Chapter I: Front Matter

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THE CITY CURIOUS

_Frontispiece_]

THE CITY CURIOUS

by

JEAN de BOSSCHERE

Illustrated by the Author and Retold in English by F. Tennyson Jesse

New York: Dodd, Mead and Company London: William Heinemann 1920

Printed in Great Britain

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I

Smaly and his wife Redy set forth in search of three little girls: They are bewitched so that their noses turn into beaks: Smaly eats the latch of a door and Redy eats the hinge: Redy's fingers weep tears: They meet with a Confectioner who resembles a Kangaroo 1

CHAPTER II

Smaly installs himself upon one of the Kangaroo's paws: The two little people see some of the inhabitants of this peculiar country: They meet some sugar horses, and they see also a fish which flies and some sponges which walk: The Wigs imagine that Smaly is made of suet: The ebony and crystal spectacles: The Mother of the Crow 15

CHAPTER III

The Short-Legged Man with the musical voice: Smaly and Redy again declare they are travelling to find three little girls: Papylick puts Smaly and Redy in two boats made out of nutshells 34

CHAPTER IV

Smaly and Redy are not well received: They are thought to be made of painted cardboard: How the Despoiler fell into the water and left a foot behind him: Mistigris sticks a fish-bone into the back of the Despoiler: Judgment is passed on the two strangers: They will be banished at nightfall: The walls of the three gardens are discussed 38

CHAPTER V

Redy and Smaly watch the review of the troops: Smaly and the Mother of the Crow discourse about soldiers: The Chief Contractor distributes the food, and the Wigs pass through a curious little door: The Soy powder makes the provisions grow 59

CHAPTER VI

The Sugar-Cane Prison arrives: The Rats water it with Soy fluid to keep the canes growing as fast as the Prisoner breaks them down: The time for siesta draws on, and Smaly and Redy go into the house of the Historian 73

CHAPTER VII

The Flying-Fish announces the hour of three, and the World falls asleep: The Hen makes six hard-boiled eggs: Smaly and Redy begin to read the manuscript of the Historian 82

CHAPTER VIII

Redy and Smaly read of the childhood of the Prisoner 95

CHAPTER IX

The elder Flying-Fish loses one eye, and the Hen finds it: The Historian wakes up, and Smaly and Redy run out of the house: The Healer mends the paw of the Confectioner 100

CHAPTER X

The Wigs all imagine they suffer from headache: The Rats come to the Healer to be cured of the ravages of hot Soy: The Chief Contractor has to make himself ill eating the musical instruments 111

CHAPTER XI

The young girls dance for the Rats, then play a curious game of tennis: They fail to understand Smaly's point of view 122

CHAPTER XII

The Mother of the Crow tells of the life and death of Djorak in his own country 127

CHAPTER XIII

Smaly and Redy are taken to see the Fleet: The Prisoner arrives and the Wigs fly in terror: Smaly and Redy at last have speech with the Prisoner 146

CHAPTER XIV

The three daughters of the Prisoner are installed in their gardens 161