The balloon man, or, rather, the cake, was set on a table.
Then the balloon man opened his eyes.
And he saw the Three Fat Men.
They were so fat, his mouth fell open.
"I'd better close it right away," he said to himself. "I think I'd better not show any signs of life."
But, alas, his mouth would not shut.
This lasted for two whole minutes.
Then the balloon man's surprise lessened.
With some effort he finally got his mouth closed.
But then his eyes popped wide open.
So he went on closing his mouth and eyes in turn for some while until he was able to overcome his surprise.
The Three Fat Men sat in the place of honour, on a platform above everyone else in the hall.
They were eating much more than anyone else.
One of them even began to chew his napkin.
"You're eating your napkin...."
"Am I really?
I didn't notice."
He put down his napkin and immediately began to chew the Third Fat Man's ear.
By the way, it did look like a dumpling.
Everyone laughed.
"This is no time for joking," the Second Fat Man said, raising his fork. "Things look serious.
They've just brought in the cake."
"Hooray!"
Everyone seemed very excited.
"What'll they do? Oh, what'll they do?" the balloon man thought in despair.
"They'll eat me!"
The clock struck two.
"The executions on Court Square will begin in an hour," the First Fat Man said.
"They'll hang Prospero the Gunsmith first, won't they?" one of the honoured guests asked.
"He won't be executed today," the State Councillor replied.
"Why?
Why not?"
"We want him alive for a while.
We want him to tell us the rebels' plans and the names of the leaders."
"Where is he now?"
Everyone was terribly interested in the conversation.
They even forgot about the cake.
"He's still in the iron cage.
It's here in the Palace zoo of Tutti the Heir."
"Let's see him!"
"Bring him in!" the First Fat Man ordered. "I want our guests to have a good look at the wretch.
I would gladly invite you all to the zoo, but there's too much noise, what with the roaring and screeching. And then, it smells bad.
It's much worse than the clinking of glasses and the sweet aroma of fruit."
"Certainly!
Why of course!
There's no sense in going to the zoo."
"Tell them to bring Prospero here.
We can look at the monster as we eat our cake."
"Oh dear, they're talking about the cake again!" the balloon man shivered.
"Gluttons, that's all they can think of!"