"One Person and one Freak," said the big Lavender Bear, when he had carefully examined the strangers.
"I am sorry to hear you call poor Cayke the Cookie Cook a Freak," remonstrated the Frogman.
"She is the Person," asserted the King. "Unless I am mistaken, it is you who are the Freak."The Frogman was silent, for he could not truthfully deny it.
"Why have you dared intrude in my forest?" demanded the Bear King.
"We didn't know it was your forest," said Cayke, "and we are on our way to the far east, where the Emerald City is.""Ah, it's a long way from here to the Emerald City,"remarked the King. "It is so far away, indeed, that no bear among us has ever been there. But what errand requires you to travel such a distance?""Someone has stolen my diamond-studded gold dishpan,"explained Cayke; "and, as I cannot be happy without it, I have decided to search the world over until I find it again. The Frogman, who is very learned and wonderfully wise, has come with me to give me his assistance. Isn't it kind of him?"The King looked at the Frogman.
"What makes you so wonderfully wise?" he asked.
"I'm not," was the candid reply. "The Cookie Cook, and some others in the Yip Country, think because I am a big frog and talk and act like a man, that I must be very wise. I have learned more than a frog usually knows, it is true, but I am not yet so wise as I hope to become at some future time."The King nodded, and when he did so something squeaked in his chest.
"Did Your Majesty speak?" asked Cayke.
"Not just then," answered the Lavender Bear, seeming to be somewhat embarrassed. "I am so built, you must know, that when anything pushes against my chest, as my chin accidentally did just then, I make that silly noise. In this city it isn't considered good manners to notice it. But I like your Frogman. He is honest and truthful, which is more than can be said of many others. As for your late lamented dishpan, I'll show it to you.
With this he waved three times the metal wand which he held in his paw and instantly there appeared upon the ground, midway between the King and Cayke, a big round pan made of beaten gold. Around the top edge was a row of small diamonds; around the center of the pan was another row of larger diamonds; and at the bottom was a row of exceedingly large and brilliant diamonds.
In fact, they all sparkled magnificently and the pan was so big and broad that it took a lot of diamonds to go around it three times.
Cayke stared so hard that her eyes seemed about to pop out of her head.
"O-o-oh!" she exclaimed, drawing a deep breath of delight.
"Is this your dishpan?" inquired the King.
"It is -- it is!" cried the Cookie Cook, and rushing forward she fell on her knees and threw her arms around the precious pan. But her arms came together without meeting any resistance at all. Cayke tried to seize the edge, but found nothing to grasp. The pan was surely there, she thought, for she could see it plainly; but it was not solid; she could not feel it at all. With a moan of astonishment and despair she raised her head to look at the Bear King, who was watching her actions curiously. Then she turned to the pan again, only to find it had completely disappeared.
"Poor creature!" murmured the King pityingly. "You must have thought, for the moment, that you had actually recovered your dishpan. But what you saw was merely the image of it, conjured up by means of my magic. It is a pretty dishpan, indeed, though rather big and awkward to handle. I hope you will some day find it."Cayke was grievously disappointed. She began to cry, wiping her eyes on her apron. The King turned to the throng of toy bears surrounding him and asked:
"Has any of you ever seen this golden dishpan before?""No," they answered in a chorus.
The King seemed to reflect. Presently he inquired:
"Where is the Little Pink Bear?"
"At home, Your Majesty," was the reply.
"Fetch him here," commanded the King.
Several of the bears waddled over to one of the trees and pulled from its hollow a tiny pink bear, smaller than any of the others. A big white bear carried the pink one in his arms and set it down beside the King, arranging the joints of its legs so that it would stand upright.
This Pink Bear seemed lifeless until the King turned a crank which protruded from its side, when the little creature turned its head stiffly from side to side and said in a small shrill voice:
"Hurrah for the King of Bear Center!"
"Very good," said the big Lavender Bear; "he seems to be working very well today. Tell me, my Pink Pinkerton, what has become of this lady's jeweled dishpan?""U-u-u," said the Pink Bear, and then stopped short.
The King turned the crank again.
"U-g-u the Shoemaker has it," said the Pink Bear.
"Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?" demanded the King, again turning the crank.
"A magician who lives on a mountain in a wickerwork castle," was the reply.
"Where is this mountain?" was the next question.
"Nineteen miles and three furlongs from Bear Center to the northeast.""And is the dishpan still at the castle of Ugu the Shoemaker?" asked the King.
"It is."
The King turned to Cayke.
"You may rely on this information," said he. "The Pink Bear can tell us anything we wish to know, and his words are always words of truth.""Is he alive?" asked the Frogman, much interested in the Pink Bear.
