At once she made the announcement, telling the assembled
Pinkies that by virtue of her high office as Queen
of Sky Island she would leave Rosalie the Witch to
rule over the Pink Country while she returned to the
Earth with her friends. As Rosalie was greatly
loved and respected, the people joyfully accepted
her as their Queen, and Trot ordered them to tear
down the old hut and build a new palace for Rosalie—one
which would be just as good as any other house in
the City, but no better. She further ordered a
pink statue of Tourmaline to be set up in the Court,
and also a pink statue of herself, so that the record
of all the rulers of the Pinkies should be complete.
The people agreed to do all this as soon as possible,
and some of the leaders whispered together and then
asked Coralie to be their spokesman in replying to
Queen Trot’s speech.
Coralie stood on a chair and made a bow, after which
she thanked Trot in the name of the Pinkies for leading
them safely into the Blue Country and out again, and
for giving them so good a Queen as Rosalie. The
Pinkies would be sorry to have their new friends, the
Earth people, leave them, but asked the Queen of Sky
Island to carry with her the royal band of pink gold
which she now wore upon her brow, together with the
glistening pink jewel set in its center. It would
remind her, Coralie declared, of the Beautiful Land
of Sunset and Sunrise and of the fact that the Pinkies
would always be glad to welcome her back.
Trot knew she would never return to Sky Island, but
she did not tell them that. She merely thanked
Coralie and the Pinkies and said they might all come
to the Court after dinner and see her and her comrades
fly away through the sky.
After the Pinkies had been dismissed, their new Queen
Rosalie, by means of a clever charm, conjured up a
dinner table set with very nice things to eat.
They all enjoyed a hearty meal and afterward sat and
talked over their adventures.
“Will you take the parrot home with you, Trot?”
asked Cap’n Bill.
“Guess not, Cap’n,” she answered.
“Mother wouldn’t like to have him hangin’
‘round an’ screechin’ bad po’try
ev’ry minute. I’ll give him to Rosalie,
for I’m sure she’ll take good care of him.”
Rosalie accepted the gift with pleasure, but the parrot
looked sober for a while and then said,
“This looks to me like a giveaway;
But here I am, and here I’ll stay.
The country’s pink, but we’ll all be blue
When Trot goes home as she says she’ll do.”
They now packed the lunchbasket with the remains of
the feast, for they knew a long journey was before
them and feared they might be hungry before they landed
again. Cap’n Bill straightened out the
ropes and adjusted the seats, while Button-Bright examined
the umbrella to see if it had been injured in any
way when the elephant tramped through the Fog Bank.
