When they had gone a little way
through the thick forest they came to a wide, clear
space; and they saw the King’s palace which was
made of mud.
This was where the King lived with
his Queen, Ermintrude, and their son, Prince Bumpo.
The Prince was away fishing for salmon in the river.
But the King and Queen were sitting under an umbrella
before the palace door. And Queen Ermintrude
was asleep.
When the Doctor had come up to the
palace the King asked him his business; and the Doctor
told him why he had come to Africa.
“You may not travel through
my lands,” said the King. “Many years
ago a white man came to these shores; and I was very
kind to him. But after he had dug holes in the
ground to get the gold, and killed all the elephants
to get their ivory tusks, he went away secretly in
his ship-without so much as saying ‘Thank
you.’ Never again shall a white man travel
through the lands of Jolliginki.”
Then the King turned to some of the
black men who were standing near and said, “Take
away this medicine-man-with all his animals,
and lock them up in my strongest prison.”
So six of the black men led the Doctor
and all his pets away and shut them up in a stone
dungeon. The dungeon had only one little window,
high up in the wall, with bars in it; and the door
was strong and thick.
Then they all grew very sad; and Gub-Gub,
the pig, began to cry. But Chee-Chee said he
would spank him if he didn’t stop that horrible
noise; and he kept quiet.
“Are we all here?” asked
the Doctor, after he had got used to the dim light.
“Yes, I think so,” said
the duck and started to count them.
“Where’s Polynesia?”
asked the crocodile. “She isn’t here.”
“Are you sure?” said the
Doctor. “Look again. Polynesia!
Polynesia! Where are you?”
“I suppose she escaped,”
grumbled the crocodile. “Well, that’s
just like her!-Sneaked off into the jungle
as soon as her friends got into trouble.”
“I’m not that kind of
a bird,” said the parrot, climbing out of the
pocket in the tail of the Doctor’s coat.
“You see, I’m small enough to get through
the bars of that window; and I was afraid they would
put me in a cage instead. So while the King was
busy talking, I hid in the Doctor’s pocket-and
here I am! That’s what you call a ‘ruse,’”
she said, smoothing down her feathers with her beak.
“Good Gracious!” cried
the Doctor. “You’re lucky I didn’t
sit on you.”
“Now listen,” said Polynesia,
“to-night, as soon as it gets dark, I am going
to creep through the bars of that window and fly over
to the palace. And then-you’ll
see-I’ll soon find a way to make the
King let us all out of prison.”
“Oh, what can you do?”
said Gub-Gub, turning up his nose and beginning to
cry again. “You’re only a bird!”
“Quite true,” said the
parrot. “But do not forget that although
I am only a bird, I can talk like A
man-and I know these people.”
So that night, when the moon was shining
through the palm-trees and all the King’s men
were asleep, the parrot slipped out through the bars
of the prison and flew across to the palace.
The pantry window had been broken by a tennis ball
the week before; and Polynesia popped in through the
hole in the glass.
She heard Prince Bumpo snoring in
his bed-room at the back of the palace. Then
she tip-toed up the stairs till she came to the King’s
bedroom. She opened the door gently and peeped
in.
The Queen was away at a dance that
night at her cousin’s; but the King was in bed
fast asleep.
Polynesia crept in, very softly, and got under the
bed.
Then she coughed-just the way Doctor Dolittle
used to cough.
Polynesia could mimic any one.
The King opened his eyes and said sleepily: “Is
that you, Ermintrude?”
(He thought it was the Queen come back from the dance.)
Then the parrot coughed again-loud,
like a man. And the King sat up, wide awake,
and said, “Who’s that?”
“I am Doctor Dolittle,”
said the parrot-just the way the Doctor
would have said it.
“What are you doing in my bedroom?”
cried the King. “How dare you get out
of prison! Where are you?-I don’t
see you.”
But the parrot just laughed-a
long, deep jolly laugh, like the Doctor’s.
“Stop laughing and come here
at once, so I can see you,” said the King.
“Foolish King!” answered
Polynesia. “Have you forgotten that you
are talking to John Dolittle, M.D.-the
most wonderful man on earth? Of course you cannot
see me. I have made myself invisible. There
is nothing I cannot do. Now listen: I have
come here to-night to warn you. If you don’t
let me and my animals travel through your kingdom,
I will make you and all your people sick like the
monkeys. For I can make people well: and
I can make people ill-just by raising my
little finger. Send your soldiers at once to
open the dungeon door, or you shall have mumps before
the morning sun has risen on the hills of Jolliginki.”
Then the King began to tremble and was very much afraid.
“Doctor,” he cried, “it
shall be as you say. Do not raise your little
finger, please!” And he jumped out of bed and
ran to tell the soldiers to open the prison door.
As soon as he was gone, Polynesia
crept downstairs and left the palace by the pantry
window.
But the Queen, who was just letting
herself in at the backdoor with a latch-key, saw the
parrot getting out through the broken glass.
And when the King came back to bed she told him what
she had seen.
Then the King understood that he had
been tricked, and he was dreadfully angry. He
hurried back to the prison at once
But he was too late. The door
stood open. The dungeon was empty. The
Doctor and all his animals were gone.