"A hole through the hedge! Great Kika-koo!" cried the gray-bearded Ki;
"is there, then, anything or any place on the other side of the hedge?"
"Why, of course! The world is there," returned the prince, laughing.
The old men looked puzzled, and glanced sharply from their little
black eyes at their prisoners.
"We thought nothing existed outside the hedge of Twi," they answered,
simply. "But your presence here proves we were wrong. Eh! Ki-Ki?"
This last was again directed toward the pair of musicians, who
continued to play and only nodded quietly, as before.
"Now that you are here," said the twin Ki, stroking their two gray
beards with their two left hands in a nervous way, "it must be evident
to you that you do not belong here. Therefore you must go back
through the hedge again and stay on the other side. Eh, Ki-Ki?"
The Ki-Ki still continued playing, but now spoke the first words the
prisoners had heard from them.
"They must die," said the Ki-Ki, in soft and agreeable voices.
"Die!" echoed the twin Ki, "die? Great Kika-koo! And why so?"
"Because, if there is a world on the other side of the hedge, they
would tell on their return all about the Land of Twi, and others of
their kind would come through the hedge from curiosity and annoy us.
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