Baum, Frank | The Queen of Zixi

odor, he placed it in a vase that stood twenty feet to his left. Then he noted a fountain far across a hedge, and reaching the distance easi ly dipped his hand in the splashing water. It was all very amazing, this sudden power to reach a great distance, and the lord high executioner was so pleased with the faculty that when he discovered old Jikki standing in the palace doorway, he laughingly fetched him a box on the ear that sent the valet scampering away to his room in amazed terror.

Said Tellydeb to himself, "Now I'll go home and show my wife what a surprising gift I have acquired."

So he left the garden, and not long afterward old Tallydab, the lord high steward, came walking down the path, followed by his little dog Ruffles. I am not certain whether it was because his coat was so shaggy or his temper so uncertain that Tallydab's dog was named Ruffles, but the name fitted well both the looks and the disposition of the tiny animal.

Nevertheless, the lord high steward was very fond of his dog, which followed him everywhere except to the king's council