and hang them on the bushes in the sun. When the necks are
thoroughly cured in the sun, turn them right-side-out again and place them on your children's
shoulders. Then they will find it does not hurt them to swallow.'<br/><br/>"I thanked the great Doctor
and returned home, where I did as he had told me. For the last three days the necks of not only my
children but of my wife and myself, as well, have been hanging on the bushes to be cured; so we could
not possibly have eaten your plum-pudding. Indeed, it was only an hour ago when I finished putting the
neck on the last of my children, and at that moment your soldiers came and arrested me."<br/><br/>When
the Fox ceased speaking the King was silent for a while. Then he asked:<br/><br/>"Were the necks all
cured?"<br/><br/>"Oh, yes," replied the fox; "the sun cured them nicely."<br/><br/>"You see," remarked the
King, turning to his Wise Men; "the Fox has proved his innocence. You were wrong, as usual, in
accusing him. I shall now send him home with six baskets of cherry phosphate, as a reward for his
honesty. If you have not discovered the thief by the time I return I shall keep my threat and stop
your allowance of cake."</p>
<p align="center"><ANTIMG src="images/innfox.jpg" alt=""You see,",
remarked the King, "the Fox has proved his innocence""></p>
<p>Then the Wise Men fell a-
trembling, and put their heads together, counseling with one another.<br/><br/>When the King returned,
they said: "Your Majesty, it must have been the Bullfrog."<br/><br/>So the King sent his soldiers, who
captured the Bullfrog and brought him to the palace.<br/><br/>"Why have you stolen the plum-pudding?"
demanded the King, in a stern voice.<br/><br/>"I! Steal your plum-pudding!" exclaimed the Frog,
indignantly. "Surely you must be mistaken! I am not at all fond of plum-pudding, and, besides, I have
been very busy at home during the past week."<br/><br/>"What have you been doing?" asked the
King.<br/><br/>"I will tell you, for then you will know I am innocent of this theft."<br/><br/>So the
Bullfrog squatted on a footstool, and, after blinking solemnly at the King and his Wise Men for a
moment, spoke as follows:</p>
<p align="center"><ANTIMG src="images/frog.jpg" alt="The frog"><br/>THE
FROG'S STORY.</p>
<p>"Some time ago my wife and I hatched out twelve little tadpoles. They were the
sweetest children parents ever looked on. Their heads were all very large and round, and their tails
were long and feathery, while their skins were as black and shiny as could be. We were proud of them,
my wife and I, and took great pains to train our children properly, that they might become respectable
frogs, in time, and be a credit to us.<br/><br/>"We lived in a snug little hole under the bank of the
river, and in front of our dwelling was a large stone on which we could sit and watch the baby
tadpoles grow. Although they loved best to lie in the mud at the bottom of the river, we knew that
exercise is necessary to the proper development of a tadpole; so we decided to teach our youngsters to
swim. We divided them into two lots, my wife training six of the children, while I took charge of the
other six. We drilled them to swim in single file, in column of twos and in line of battle; but I must
acknowledge they were quite stupid, being so young, and, unless we told them when to stop, they would
keep on swimming until they bumped themselves into a bank or a stone.<br/><br/>"One day, about a week
ago, while teaching our children to swim, we started them all going in single file, one after the
other. They swam in a straight line that was very pretty to see, and my wife and I sat on the flat
stone and watched them with much pride. Unfortunately at that very moment a large fish swam into our
neighborhood and lay on the bottom of the river to rest. It was one of those fishes that hold their
great mouths wide open, and I was horrified when I saw the advancing line of tadpoles headed directly
toward the gaping mouth of the monster fish. I croaked as loudly as I could for them to stop; but
either they failed to hear me, or they would not obey. The next moment all the line of swimming
tadpoles had entered the fish's mouth and were lost to our view.<br/><br/><ANTIMG src="images/threw.jpg"
align="right" alt="Mrs. Frog throws herself into Mr. Frog's arms">"Mrs. Frog threw herself into my
arms with a cry or anguish, exclaiming:<br/><br/>"'Oh, what shall we do? Our children are lost to us
forever!'<br/><br/>"'Do not despair,' I answered, although I was myself greatly frightened; 'we must try
to prevent the fish from swimming away with our loved ones. If we can keep him here, some way may yet
be found to rescue the children.'<br/><br/>"Up to this time the big fish had remained motionless, but
there was an expression of surprise in its round eyes, as if it did not know what to make of the
lively inhabitants of its stomach.<br/><br/>"Mrs. Frog thought for a moment, and then said:<br/><br/>"'A
short distance away is an old fish-line and hook, lying at the bottom of the river, where some boys
lost it while fishing one day. If we could only—'<br/><br/>"'Fetch it at once,' I interrupted.
'With its aid we shall endeavor to capture the fish.'<br/><br/>"She hastened away, soon returning with
the line, which had a large hook on one end. I tied the other end firmly about the flat stone, and
then, advancing cautiously from behind, that the fish might not see me, I stuck the iron hook through
its right gill.<br/><br/>"The monster gave a sudden flop that sent me head over heels a yard away. Then
it tried to swim down the stream. But the hook and line held fast, and soon the fish realized it was
firmly caught, after which it wisely abandoned the struggle.<br/><br/>"Mrs. Frog and I now sat down to
watch the result, and the time of waiting was long and tedious. After several weary days, however, the
great fish lay over on its side and expired, and soon after there hopped from its mouth the sweetest
little green frog you ever laid eyes on. Another and another followed, until twelve of them stood
beside us; and then my wife exclaimed:<br/><br/>"'They are our children, the tadpoles! They have lost
their tails and their legs have grown out, but they are our own little ones,
nevertheless!'<br/><br/>"Indeed, this was true; for tadpoles always become frogs when a few days old.
The children told us they had been quite comfortable inside the great fish, but they were now hungry,
for young frogs always have wonderful appetites. So Mrs. Frog and I set to work to feed them, and had
just finished this pleasant task when your soldiers came to arrest me. I assure your Majesty this is
the first time I have been out of the water for a week. And now, if you will permit me to depart, I
will hop back home and see how the youngsters are growing."<br/><br/>When the Bullfrog had ceased
speaking the King turned toward the Wise Men and said, angrily:<br/><br/>"It seems you are wrong again,
for the Frog is innocent. Your boasted wisdom appears to me very like folly; but I will give you one
more chance. If you fail to discover the culprit next time, I shall punish you far more severely than
I at first promised."<br/><br/>The King now gave the Bullfrog a present of a red silk necktie, and also
sent a bottle of perfumery to Mrs. Frog. The soldiers at once released the prisoner, who joyfully
hopped away toward the river.<br/><br/>The Wise Men now rolled their eyes toward the ceiling and twirled
their thumbs and thought as hard as they could. At last they told the King they had decided the Yellow
Hen was undoubtedly responsible for the theft of the plum-pudding.<br/><br/>So the King sent his
soldiers, who searched throughout the Valley and at last captured the Yellow Hen and brought her into
the royal presence.<br/><br/>"My Wise Men say you have stolen my plum-pudding," said his Majesty. "If
this is true, I am going to punish you severely."<br/><br/>"But it is not true," answered the Yellow
Hen; "for I have just returned from a long journey."<br/><br/>"Where have you been?" inquired the
King.<br/><br/>"I will tell you," she replied; and, after rearranging a few of her feathers that the
rough hands of the soldiers had mussed, the Yellow Hen spoke as follows:</p>
<p align="center"><img
src="images/hen.jpg" alt="The hen"><br/>THE YELLOW HEN'S STORY</p>
<p>"All my life I have been
accustomed to hatching out thirteen eggs; but the last time there were only twelve eggs in the nest
when I got ready to set. Being experienced in these matters I knew it would never do to set on twelve
eggs, so I asked the Red Rooster for his advice.<br/><br/><ANTIMG src="images/askroo.jpg" align="left" alt="Asking the red rooster for advice">"He considered the question carefully, and finally told me he
had seen a very nice, large egg lying on the rocks near the sugar mountain.<br/><br/>"'If you wish,'
said he, 'I will get it for you.'<br/><br/>"'I am very sorry to trouble you, yet certainly I need
thirteen eggs,' I answered.<br/><br/>"The Red Rooster is an accommodating fowl, so away he flew, and
shortly returned with a large white egg under his wing. This egg I put with the other twelve, and then
I set faithfully on my nest for three weeks, at the end of which time I hatched out my
chickens.<br/><br/><ANTIMG src="images/hawk.jpg" align="right" alt="One of the children looked like a
hawk">"Twelve of them were as yellow and fluffy as any mother could wish. But the one that came from
the strange egg was black and awkward, and had a large bill and sharp claws. Still thinking he was one
of my children, despite his deformity, I gave him as much care as any of them, and soon he outgrew the
others and became very big and strong.<br/><br/>"The Red Rooster shook his head, and said,
bluntly:<br/><br/>"'That chick will be a great trouble to you, for it looks to me strangely like one of
our enemies, the Hawks.'<br/><br/>"'What!' I exclaimed, reproachfully, 'do you think one of my darling
children could possibly be a Hawk? I consider that remark almost an insult, Mr. Rooster!'<br/><br/>"The
Red Rooster said nothing more; but he kept away from my big, black chick, as if really afraid of
it.<br/><br/>"To my great grief this chick suddenly developed a very bad temper, and one day I was
obliged to reprove it for grabbing the food away from its brothers. Suddenly it began screaming with
anger, and the next moment it sprang on me, digging its sharp claws into my back.<br/><br/>"While I
struggled to free myself, he flew far up into the air, carrying me with him, and uttering loud cries
that filled me with misgivings. For I now realized, when it was too late, that his voice sounded
exactly like the cry of a Hawk!<br/><br/>"Away and away he flew, over mountains, and valleys, and
rivers, and lakes, until at last, as I looked down, I saw a man pointing a gun at us. A moment later
he shot, and the black chick gave a scream of pain, at the same time releasing his hold of me; so that
I fell over and over and finally fluttered to the ground.<br/><br/>"Then I found I had escaped one
danger only to encounter another, for as I reached the ground the man seized me and carried me under
his arm to his home. Entering the house, he said to his wife:<br/><br/>"'Here is a nice, fat hen for our
breakfast.'<br/><br/>"'Put her in the coop,' replied the woman. 'After supper I will cut off her head
and pick the feathers from her body.'<br/><br/>"This frightened me greatly, as you may suppose, and when
the man placed me in the coop I nearly gave way to despair. But, finding myself alone, I plucked up
courage and began looking for a way to escape. To my great joy I soon discovered that one of the slats
of the coop was loose, and, having pushed it aside, I was not long in gaining my liberty.<br/><br/>"Once
free, I ran away from the place as fast as possible, but did not know in which direction to go, the
country being so strange to me. So I fluttered on, half running and half flying, until I reached the
place where an army of soldiers was encamped. If these men saw me I feared they would also wish to eat
me for breakfast; so I crept into the mouth of a big cannon, thinking I should escape attention and be
safe until morning. Soon I fell asleep, and so sound was my slumber that the next thing I heard was
the conversation of some soldiers who stood beside the cannon.<br/><br/>"'It is nearly sunrise,' said
one. 'You must fire the salute. Is the cannon loaded?'<br/><br/>"'Oh, yes,' answered the other. 'What
shall I shoot at?'<br/><br/>"' Fire into the air, for then you will not hurt any one,' said the first
soldier.<br/><br/>"By this time I was trembling with fear, and had decided to creep out of the cannon
and take the chances of being caught, when, suddenly, 'Bang!' went the big gun, and I shot into the
air with a rush like that of a whirlwind.<br/><br/>"The noise nearly deafened me, and my nerves were so
shattered that for a time I was helpless. I felt myself go up and up into the air, until soon I was
far above the clouds. Then I recovered my wits, and when I began to come down again I tried to fly. I
knew the Valley of Mo must be somewhere to the west; so I flew in that direction until I found myself
just over the Valley, when I allowed myself to flutter to the ground.<br/><br/>"It seems my troubles
were not yet over; for, before I had fully recovered my breath after this long flight, your soldiers
seized me and brought me here.<br/><br/>"I am accused of stealing your plum-pudding; but, in truth, your
Majesty, I have been away from your kingdom for nine days, and am therefore wholly
innocent."<br/><br/>The Yellow Hen had scarce finished this story when the King flew into a violent rage
at the deceptions of his Wise Men, and turning to his soldiers he ordered them to arrest the Wise Men
and cast them into prison.<br/><br/>Having given the unfortunate Hen a pair of gold earrings that fitted
her ears and matched her complexion, the King sent her home with many apologies for having accused her
wrongfully.<br/><br/>Then his Majesty seated himself in an easy chair, and pondered how best to punish
the foolish Wise Men.<br/><br/>"I would rather have one really Wise Man," he said to himself, "than
fifty of these, who pretend to be wise and are not."<br/><br/>That gave him an idea; so the next morning
he ordered the Wise Men taken to the royal kitchen, where all were run through the meat chopper until
they were ground as fine as mincemeat. Having thoroughly mixed them, the King stirred in a handful of
salt, and then made them into one man, which the cook baked in the oven until it was well
done.<br/><br/>"Now," said the King, "I have one Wise Man instead of several foolish ones. Perhaps he
can tell me who stole the plum-pudding."<br/><br/>"Certainly," replied the Wise Man. "That is quite
easy. It was the Purple Dragon."<br/><br/>"Good," cried the monarch; "I have discovered the truth at
last!"<br/><br/>And so he had, as you will find by reading the next surprise.</p>
<p align="center"><img
src="images/wisemn.jpg" alt="The Wise Man"><br/><br/><br/><br/></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />