At this moment, the note of a bird sounded
from the branch of a neighboring tree.

"Peep, peep, pe wee ep!"

It was the purple bird, who, all this while, had
been sitting over their heads, watching what was
going forward, and hoping that Ulysses would
emember how he had done his utmost to keep
him and his followers out of harm's way. Ulys-
ses ordered Circe instantly to make a king oi
this good little fowl, and leave him exactly as she
found him. Hardly were the words spoken, and
before the bird had time to utter another "pe
weep," King Picus leaped dow r n from the bough
of the tree, as majestic a sovereign as any in
the world, dressed in a long purple robe and
gorgeous yellow stockings, with a splendidly
wrought collar about his neck, and a golden
crown upon his head. He and King Ulysses
exchanged with one another the courtesies which
belong to their elevated rank. But from that
time forth, King Picus was no longer proud of
his crown and his trappings of royalty, nor of
the fact of his being a krisr; he felt himself
merely the upper servant of his people, and that
it must be his life-long labor to make them
better and happier.

[[212]]

p211 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p212w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p213

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