Page:The Princess of Cozytown.pdf/67

 the King or any of his court. And when the King attempted to send Jerry back to prison such a howl went up from the people that he shook in his buckled shoes and decided that he'd best ignore the impudent rascal." So posthaste a messenger was dispatched to the neighboring Kingdom of Dingby Dumph and in a fortnight returned, his horse in a lather and with a thin wisp of a man jouncing up and down behind him. But they got no farther than the blacksmith's, for that worthy catching sight of a tape measure round the fellow's neck pulled both down and administered such a drubbing to the strange tailor that, once released, he sprang upon the horse and was off at a gallop.

And so were the tailors the King smuggled into the Kingdom served. The whole populace stood shoulder to shoulder behind Jerry. They hustled the guards about roundly, and set a watch upon the borders of the Kingdom so that none could leave nor enter without their consent. And, worse still, the butchers and burghers and other tradesfolk began to go about their affairs dressed in Jerry's velvets and satins, until there was no telling the notables from the nobodys and there were so many in Judges' gowns and Courtiers' cloaks that one knew not when to bow; so ended by bowing not at all—indeed the Kingdom seemed suddenly gone quite mad.

The King, at his wits' end, could do nothing to remedy matters, for at the slightest hint of harm to this wretched tailor the whole populace would advance upon the castle, ready for a revolution if need be. So the King fumed and the Courtiers sulked and the Princess said she was angry with that wicked tailor. As time went on the Courtiers grew shabbier and shabbier, while the common folk were fine as peacocks, for Jerry's prices were so low that anyone could afford a silk robe and flowered waistcoats. The court Ladies did their best to keep their Lords in trim, and several of the nobility tried their hand at tailoring, but with such comical results that the common folk tee-heed when they passed.