Sky Island

g on the seat. As the Magic Umbrella was now as motionless as any ordinary umbrella might be, Button-Bright first released the catch and closed it up, after wh

looked to see who was making the protest, while Cap'n Bill rolled over and got on his hands and knees so h

n the top of it. But the most curious thing about him was his skin, which was of a lovely sky-blue tint. His eyes were also sky-blue, and his hair, which was trained straight up and ended in a curl at the top of his head, was likewise blue in

d to have landed in a large garden, surrounded by a high wall of blue stone. The trees were all blue, the grass was blue, the flowers were blue, and even the pebbles in the paths were blue. There

s visitors. "You brutes! You apes! You miserable, white-skinned creatures! How dare you come into my garden and knock me on the head with that awful basket and then fall on my toes and cause me pain and suffering? How dare you,

ky Island, the

e and Dictator. Behold in the Personage you have injured the Mighty Quitey Righty Boolooroo of the Blue

or kings, bein' as they're summat unusual. Please 'scuse me for a

he Boolooroo. "But I'll punish

imperlite to strangers. If anyone comes to our c

refully and seeming interested in their appearance. "Where in th

h when we're at home

isn't inhabited. No one can live there because it's just a rou

g about that," s

are," adde

there ourselve

the private garden of the palace of the Greatly Stately Irately Boolooroo, which is a criminal offense. And you've bumped my head with your baske

't seem to know the proper way to treat visitors.

hed!" exclaimed the Boolooroo

Boolooroo of the Blues, but you ain't even a tin whistle to us, an' you can't skeer us for half a minute. I'm an ol' man, myself, but if you don't behave, I'll spank you like I would a baby, an' it won't be any trouble at all to do it, thank'e. As a

How?" asked

l, pointing to the umbrella that Button

olooroo, nodding his funny head. "G

a dangerous country for them to remain in. Trot longed to see more of the strange blue island, and especially wanted to explore the magnificent blue palace that adjoined the garden and which had six hundred tall towers and turrets; but she felt that her

the long curl that stuck up from the top of his head, a bell tinkled somewhere in the palace. He next pulled at the bottom of his right ear, and another faraway bell tinkled; then he touched the end of his nose, and still another

rly finished?

"we've got to eat

s? What are ap

asket. "Have one?" she sa

and took the apple, which he

anywhere but on the Ear

to eat?" aske

swered Trot, biting

ht, and began to eat his apple. He seemed to like it, for he finishe

. But the Boolooroo jerked it away in an instant, and stan

get away until I'm willing to le

im until his whole body fluttered like a flag. "Drop that umbrel. Drop it!" yelled Cap'n Bill, and the Boolooroo quickly obeyed. The Magic Umbrella fell to th

Bill. "If you don't behave, your Majesty, this

sked the

e for anything else. Anyhow, you'll get badly damage

Cap'n Bill," said

d the King, who was trying to rearrange the

" asked C

aps you don't know that every Blueskin in Sky Island li

now that," admi

lives. When the final minute is up, we die; but we're obliged to live all of the six hundred years whe

rderer, thank goodness, and I wouldn't ki

ears an awful long time

t whenever any of my subjects get near the end of their six hund

you lived?" ask

question in Sky Island," he answered, "but I will say that every Boolooroo is el

elected, then?"

ells them whom to vote for, and if they don't obey, they are severely punished. It's a fine system of government, and the only thing I object to is electing

ves someone else a chance to rule, an' I wouldn't be s'prised if the n

opinion. I like myself very much, but I can't expect

t!" cri

of blue about any of you, except the deep-blue color of the clothes the old ape that choked me wears. Also, you are ignoran

t," said Button-Bright. "

was still tied to the handle of the basket, and the other

ugh of this Blue Country and its Blue Boolooroo

agreed Trot

shot out from behind them and in a twinkling wound itself around the umbrella. At the same instant another blue cord wound itself around the boy's body

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