Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/159

WHO FOLLOWED THE PIPER pools clear for the King's purple fishes; Jumping Joan said she would not go at all unless she was let go into the lion's cage with Johnny-Jump-Up, and this was granted her; Perrie, Merrie, and Dixie, Margery Daw and Little Jack Straw, Tom Tucker and Jack Nicker were to stay in the kitchen and keep the pancakes from being burnt; Dorothy and Ursula were to tend the King's pomegranate trees, and they were to be given a silver penny for every pomegranate they made grow; Robin and Richard and Nancy, too, were to be given what they liked best: they were to have charge of the whole muster of peacocks.

Every one was satisfied and every one was ready to set out for the country of Prester John.

Valentine and John Ball and Golden Hood were even more ready than the others.

"What could I be in the country of Prester John?" asked Valentine.

"You will be made the Captain of the King's Bodyguard," said the Piper.