The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo and His People | Page 2

such a queer
country that his history will surely seem magical to us who inhabit the
civilized places of the world and think that anything we can not find a
reason for must be due to magic. The life of the Monarch of Mo seems
simple enough to him, you may be sure, for he knows no other
existence. And our ways of living, could he know of them, would

doubtless astonish him greatly.
The land of Mo, which is ruled by the King we call the Magical
Monarch, is often spoken of as the "Beautiful Valley." If they would
only put it on the maps of our geographies and paint it pink or light
green, and print a big round dot where the King's castle stands, it would
be easy enough to point out to you its exact location. But I can not find
the Valley of Mo in any geography I have examined; so I suspect the
men who made these instructive books really know nothing about Mo,
else it would surely be on the maps.
Of one thing I am certain: that no other country included in the maps is
so altogether delightful as the Beautiful Valley of Mo.
The sun shines all the time, and its rays are perfumed. The people who
live in the Valley do not sleep, because there is no night. Everything
they can possibly need grows on the trees, so they have no use for
money at all, and that saves them a deal of worry.
There are no poor people in this quaint Valley. When a person desires a
new hat he waits till one is ripe, and then picks it and wears it without
asking anybody's permission. If a lady wishes a new ring, she examines
carefully those upon the ring-tree, and when she finds one that fits her
finger she picks it and wears it upon her hand. In this way they procure
all they desire.
There are two rivers in the Land of Mo, one of which flows milk of a
very rich quality. Some of the islands in Milk River are made of
excellent cheese, and the people are welcome to spade up this cheese
whenever they wish to eat it. In the little pools near the bank, where the
current does not flow swiftly, delicious cream rises to the top of the
milk, and instead of water-lilies great strawberry leaves grow upon the
surface, and the ripe, red berries lie dipping their noses into the cream,
as if inviting you to come and eat them. The sand that forms the river
bank is pure white sugar, and all kinds of candies and bonbons grow
thick on the low bushes, so that any one may pluck them easily.
These are only a few of the remarkable things that exist in the Beautiful

Valley.
The people are merry, light-hearted folk, who live in beautiful houses
of pure crystal, where they can rest themselves and play their games
and go in when it rains. For it rains in Mo as it does everywhere else,
only it rains lemonade; and the lightning in the sky resembles the most
beautiful fireworks; and the thunder is usually a chorus from the opera
of Tannhauser.
No one ever dies in this Valley, and the people are always young and
beautiful. There is the King and a Queen, besides several princes and
princesses. But it is not much use being a prince in Mo, because the
King can not die; therefore a prince is a prince to the end of his days,
and his days never end.
Strange things occur in this strange land, as you may imagine; and
while I relate some of these you will learn more of the peculiar features
of the Beautiful Valley.

The Second Surprise THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THE
KING'S HEAD
A good many years ago, the Magical Monarch of Mo became annoyed
by the Purple Dragon, which came down from the mountains and ate
up a patch of his best chocolate caramels just as they were getting ripe.
So the King went out to the sword-tree and picked a long, sharp sword,
and tied it to his belt and went away to the mountains to fight the
Purple Dragon.
The people all applauded him, saying one to another:
"Our King is a good King. He will destroy this naughty Purple Dragon
and we shall be able to eat the caramels ourselves."
But the Dragon was not alone naughty; it was big, and fierce, and
strong, and did not want to be destroyed at all.

Therefore the King had a terrible fight with the Purple Dragon and cut
it with his sword in several places, so that the raspberry juice which ran
in its veins squirted all over the ground.