"I haven't decided yet," said the Boolooroo. "They're curiosities,
you see, and may serve to amuse us. But as they're only half
civilized, I shall make them my slaves."
"What are they good for? Can they do anything useful?" asked the
fifth.
"We'll see," returned the King impatiently. "I can't decide in a
hurry. Give me time, Azure, give me time. If there's anything I
hate, it's a hurry."
"I've an idea, your Majesty," announced the sixth Snubnosed
Princess, whose complexion was rather darker than that of her
sisters, "and it has come to me quite deliberately, without any
hurry at all. Let us take the little girl to be our maid--to wait
upon us and amuse us when we're dull. All the other ladies of the
court will be wild with envy, and if the child doesn't prove of use
to us, we can keep her for a living pincushion."
"Oh! Ah! That will be fine!" cried all the other five, and the
Boolooroo said:
"Very well, Indigo, it shall be as you desire." Then he turned to
Trot and added, "I present you to the Six Lovely Snubnosed
Princesses, to be their slave. If you are good and obedient, you
won't get your ears boxed oftener than once an hour."
"I won't be anybody's slave," protested Trot. "I don't like these
snubnosed, fussy females, an' I won't have anything to do with 'em."
"How impudent!" cried Cerulia.
"How vulgar!" cried Turquoise.
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