Upon Which The King
Said, "If They Fail To Obey You, They Disobey Me; For I Have
Appointed You As
My orderly, and thereby you personify the orders
of the king." Up jumped Maula in a moment as soon as
These words
were uttered, charging with his stick, then floundering and
n'yanzigging as if he had been signally rewarded. I expected
some piece of cruel mischief to come of all this, but the king,
in his usual capricious way, suddenly rising, walked off to a
third court, followed only by a select few.
Here, turning to me, he said, "Bana, I love you, because you have
come so far to see me, and have taught me so many things since
you have been here." Rising, with my hand to my heart, and
gracefully bowing at this strange announcement - for at that
moment I was full of hunger and wrath - I intimated I was much
flattered at hearing it, but as my house was in a state of
starvation, I trusted he would consider it. "What!" said he, "do
you want goats?" "Yes, very much." The pages then received
orders to furnish me with ten that moment, as the king's farmyard
was empty, and he would reimburse them as soon as more
confiscations took place. But this, I said, was not enough; the
Wanguana wanted plantains, for they had received none these
fifteen days. "What!" said the king, turning to his pages again,
"have you given these men no plantains, as I ordered?
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