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 around the band. At the opposite end of the boat stood an oddly shaped
cage, and several large boxes of sandalwood were piled near the center of the craft.
As the boat approached the shore the fat little man got upon his feet and bowed several
times in the direction of those who had assembled to greet him, and as he bowed he
flourished his white cap in an energetic manner. His face was round as an apple and
nearly as rosy. When he stopped bowing he smiled in such a sweet and happy way that
Inga thought he must be a very jolly fellow.
The prow of the boat grounded on the beach, stopping its speed so suddenly that the little
man was caught unawares and nearly toppled headlong into the sea. But he managed to
catch hold of the chair with one hand and the hair of one of his rowers with the other, and
so steadied himself. Then, again waving his jeweled cap around his head, he cried in a
merry voice:
"Well, here I am at last!"
"So I perceive," responded King Kitticut, bowing with much dignity.
The fat man glanced at all the sober faces before him and burst into a rollicking laugh.
Perhaps I should say it was half laughter and half a chuckle of merriment, for the sounds
he emitted were quaint and droll and tempted every hearer to laugh with him.
"Heh, heh -- ho, ho, ho!" he roared. "Didn't expect me, I see. Keek-eek-eek-eek! This is
funny -- it's really funny. Didn't know I was coming, did you? Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo! This
is certainly amusing. But I'm here, just the same."
"Hush up!" said a deep, growling voice. "You're making yourself ridiculous."
