Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-28
HOW OLD KING FUSSEN-
GRUMBLE LOST HIS HEART
BY HUGH ROBERTS.

By HUH
1t was on New Year day, many, many
million years ago. that old King F>ussen-
grumble came into his kingdom. He was
young King Fussengrumble then, and on
| the New Year eve before his coronation
while he was still young Price Fussen-
| grumble. he made many noble resolves,
but alas, on New Year day, the day of
| his coronation, he smashed every single
one Of them.
That very night the old black witch
! who belonged to the kingdom of King
Fussengrumble, and who had been present
at the coronation. slipped into the royal
| bedchamber. King Fussengrumble had
exchanged his golden crown for purple
silk night cap and he was sleeping sound
ly in his magnificent bed, beneath the
| pink satin coverlets. He was mere boy,
and the old witch shook her head many,
many times as she looked at him.
Suddenly the young king woke and
glared up at the old witch How did you
get in?" he growled THE door is locked
and bolted!"
For reply the old witch began to grow
thin. She grew thinner and thinner and
| thinner until in the winking of an eyelid
| she stood before the king as thin as
sheet of thinnest note paper.
| The young kings eyes grew very big:
| THAT is how said the witch in a thin.
| far-away voice DO you understand?
couldn't get thin enough to squeeze
through. That's why l always get to
! christenings and coronations and the like.
| But this is not the point AS she spoke
she stretched one long. thin finger toward
the tip of the kings night cap. Il have
| to pronounce a curse on you
| The king shivered.
You are a new king" continued the
| 1t,
Years day You made many resolutions
and you broke them, every one of them.
AS a punishment for that I decree that
| If you ever have anything new in all your
| life, if you ever look at anything new. if
| you ever pronounce the word new you
| will lose your heart! From this day you
are to be old King Fussengrumble, old
King Fussengrumble. old King Fussen-
grumble. Fussengrumble, grumble. grum-
ble.. grum-grum And the old witch
| The king was dreadfully frightened
He reasoned that if he lost. his heart
he>woud lose his life; besides, he was
proud of his heart. Every one said that
was cross and surly and dissatifled with
| everything on principle, yet he had "a
very good heart In fact, people said
it was the only good thing he did have.
Naturally the king would rather lose any
thing in his possession than his heart
/ He slept no more that night. He tossed
from side to SIDE trying to think out ways
of avoiding the dreadful word. By morn
ing he was an old man. The lord high
| chamberlain could hardly believe his eyes
when he entered the royal bedchamber
with the kings morning cup of steaming
coffee
| The king shouted at him violently the
moment he entered: "Set down that cup
and summon at once the oldest man in
| the palace
The lord high chamberlain was so as
tonished that he dropped trap. cup, coffee
and all on the royal plush carpet.
| carpet is ruined and 1 can never have
a" Then he stopped just in time to
save his precious heart. for just as he
| was about to. pronounce the fated word
his heart almost stopped beating, and
he fell back in a faint. The lord high
chamberlain summoned the court doctor.
and the prime minister. who was the
oldest man in the palace. And to the
two the king, when he came to himself.
told of the curse that had befallen him.
He had great difficulty in doing this for
he could not tell them what the fated
word was. and he could not tell them
about New Year day. or new resolutions
or anything of the kind. The old prime
minister had to get a dictionary and
read all the words beginning with n,
until he came to the word new. and the
king cried THAT Is it!'
Then a whole series Of laws had to
be made by the prime minister Every
writer, either of books, periodicals, pam
phlets or advertising signs was ordered
! by law to refrain from the use of the
dread word. Many thousand clerks were
employed to blow the word out of every
book in the royal library, and sudden
! death was the penalty for any who ap-
peared before the king in a new garb.
| When the young Queen Fussengrum-
Bile heard of the curse she said she was
going stright home to her father. for she
guessed she wasn't going TO live in
kingdom where she couldn't have any new
clothes. The king felt very sorry to have
her go. but rather than lose his heart
he said she would have to, and he could
not argue the matter with her at all, for
fear he might be tempted to use the
| word that was separating them. Only
his little princess daughter remained with
| him. She was one year old, and SO was
allowed to remain In his presence, and