Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-09-27
In the Barren
Kingdom

every land kept testers, to make them
laugh with merry jests. and to make
them sleep with soft songs, and to
bring JOY and goodwill whenever
there was trouble. LIE Panache was
such a jester.
Nobody thought that LIE Panache
was very handsome, yet they all liked
to see him, for his body was strong
and 1.-THE to turn handsprings and
somersaults, and his face was droll and
kindly, and smiled out merrily under
his gay-feathered cap. La Panache
seemed always to be merry, yet sure
ly his task was as hard as that Of the
poor farmer who tried to make pota-
toes grow in the hard, dry soil of that
country. The country was barren
little strip on the seacoast, and the
castle Of the king perched high up on
the crags where the sea gulls circled
round and round.
/ The king was a hard-hearted, crab
bed old king, who was forever discon-
tented with his poor little strip of land
and forever raging at the peasants be-
cause they were slow In paying him
his share of the harvest The king
had beautiful daughter, who was also
ly besides. She hated the hard rocks
and the gray castle and the wide sea,
and despised any one who could be
merry in such place, so she despised
La Panache for his jests and his merry
face.
In spite Of the bleak country and the
grabbed old king and the discontented
princess, LIE Panache continued to be
merry, partly because he was one Of
the people who have glad heart, and
partly, perhaps, because he was paid
to be merry.
Yet deep In his heart there were
very many things to make him sad. He
was sorry for the peasants who had to
work so hard to raise food for their
families and for the king. He used
to go to their houses and play with the
children sometimes, and then they
would be gay! AS soon as La Panache
appeared in the streets, the children
poured out to greet him and to beg
him for a song or double somer-
sault and sometimes he would sing
to the blind old grandmothers and
make them laugh and say: "
"Oh, how I sang that when was a
girl! We had song for everything,
then"
Sometimes he would bring in the
flrewood for the tired mothers. He
could carry such big loads! Every
child in the house would follow him,
bearing one stick Of wood, or two.
After a day with the peasants he
would go back to the castle on the
cliffs and sing the new songs that the
old grandmothers had taught him, and
tell the jokes that the little boys had
whispered in his ear He did It in
such a dear, droll way that every one
even the proud old king. But
the princess would only sit with her
head very high and her lips very dis
dainful, and sometimes after lie
Panache had sung one of the old
grandmother songs, her eyes were full
of tears. 1
LIE Panache was very sorry for her.
He was always Watching her out OF
the corner of his eye to see whether
she might not smile at some especially
funny Joke Once she did; but, when
she found lie Panache watching her,
she pouted and turned her head away.
The princess used to walk all alone
oSSS
feeling lonely. There was little
tame seagull whom she had coaxed to
her with crumbs, who used to come
and sit on her shoulder while she
walked. The princess had named him
Petit Pere, he looked so wise and was
so gentle with her. Sometimes she
used to talk to Petit Pere and tell him
how lonely she was and how no one
cared for her. But some one did care
for her. 1t was lie Panache. He used
to walk behind her every day, when
she thought she was alone, to see that
no harm came to her. .-... !
One day she turned around and saw
him there, and she was very angry.
Glow do you dare to follow me-"
she cried. 81 wanted to be- alone"
All" he answered, "you are alone.
We are nothing, Petit Pere and l."
Then he laughed and stood back
against rock, while she hurried past
him and walked back to the castle very
fast indeed.
crops were smaller than ever before,
so that, when the king sent for his
share of the harvest, there was
nothing for him. This made him very
angry, and he got out all his soldiers
and hurried down to the village to
brighten the people. The peasants
were too hungry and miserable to be
frightened. So they marched out to
meet him with knives and stones and
scythes, and the peasants fell upon the
soldiers and drove them back. There
was furious battle, and flying stone
knocked the king from his horse, so
that he was trampled under foot and
killed. ........
BY this time the peasants were mad.
They thought of nothing but the
cruelty of the old king, and, now that
they had killed him, they cried:
Let us go on! Let us tear down the
castle and fling the stones into the
SEAL" "- -..
So on they swept to the very doors
of the castle. The princess saw them