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"
In other words, the more stupid one is, the more he thinks he knows,"
observed the shaggy man. The grey donkey paid no attention to this speech
because he had just stopped before a house which had painted over the
doorway a pair of hoofs, with a donkey tail between them and a rude crown
and sceptre above.
"
I'll see if his magnificent Majesty King Kik-a-bray is at home," said he. He
lifted his head and called "Whee-haw! whee-haw! whee-haw!" three times, in a
shocking voice, turning about and kicking with his heels against the panel of
the door. For a time there was no reply; then the door opened far enough to
permit a donkey's head to stick out and look at them.
It was a white head, with big, awful ears and round, solemn eyes.
"
Have the foxes gone?" it asked, in a trembling voice.
"
"
They haven't been here, most stupendous Majesty," replied the grey one.
The new arrivals prove to be travelers of distinction."
"
Oh," said the King, in a relieved tone of voice. "Let them come in."
He opened the door wide, and the party marched into a big room, which,
Dorothy thought, looked quite unlike a king's palace. There were mats of
woven grasses on the floor and the place was clean and neat; but his Majesty
had no other furniture at all--perhaps because he didn't need it. He squatted
down in the center of the room and a little brown donkey ran and brought a
big gold crown which it placed on the monarch's head, and a golden staff with
a jeweled ball at the end of it, which the King held between his front hoofs as
he sat upright.
"
Now then," said his Majesty, waving his long ears gently to and fro, "tell me
why you are here, and what you expect me to do for you." He eyed Button-
Bright rather sharply, as if afraid of the little boy's queer head, though it was
the shaggy man who undertook to reply.
"
Most noble and supreme ruler of Dunkiton," he said, trying not to laugh in
the solemn King's face, "we are strangers traveling through your dominions
and have entered your magnificent city because the road led through it, and
there was no way to go around. All we desire is to pay our respects to your
Majesty--the cleverest king in all the world, I'm sure--and then to continue on
our way."
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