The Three Fat Men rubbed their hands in glee.
The secretaries pulled long quills from behind their long ears.
"Aha!" said the First Fat Man. "And where is the State Councillor?"
The Guard who was carrying the girl stepped forward and announced :
"His Excellency, the State Councillor, got a stomach-ache on the way." As he said this, his blue eyes sparkled merrily.
Everyone seemed satisfied by this explanation.
The Court began its session.
The Guard sat the poor child on a rough bench in front of the judges' table.
She sat there with her head hanging limply.
The First Fat Man began the questioning.
But they found they were up against unexpected trouble: Suok would not answer a single question.
"Who does she think she is!" the Second Fat Man bellowed. "All right then!
She'll be sorry.
If she refuses to answer, she has only herself to blame.
We'll think of a good torture for her!"
Suok did not even move.
The three Guards stood at attention like statues at her side.
"Call in the witnesses!" the Third Fat Man ordered.
There was only one witness.
He was brought in.
It was the old zoologist, the keeper of the Palace zoo.
He had spent the night hanging from a branch by his nightshirt.
He had just been taken down.
And that is how he appeared at the Palace: in his striped bathrobe, his nightshirt, and nightcap.
The tassel of his cap dragged along behind him like a snake.
At the sight of Suok sitting on the bench, the old man began to tremble with fright.
Court attendants supported him.
"Tell us exactly what happened."
The animal keeper began his story.
He said he had climbed the tree and had seen the doll of Tutti the Heir high up in the branches.
And since he had never seen a live doll before, and certainly had never expected dolls to climb trees in the middle of the night, he had fainted from fright.
"How did the doll free Prospero the Gunsmith?"
"I don't know.
I didn't see or hear anything.
I was unconscious at the time."
"Will you tell us how Prospero the Gunsmith escaped from the cage?"
Suok said nothing.
"Give her a good shaking."
"Good and hard!" the Three Fat Men said.
The blue-eyed Guard shook the girl.
Besides, he cuffed her ear.
Suok said nothing.
The Three Fat Men began to hiss from anger.
The coloured wigs in the room wagged back and forth reproachfully.
"I see we'll get nowhere this way," the First Fat Man said.
At these words the animal keeper clapped his hand to his forehead.
"I know what to do!" he cried.
Everyone sat up in their seats.
"There's a cage of parrots in the zoo.
There are very rare parrots in that cage.