[Illustration: Elephant, drinking chocolate milk.]
"But she's a little girl!" said the bird. "She's a child! Children
should be allowed to enjoy their childhoods. This kid should learn to
play jacks or skip a rope. She should have some nice paper dolls to
dress up. She should have nice toys. She is too young to be a Queen. Let
her live a happy life for a while before you go throwing all that
responsibility on her. She's only a baby, for crying out loud!"
"She is a cute little thing, though," Elephant remarked, half to
himself.
"Cute?" Tweaty demanded in surprise. "That is hardly a reason to elect
someone leader. Especially over such a vast country as Oz. Maybe if Oz
were a little dinky insignificant country like America or Kansas, it
would be okay. But Oz is so much bigger than those places. Elephant,
don't you think that adorable infant deserves a childhood to enjoy
before getting schlepped into Queenhood unprepared?"
Before Elephant could reply, an unexpected occurrence drove all idle
thoughts from his mind. It all happened in an instant.
From the ends of the earth to the top of the sky, an unearthly roar
issued forth. It was as blood-curdling as a scream, yet as sinister as a
red dragon's growl.
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