“well, folks,” announced the general the next morning as he sat down to breakfast with several of his officers, the lady of fashion and the poet, “we must make ready for the march home. we have a long journey ahead of us and we must get started as soon as possible.”
“i don’t see how we can,” answered the doctor, who was helping himself to a piece of frog ham. “the sailor is in no condition to be moved and, besides, i still have a couple of the wild men on my hands, who are in such shape i can’t leave them for a few days.”
“that’s so! that’s so!” exclaimed the general. “of course we’ll have to stay until our duty is done.”
“my patients are all doing well and i don’t see why we won’t be able to get away in five or six days,” said the doctor.
the little soldiers were greatly disappointed when they heard that the army would not start immediately for home, for now that the war was over they were all anxious to return. however, they made the best of their time by fishing, swimming and playing games.
one morning a sentinel came to the general’s tent, followed by one of the wild men.
“this fellow has a message for you,” said the sentinel pointing to the wild man, who held a piece of folded birch bark in his hand. “there are about twenty-five more of ’em waiting out beyond our lines and they’ve each got a big bundle all wrapped up in leaves.”
the general opened the note which the wild man handed him, but when he found it was written in the sabo language he sent for the poet.
“you’ll have to translate this gibberish for me,” said the general when the poet appeared. “it’s too much for me.”
the poet carefully read the note and then repeated it to the general.
“it’s from the queen and she is sending you greetings and some presents,” said the poet. “she also invites you to the great dance of peace and plenty. this is the dance the wild men dance whenever they make peace with their enemies. you must go to the dance, for that is the way the wild men have of showing that they want to be friendly.”
“all right,” answered the general; “tell her i’ll come. thank her for the presents and give her my regards.”
a number of soldiers were sent out to bring in the presents the queen had sent and when they were unwrapped the little people were surprised to find a number of fat frog hams, a quantity of wild rice, a large jar of fruit paste made out of wild berries, many nut meats and sweet seeds.
“we ought to send a present to the queen in return for all this food,” said the general. “what shall we send her?”
“send her that thimble the dunce ruined trying to make a suit of armor,” answered the poet, who had heard the story of the dunce’s armor.
“not that old thimble!” exclaimed the general.
“sure,” laughed the poet. “she will think that it is wonderful!”
so the thimble was sent to the queen, who prized it more than anything else she owned.
on the appointed day the general set off for the dance with a number of the teenie weenies, and as they drew near the village they were met by a body of wild men who had been sent out as a guard of honor to escort the general into the village. he was led to a spot beneath a big bush where the queen sat cross-legged on a wonderfully soft piece of cloth which had been thrown on the ground. over her head hung another cloth which was fastened at the four corners to long poles held in the hands of four wild men.
a great many wild men and women stood about an open spot under the bush, which had been swept until it was as clean as a pin. many children ran about the place, some of them climbing onto the grass houses and into the trees. on the edge of the crowd stood several small animals, and some birds were perched in the bush overhead.
the general made a low bow to the queen and when she motioned for him to sit by her side, he sat down on the soft cloth. the queen and the general talked for some time through the poet, who translated for them.
presently the queen gave a command to one of her warriors and instantly several men, who were sitting on the ground in front of the queen, began to beat on drums. the drums were made out of a piece of hollow reed. the ends were covered with snake skin and they made a very pretty, mellow sound. another man beat on a piece of wood which had been fixed to a split reed, while three or four women beat paddles together in time with the music.
instantly a number of voices broke into a loud song from behind a house near by and presently the dancers came hopping and prancing into the cleared spot before the queen. first came a warrior with a long spear and when he danced directly in front of the queen he broke the spear in two over his knee. next came a man with a queer seed pod over his head and in one hand he carried a whip with which he struck the warrior every now and then. in the other hand he carried a dried seed pod which rattled loudly in time with the song. the next dancer wore a frog’s head and hopped in time with the music, much after the fashion of a frog. several girls followed the frog man, carrying plates of smoked frog ham and rice cakes.
“the first man in the dance,” explained the poet to the general, “is the spirit of war. he broke the spear to show you that the war was over and the next man rattled the seed pod and struck him with the whip to scare him away, which means that the wild men are through with war and wish to get rid of the war spirit. the frog man represents the frog meat which the wild men eat, and his funny dance means that good times are coming, for you see the pretty girls follow with plates of rice cakes and meat.”
the dancers performed for several minutes and then the man with the whip and rattle chased the spirit of war over the hill out of sight, which meant that the spirit of war was gone for good.
after the dance a great fire was built and when a heap of hot ashes had burned, the wild men wrapped several frog hams in sassafras leaves and put them into the hot bed of ashes to roast. when the hams were cooked they were cut into slices and served to the teenie weenies and the wild men. wonderfully delicious rice cakes were also served and the teenie weenies ate until they were quite filled. the greedy dunce ate so much he became quite ill and had to be carried back to the teenie weenie camp, where the doctor was kept busy most of the night putting heated buttons on his aching tummy, until the pain was gone.
