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64 Chit-Chat by Puck.
of the moon.’ Perhaps he will invite us to a
genuine cup of tea, such as they do not export,
and we might drink it out of real China cups.”
“Tsing, tsang! Great is our Emperor! The
mightiest of all Emperors! His mandates are
obeyed throughout the world!” Thus sung the
Chinese courtiers in chorus; but in reality the
Emperor was to be found a genteel prisoner in a
tower of Chinese porcelain, and had no more power
than any other Chinese doll.
“Well, I suppose we must be contented with
just the aroma of the Emperor’s tea,” Axel said,
and politely handed Anna a flower of the tea-plant.
“And now let us depart, for here everybody looks
askance at us,” Anna added; but her feminine fear
was without cause, for the Chinese are a good-
humoured race, and if they look askance at other
people, it is simply because their eyes happen to
have been placed obliquely.
“ Prosit,” Anna called out, for Axel sneezed from
the strong scent of the spices, as they arrived at
the East Indies. There stood arrayed long files of
elephants with gold-embroidered trappings, and they
all raised their trunks into the air and sounded
their own trumpets. It was a great festival, and
gold and precious gems glistened everywhere.
Hundreds of princes with their body-guards arrived,
and their weapons glittered with rubies, sapphires —
and emeralds. The gorgeous temples opened their
portals, and the Brahmin priests performed their
sacrifices. In the palm groves charming bajaderes
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