“Then go ahead, you absurd feathered fool!” grumbled the King, and he caused the opening that led to the palace to appear once more.

“Don’t go, Billina,” said Dorothy, earnestly.  “It isn’t easy to guess those orn’ments, and only luck saved me from being one myself.  Stay with me and we’ll go back to the Land of Ev together.  I’m sure this little Prince will give us a home.”

“Indeed I will,” said Evring, with much dignity.

“Don’t worry, my dear,” cried Billina, with a cluck that was meant for a laugh.  “I may not be human, but I’m no fool, if I am a chicken.”

“Oh, Billina!” said Dorothy, “you haven’t been a chicken in a long time.  Not since you—­you’ve been—­grown up.”

“Perhaps that’s true,” answered Billina, thoughtfully.  “But if a Kansas farmer sold me to some one, what would he call me?—­a hen or a chicken!”

“You are not a Kansas farmer, Billina,” replied the girl, “and you said—­”

“Never mind that, Dorothy.  I’m going.  I won’t say good-bye, because I’m coming back.  Keep up your courage, for I’ll see you a little later.”

Then Billina gave several loud “cluck-clucks” that seemed to make the fat little King more nervous than ever, and marched through the entrance into the enchanted palace.

“I hope I’ve seen the last of that bird,” declared the monarch, seating himself again in his throne and mopping the perspiration from his forehead with his rock-colored handkerchief.  “Hens are bothersome enough at their best, but when they can talk they’re simply dreadful.”

“Billina’s my friend,” said Dorothy quietly.  “She may not always be ’zactly polite; but she means well, I’m sure.”

16.  Purple, Green, and Gold

The yellow hen, stepping high and with an air of vast importance, walked slowly over the rich velvet carpets of the splendid palace, examining everything she met with her sharp little eyes.

Billina had a right to feel important; for she alone shared the Nome King’s secret and knew how to tell the objects that were transformations from those that had never been alive.  She was very sure that her guesses would be correct, but before she began to make them she was curious to behold all the magnificence of this underground palace, which was perhaps one of the most splendid and beautiful places in any fairyland.

As she went through the rooms she counted the purple ornaments; and although some were small and hidden in queer places, Billina spied them all, and found the entire ten scattered about the various rooms.  The green ornaments she did not bother to count, for she thought she could find them all when the time came.

Finally, having made a survey of the entire palace and enjoyed its splendor, the yellow hen returned to one of the rooms where she had noticed a large purple footstool.  She placed a claw upon this and said “Ev,” and at once the footstool vanished and a lovely lady, tall and slender and most beautifully robed, stood before her.