But the stout soldier was so
sworn an enemy to any Government Fruit, and so decided an admirer of the
least delightful, that the people, having no desire of being forced to
cat crab-apples, only longed for more delicious food in silence.
At length the stout soldier died, and on the night of his death the
sword which had so long supported the pretended Government snapped in
twain. No arrangement existed for carrying on the administration of
affairs. The master-mind was gone, without having imported the secret
of conversing with the golden head to any successor. The people
assembled in agitated crowds. Each knew his neighbour's thoughts
without their being declared. All smacked their lips, and a cry for
pine-apples rent the skies.
At this moment the Aboriginal Inhabitant appeared, and announced that in
examining the old Hall of Audience, which had been long locked up, he
had discovered in a corner, where they had been flung by the stout
soldier when he stole away the head, the remaining portions of the
Statue; that they were quite uninjured, and that on fixing the head once
more upon them, and winding up the works, he was delighted to find that
this great work of his ancestor, under whose superintendence the nation
had so flourished, resumed all its ancient functions.
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