Laura!" he called in a high-pitched voice. "You have to be gentle with her.
Laura!
Laura!
Here, Laura!"
The Guards guffawed.
The little old man in the coloured bathrobe and slippers, with his head tilted back and the tassel of his nightcap hanging to the ground looked very funny there among the huge Guards, the burning torches and the howling animals.
But the funniest part was yet to come.
The animal keeper began to climb the tree.
And he climbed rather well, too. They could see it was not the first time he had done it.
One, two, three!
His legs flashed among the leaves until he finally reached the end of his short but dangerous journey.
"Laura!" he cooed. And suddenly his startled screech pierced the air.
It could be heard throughout the park and over the countryside for a mile around.
"It's the devil!" he screeched.
There seemed to be some sort of monster sitting in the tree, and not a parrot at all.
The Guards sprang back.
The animal keeper came flying down.
Luckily, a short, stout branch broke his fall: and there he hung, suspended by his nightshirt.
Oh, if only the other scientists could see their old friend now! What a sight he was! They would surely have turned their heads away to spare his feelings!
He looked so silly and undignified as he hung there in mid-air.
The Guards fled.
The flames of their torches were streaked by the wind.
In the darkness it looked as if black horses with flaming manes were galloping down the road.
The animals finally calmed down.
The zoo keeper hung quietly from his branch.
But things were in an uproar at the Palace.
Some fifteen minutes before the strange parrot was found in the tree, the Three Fat Men had received a very bad piece of news. This is what the ministers had told the Three Fat Men:
"There's trouble in town.
The workers have pistols and guns.
They're shooting at the Guards and throwing all the fat people into the river.
"Tibul the Acrobat is free. He's forming the people of the outskirts into the army.
"Many of the Guards have gone into the workers' quarters, because they don't want to serve the Three Fat Men any more.
"There's no smoke coming from the factory chimneys.
All the machines are idle.
The miners refuse to go down into the pits to mine coal for the rich.
"The peasants are fighting the landlords."
Yes, this is what the ministers had told the Three Fat Men.
As usual, the Three Fat Men began getting fatter from trying to think.
Right there and then, in front of the entire State Council, they each gained a pound.
"This is too much!" The First Fat Man croaked.
"I can't stand it.
Oh! Ah!
My shirt is too tight!"
At that his collar burst open.
"I'm getting fatter!" the Second Fat Man howled. "Help!"
While the Third Fat Man looked glumly at his stomach.
The State Council had to decide what to do. First of all, something had to be found that would stop the Three Fat Men from getting fatter. Then, the revolt in town had to be put down.
This is what they decided to do about keeping down the Three Fat Men's weight:
"Dancing!"
"Why, of course!