Chapter Five
THE QUEEN OF THE WILD MEN
Although the wild men who had captured the Lady of Fashion and the Poet were good to them, the two Teenie Weenies nevertheless were much alarmed as to what might happen, for the wild men kept their captives’ hands securely tied, and they watched them closely at all times.
When the wild men brought the two Teenie Weenies to the island where the savages lived, the captives were the center of much interest.
The Sabo men and women came swarming down to the water’s edge from all directions. They shouted and jabbered in a language the Lady of Fashion and the Poet had never before heard. Some came gliding out of the tall grass, while others peered from behind bushes and pebbles, quite as though they were a little afraid of the two helpless Teenie Weenies.
The women were curious little people. They were dressed in short dresses which came down to their knees and the cloth was woven out of thistledown and was wonderfully soft. The women dressed their hair in a strange manner. The Lady of Fashion could hardly keep from laughing at them, for it was coiled up to a point high in the air, shaped much like an ice cream cone. Most of the men were dressed in frogskin trousers, while the children wore bits of cloth about their waists.
The men and women gathered around and carefully examined the clothes of the two Teenie Weenies, especially the Poet’s glasses, which were considered very wonderful by the wild little people.
After a time the Lady of Fashion and the Poet were led along a path toward the center of the island, followed by a great crowd of Saboes. Presently one of the wild men who was walking ahead suddenly dropped to his knees and kissed the ground. Looking up, the two Teenie Weenies saw a very big turtle with a very short, fat woman sitting on its back. A man who walked beside the turtle with a hook in his hand, gave the turtle a sharp blow on the nose and the big fellow pulled his head into his shell and stopped.
“Well!” exclaimed the Lady of Fashion. “I wonder who this fine lady can be.”
“Why, why, this must be a sort of queen,” answered the Poet. “Maybe she is the queen of the wild men.”
The Poet had guessed correctly. The fat lady on the turtle was no other than Her Royal Highness, Queen Mooie, ruler of the wild men.