At once she made the announcement, telling the assembled Pinkies that by virtue of her high office as Queen of Sky Island she would leave Rosalie the Witch to rule over the Pink Country while she returned to the Earth with her friends.  As Rosalie was greatly loved and respected, the people joyfully accepted her as their Queen, and Trot ordered them to tear down the old hut and build a new palace for Rosalie—­one which would be just as good as any other house in the City, but no better.  She further ordered a pink statue of Tourmaline to be set up in the Court, and also a pink statue of herself, so that the record of all the rulers of the Pinkies should be complete.

The people agreed to do all this as soon as possible, and some of the leaders whispered together and then asked Coralie to be their spokesman in replying to Queen Trot’s speech.

Coralie stood on a chair and made a bow, after which she thanked Trot in the name of the Pinkies for leading them safely into the Blue Country and out again, and for giving them so good a Queen as Rosalie.  The Pinkies would be sorry to have their new friends, the Earth people, leave them, but asked the Queen of Sky Island to carry with her the royal band of pink gold which she now wore upon her brow, together with the glistening pink jewel set in its center.  It would remind her, Coralie declared, of the Beautiful Land of Sunset and Sunrise and of the fact that the Pinkies would always be glad to welcome her back.

Trot knew she would never return to Sky Island, but she did not tell them that.  She merely thanked Coralie and the Pinkies and said they might all come to the Court after dinner and see her and her comrades fly away through the sky.

THE JOURNEY HOME

CHAPTER 30

After the Pinkies had been dismissed, their new Queen Rosalie, by means of a clever charm, conjured up a dinner table set with very nice things to eat.  They all enjoyed a hearty meal and afterward sat and talked over their adventures.

“Will you take the parrot home with you, Trot?” asked Cap’n Bill.

“Guess not, Cap’n,” she answered.  “Mother wouldn’t like to have him hangin’ ‘round an’ screechin’ bad po’try ev’ry minute.  I’ll give him to Rosalie, for I’m sure she’ll take good care of him.”

Rosalie accepted the gift with pleasure, but the parrot looked sober for a while and then said,

“This looks to me like a giveaway;
But here I am, and here I’ll stay. 
The country’s pink, but we’ll all be blue
When Trot goes home as she says she’ll do.”

They now packed the lunchbasket with the remains of the feast, for they knew a long journey was before them and feared they might be hungry before they landed again.  Cap’n Bill straightened out the ropes and adjusted the seats, while Button-Bright examined the umbrella to see if it had been injured in any way when the elephant tramped through the Fog Bank.