The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-01-10
The Cat May Look at the King"

OnCS uDOu q llulS, NY llLGlC 4duS obu las
sizes, dearie, there was a country very far
off over the seas; and a good king with a
broad, good natured smile and great gold
crown ruled the people very much TO their
content. But the old king had been born,
o! ever so long ago, so that at last he died.
All the people wept bitterly and went to
fhe funeral, and they loved the old king so
dearly that for many months after, all the
gardens were bare because all the flowers
had been plucked to pile upon the good old
kings tomb.
Now, young Prince DCNTYOULOOK-
ATME became the King, and although he
had had so good a father. he was very, gerry
proud, and | am afraid, thought more of
himself than he did of his peoples happi-
ness. He made his prime minister, Sir
WRITEITDOWN, issue a great many
foolish and silly orders and proclamations,
telling the people that he was the greatest
King that had eUer lived, and that his crown
had more gold in it than any other Kings.
crown.
His people were very patient and good
and did all that the prime minister babe
them; taking off their hats as the young
king went by and even keeping them off
whole weeks and months, as was com
msnded. so that great many of them
caught cold and sneezed very loudly. But
u.
only rubbing their noses well with mutton
tallow the last thing on going to bed and
exclaiming Long Live the KingIn
And so it went on, command followed
command until at last the young king be-
came so very very proud that he told his
prime minister to issue al order bidding
the people never to look up into his royal
face that Is the way it was written], but
TO keep their eyes on the ground:-'Be-
causen said his majesty, II am very
great king and my lace is so fierce and
bright that TO even look upon it will dazzle
their eyes and put them out" Now
this was very foolish, don't you think so?
And many of the people thought SO, too,
and they even began to grumble tiny wee
bit. The prime minister became frightened
and told the King, though of course he was
very tidgety about ii, that it would be wiser
to change so stern command. The King
became very angry at this and declared at
first that he would never do it, but after
listening TO the prime minister for three
whole weeks, he changed his royal COM
mand and said that his subjects might look
a. him on Sundays and Thursdays, but
that they should be sure to wear green
goggles Gust like those we have to wear
sometimes when the snow is made dazzling
by the sunshine). Then" observed his
majesty, my face may not bewilder their
vision He thought this very hne re-
mark, and was so pleased with it that he
always began his state speeches in that
way.
So all the people who had pennies bought
green goggles and the man who sold
spectacles and eye glasses became very
rich But many of the people were poor
and could not buy any, SO that they were
obliged to keep their eyes always fixed on
the ground. which made them very sad,
and, Gear me, angry too sometimes, for
they often bumped into one another and so
had many hard knocks. They could not
help grumbling again, could theyl
All this was in the winter time, and, as
the pavements were very often slippery,
they were obliged anyway to look down to
keep their feet steady. So they managed
10 bear it. But when the springtime came
they wanted very much to look up at the
beautiful sky, but they were afraid to. for
the King might come along just then and
they might look into his face and that
would never do, for the people were very
much afraid of the kings terrible temper.
AT last came beautiful May day and all
the people were out in their gardens, for
the flowers were IN bloom, and the good
people could not help thinking of their dear
old king, who was dead and who had been
so kind to them. They were having a
merry time, however. in spite of their
cares, and everybody was really beginning
to smile and to be happy when they heard
the herald's trumpet from the castle gate
and their smiles died away because they
knew that it meant shat the king was com.
ing out for an airing. Some of the people
turned their eyes down upon the ugly cob
BILE walks and others took from their peck
cts the green goggles and put them on.
One or two very fat men had lost one Of
the glasses Of their goggles and so had tC
keep one eye tightly shut. They did MOI
like this, you may be sure, and had Just
begun to grumble about 1t when the king
came along. So they said nothing.
All was quiet, very quiet, and you could
only hear the tramp, tramp of the fierce
soldiers and the sound of the wheels of the
kings chariot. Suddenly, oh, how theil
hearts jumped and bumped against theil
sides, they heard a great outcry. 1t wa.
surely the king that spoke, and his voice
sounded so loud and terrible. "How dare
you!' they heard his majesty cry out
''Brute, reptile, beast, how darest thor
brave my gazel" Yes, surely ii was thu
kings voice. but they heard nobody an
swer.
"Who was it?'' "What was it?n eacl
asked himself, and longed to look UP foI
Just one wee minute, but they dared not
for was not their terrible king in grea
rage!
Then they heard the king, his voice will
with rage, scream out: Rascal! villain
how darest thous Is not my face so fierc
and so bright that to look on it dazzle
your visionm
This was too much for one of the ia
men, who became so excited that his lef
eye popped wide open so he looked straigh
through the space where the geen goggl
ought to have been. And what do vol
think he sawl
There stood the young king, tuning witt
rage, and there, on the garden wall, sa
blinking in the sunshine, but looking RICH
at the king, a great gray grimalkln.
"Why." said the fat man, under hi
breath, ''the est is looking at the king.
He said this very low indeed, but hi
neighbor heard it and repeated it just
little louder and his neighoor heard it AM
then the next one and the next, and one b.
one they looked up. And then all the pee
pie heard il and they all looked up an
shouted at what they saw, for they coul
not help it, "Why, surely, the cat ma
look at the king"
And their voices altogether sounded s
louo that the king was badly frightene
and jumping from his chariot ran baci. I
his castle and there shut himself up an
would not see anybody for seventeen Who'll
days.
The prime minister saw him at last an
told him that the people had thrown ava
their green goggles and declared the
would never, never wear them any more
No not even blue ones. Then at last hi
majesty repented of his pride and declare
that he would try to make his peopI
happy. Sc he told the prime minister
burn all the strict commands, and to re
----A all the laws the good old king, hi