Now it so happened that on the morning of that same day when the Prince of Pingaree
suffered the loss of his priceless shoes, there chanced to pass along the road that wound
beside the royal palace a poor charcoal- burner named Nikobob, who was about to return
to his home in the forest.
Nikobob carried an ax and a bundle of torches over his shoulder and he walked with his
eyes to the ground, being deep in thought as to the strange manner in which the powerful
King Gos and his city had been conquered by a boy Prince who had come from Pingaree.
Suddenly the charcoal-burner espied a shoe lying upon the ground, just beyond the high
wall of the palace and directly in his path. He picked it up and, seeing it was a pretty
shoe, although much too small for his own foot, he put it in his pocket.
Soon after, on turning a corner of the wall, Nikobob came to a dust-heap where, lying
amidst a mass of rubbish, was another shoe -- the mate to the one he had before found.
This also he placed in his pocket, saying to himself:
"I have now a fine pair of shoes for my daughter Zella, who will be much pleased to find
I have brought her a present from the city."
And while the charcoal-burner turned into the forest and trudged along the path toward
his home, Inga and Rinkitink were still searching for the missing shoes. Of course, they
could not know that Nikobob had found them, nor did the honest man think he had taken
anything more than a pair of cast-off shoes which nobody wanted.
Nikobob had several miles to travel through the forest before he could reach the little log
cabin where his wife, as well as his little daughter Zella, awaited his return, but he was
used to long walks and tramped along the path whistling cheerfully to beguile the time.
Few people, as I said before, ever passed through the dark and tangled forests of Regos,
except to go to the mines in the mountain beyond, for many dangerous creatures lurked in
the wild jungles, and King Gos never knew, when he sent a messenger to the mines,
whether he would reach there safely or not.
The charcoal-burner, however, knew the wild forest well, and especially this part of it
lying between the city and his home. It was the favorite haunt of the ferocious beast
Choggenmugger, dreaded by every dweller in the Island of Regos. Choggenmugger was
so old that everyone thought it must have been there since the world was made, and each
year of its life the huge scales that covered its body grew thicker and harder and its jaws
grew wider and its teeth grew sharper and its appetite grew more keen than ever.
In former ages there had been many dragons in Regos, but Choggenmugger was so fond
of dragons that he had eaten all of them long ago. There had also been great serpents and
crocodiles in the forest marshes, but all had gone to feed the hunger of Choggenmugger.
The people of Regos knew well there was no use opposing the Great Beast, so when one
unfortunately met with it he gave himself up for lost.
