The Coming of King Rinkitink


A few days after this, on a bright and sunny morning
when the breeze blew soft and sweet from the ocean and
the trees waved their leaf-laden branches, the Royal
Watchman, whose duty it was to patrol the shore, came
running to the King with news that a strange boat was
approaching the island.

At first the King was sore afraid and made a step
toward the hidden pearls, but the next moment he
reflected that one boat, even if filled with enemies,
would be powerless to injure him, so he curbed his fear
and went down to the beach to discover who the
strangers might be. Many of the men of Pingaree
assembled there also, and Prince Inga followed his
father. Arriving at the water's edge, they all stood
gazing eagerly at the oncoming boat.

It was quite a big boat, they observed, and covered
with a canopy of purple silk, embroidered with gold. It
was rowed by twenty men, ten on each side. As it came
nearer, Inga could see that in the stern, seated upon a
high, cushioned chair of state, was a little man who
was so very fat that he was nearly as broad as he was
high This man was dressed in a loose silken robe of
purple that fell in folds to his feet, while upon his
head was a cap of white velvet curiously worked with
golden threads and having a circle of diamonds sewn