Kisington Town Part 22

"We will go this very day," answered King Victor. And go they did. Sure enough, in a clearing they found the house which David had built for his little wife, snug and clean and empty. Close by in the thick woods the three boys discovered a giant tree-stump, papered with moss and hung with cobweb hammocks, which they felt sure had been the house of the Hermit Gnome in the days before he became a Fairy.

"I must bring my little daughter Hope to see this place," declared the Red King. "She would love it best of all. What good times she would have with me here in the forest! I would tell her the story of David, and learn myself to be a woodsman."

"It is more amusing than war," declared King Victor. "With books in the city and woodcraft in the wild, who would be a soldier? Look, now! I will give to your little Princess Hope as a gift this tiny cottage, where David and his wife and little daughter lived so happily. When she comes to visit our Kingdom,--often, as I hope,--you can play at being a woodsman; which is a good game. But you must promise to let me be your guest for at least one night of each visit. For I, too, love these woods and this little house which has been my secret retreat for many years.

Will you accept my gift for your little daughter, Cousin?"

"Gladly do I accept!" cried Red Rex. And they shook hands gayly.

Still further they penetrated across the meadow to the woods once called the Great Fear. Red Rex was anxious to know more of that once dangerous neighborhood. But since peace had become the fashion in the Kingdom, the wicked Gnomes, who had tried as long as possible to p.r.i.c.k war-poison into the hearts of men, found their occupation gone. When the good King's peace plans reached their ears the Gnomes groaned in despair.

They held a council, and decided unanimously to curl up forthwith in the long sleep and let the world alone.

There was now no sign of them, save where here and there a gnarled arm or burly bended knee seemed to push up from the ground. But these were so covered with mould and moss that it was impossible to tell them from the fallen tree-trunks or mounds of earth. Harold and Robert and Richard did not disturb these mossy mysteries. In times of peace it is better to let sleeping Gnomes lie. Only the makers of ammunition and warships and newspaper scareheads (of whom there were none in King Victor's land) would be eager to see those busy-bodies awake and at their malicious work again, causing peaceful places to become a Great Fear.

When the happy fortnight ended, the Red King went back to his Kingdom and his little Princess Hope, taking with him the beautiful Lady Anyse.

Then began a time of peace in that hitherto restless land; a time of peace and prosperity and happiness, of neighborliness and the exchange of friendly doings. King Victor went to visit the erstwhile War-Lord, and in that time taught the Red King many useful arts of peace. And who, think you, went with King Victor on that visit? Who but the good Librarian and Harold, his adopted son. The Librarian had his pockets full of plans for a grand new library to be established in the Capital of Red Rex. And Harold had his pockets full of stories for the little Princess, and his bag full of sweetmeats for that same wee lady, made by his kind mother who was now pie-maker-general to the Red King, according as they had planned.

Harold and the Princess Hope, who was the dearest of little girls in pink-and-gold, became the best of friends. And when the following summer she came with Red Rex and the Queen Anyse to live in the hut in the Ancient Wood and play at being wood-folk, Harold and Richard and Robert came also. The three boys encamped (like Boy Scouts) in the woods close by the hollow tree which had once been the cell of the Hermit Gnome. And they used his house for their cooling cellar!

So ended the Siege of Kisington, where the books conquered. And the days of peace continued until the time when Harold, having become a famous scholar, was chosen Librarian and Governor of Kisington.

In those days there were no more forts or walls or jealous boundaries between the Kingdoms; for the lands were one in peace and good-will.

There were no armies or weapons or disputes; for the nations understood and loved and trusted one another, and their rulers were wise men and women.

In those days the Princess Hope had become the most beautiful book-loving maiden in the world, and the wise Governor of her father's fairest city, adjoining Kisington.

Of course you can guess what happened next?

And they lived happy ever after.

THE END