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the side. This time he landed beside a flat plate of sizzling hot cakes and bacon, and we cannot blame him
for stopping long enough to hack off a few slices of each with his sword. This, with several crumbs from
the giant biscuits, made an excellent breakfast, and stuffing a large piece of pan cake in his pocket for
lunch, the little boy jumped gaily off the sideboard. Thanks to the other ruby, he floated lightly as a
feather down to the floor and then began his long walk to the kitchen.
His clothes were still wet and dripping from the unexpected bath, but his spirits were high and
he was beginning to enjoy his strange experiences and to look forward with lively anticipation to his
meeting with the Hungry Tiger. A brisk fifteen-minute walk brought him to the kitchen door and, slipping
through, he saw the Big Wig servants seated at a large table. Their loud voices made his head thump, and
to bring their faces into view he had to lean so far over backwards, he soon had a severe pain in his
neck. But he was sure he would learn from them the whereabouts of little Elma and once he knew that,
finding the Hungry Tiger would be almost easy. Compared with the Giants, Reddy was about the size of
a small doll and none of the chattering Big Wigs noticed the little boy crouched behind the coal bucket.
After listening to a great deal of conversation that did not interest him at all, Reddy was finally rewarded
with the information he was seeking.
"Where's little Elma's tray?" wheezed a Big Wig maid, suddenly pushing back her chair.
"That girl grows lazier every day!"
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"There!" grunted the cook, pointing a pudgy finger toward the dresser. "And it's high time you
took it up to her, you ill-natured clod."
After exchanging a few more rude remarks, the maid picked up the tray and started toward a
back stairway. Frantically, Reddy began to run after her, risking discovery by the others in his anxiety to
keep her in view. But it was a hopeless race, and he had just given up in despair when the giantess came
hurrying back for the salt, which she had forgotten. Almost treading on the breathless little boy, she
snatched a salt shaker form the dresser and started off again, but this time, Reddy went with her.
The strings of the maid's apron reached almost to the floor, and with a mighty spring the little
Prince seized one of the fluttering ends and hung on for dear life. Unconscious of her passenger, the
Giantess briskly mounted the stair, Reddy swinging round and round at each step and hoping heartily that
the apron string would not come untied. After a very bumpy journey, the little boy found himself at the
top of the stair and next instant in the presence of the little Giant Princess herself.
She was seated in a chair in the largest play room you could ever imagine, and looked
extremely comical in her great white wig. Letting go the maid's apron string, Reddy dropped to the floor
and creeping behind a toy block, peered around in amazement. Dolls as big as himself were strewn about
the floor. Noah's Arks, toy barns, doll houses and castles as large as our own dwellings were ranged
along one side of the wall and here and there were stuffed and wooden animals of just the right size for
Reddy to ride. There was a toy train he longed to start and a wooden circus that made his heart thump
with excitement.
"I wish Betsy were here," thought the little Prince. "Couldn't we have fun? I wish she could see
these dolls!" Scarcely hearing the clatter of dishes on the tray, as the Princess greedily ate her breakfast,
Reddy's eyes roved enviously over the vast collection of toys. A sudden thump, as the little Giantess
jumped out of her chair, recalled him to the serious purpose of his visit. Princess Elma, with a saucer of
cream in her hands, was pattering toward him calling at the top of her voice:
"Here Kitty! Kitty! Kitty! Where are you Kitty dear?"
The thought of the Hungry Tiger as a little girl's kitten was so ridiculous that Reddy chuckled in
spite of himself, and when little Elma, after several unsuccessful attempts, dragged the tiger from beneath
a low sofa and began dipping his nose in the cream, Reddy laughed outright.
The Hungry Tiger was growling and snarling so ferociously and Elma filling the air with such
boisterous terms of endearment that neither of them heard. After a futile struggle with the Giantess, the
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tiger settled himself on the floor and began to lap up the cream, with an expression of unhappy and
hopeless resignation. Squatting on the floor beside him, the Princess continued to shower him with
vigorous caresses.
"Finish your breakfast, sweet," she cooed in a voice like a ferry-boat whistle, "then mother'll
take you for a nice little ride in the doll coach!"
Reddy hoped to have a few words with the Hungry Tiger, and began to creep cautiously
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