The soldiers all laughed at this question, but the King did not reply.  Just then a door in the palace opened and out trooped a group of girls.  There were six of them, all gorgeously dressed in silken gowns with many puffs and tucks and ruffles and flounces and laces and ribbons, everything being in some shade of blue, grading from light blue to deep blue.  Their blue hair was elaborately dressed and came to a point at the top of their heads.  The girls approached in a line along the garden path, all walking with mincing steps and holding their chins high.  Their skirts prevented their long legs from appearing as grotesque as did those of the men, but their necks were so thin and long that the ruffles around them only made them seem the more absurd.

“Ah,” said the King with a frown, “here come the Six Snubnosed Princesses, the most beautiful and aristocratic ladies in Sky Island.”

“They’re snubnosed, all right,” observed Trot, looking at the girls with much interest, “but I should think it would make ’em mad to call ’em that.”

“Why?” asked the Boolooroo in surprise.  “Is not a snub nose the highest mark of female beauty?”

“Is it?” asked the girl.

“Most certainly.  In this favored island, which is the Center of the Universe, a snub nose is an evidence of high breeding which any lady would be proud to possess.”

The Six Snubnosed Princesses now approached the fountain and stood in a row, staring with haughty looks at the strangers.

“Goodness me, your Majesty!” exclaimed the first.  “What queer, dreadful-looking creatures are these?  Where in all the Sky did they come from?”

“They say they came from the Earth, Cerulia,” answered the Boolooroo.

“But that is impossible,” said another Princess.  “Our scientists have proved that the Earth is not inhabited.”

“Your scientists’ll have to guess again, then,” said Trot.

“But how did they get to Sky Island?” inquired the third snubnosed one.

“By means of a Magic Umbrella, which I have captured and put away in my Treasure Chamber,” replied the Boolooroo.

“What will you do with the monsters, papa?” asked the fourth Princess.

“I haven’t decided yet,” said the Boolooroo.  “They’re curiosities, you see, and may serve to amuse us.  But as they’re only half civilized, I shall make them my slaves.”

“What are they good for?  Can they do anything useful?” asked the fifth.

“We’ll see,” returned the King impatiently.  “I can’t decide in a hurry.  Give me time, Azure, give me time.  If there’s anything I hate, it’s a hurry.”

“I’ve an idea, your Majesty,” announced the sixth Snubnosed Princess, whose complexion was rather darker than that of her sisters, “and it has come to me quite deliberately, without any hurry at all.  Let us take the little girl to be our maid—­to wait upon us and amuse us when we’re dull.  All the other ladies of the court will be wild with envy, and if the child doesn’t prove of use to us, we can keep her for a living pincushion.”