Page:The Royal Book of Oz.djvu/126

 enough, but being Emperor of the Silver Islands was not the simple affair that ruling Oz had been. The pigtail on the back of his hat was terribly distracting and he was always tripping over his kimona, to which he could not seem to accustom himself. His subjects were extremely quarrelsome, always pulling one another's queues or stealing fruit, umbrellas and silver polish. His ministers, the Grand Chew Chew, the Chief Chow Chow and General Mugwump were no better, and keeping peace in the palace took all the Scarecrow's cleverness.

In the day time he tried culprits in the royal court, interviewed his seventeen secretaries, rode out in the royal palanquin and made speeches to visiting princes. At night he sat in the great silver salon and by the light of the lanterns studied the Book of Ceremonies. His etiquette, the Grand Chew Chew informed him, was shocking. He was always doing something wrong, dodging the Imperial Umbrella, speaking kindly to a palace servant or walking unattended in the gardens.

The royal palace itself was richly furnished and the Scarecrow had more than five hundred robes of state. The gardens, with their sparkling water falls, glowing orange trees, silver temples, towers and bridges,