. The adventures of Peter Peterkin . t. They were finer even than theKings own teeth. They were my constant pride, my dear-est joy! With them I could eat all the rarest things of thekitchen. I could chew tin pans and pots; I could crumplepewter kettles; I could crunch thick venison steaks and thehorns of a full grown cow. My teeth were my greatestpower—and my joy! But all the while my heart was black against my royalcousin. I coveted his crown, I longed for his scepter. Myjealousy grew until I could hide it no longer. I made ajourney into a far distant forest, where a famous witch livedin her
. The adventures of Peter Peterkin . t. They were finer even than theKings own teeth. They were my constant pride, my dear-est joy! With them I could eat all the rarest things of thekitchen. I could chew tin pans and pots; I could crumplepewter kettles; I could crunch thick venison steaks and thehorns of a full grown cow. My teeth were my greatestpower—and my joy! But all the while my heart was black against my royalcousin. I coveted his crown, I longed for his scepter. Myjealousy grew until I could hide it no longer. I made ajourney into a far distant forest, where a famous witch livedin her cave. And there I dwelt for many months, learningall her wicked magic. She taught me how to curse wholevalleys of people—how to bring sorrow to hundreds. Butalas! she could not teach me how to kill my royal cousin. *When shall I be King? I asked her each morning. And every eve, after a day of pondering over her cal- ii8 THE ADVENTURES OF PETERKIN dron, she would answer: When you have learned to killman with the joy of your Then at last I understood. What could possibly be thejoy of my life excepting these, my beautiful teeth? I mustreturn and bite my royal cousin to death! THE VILLAIiNS STORY 119 I hurried back to the Four Kingdoms. I met the Kingin his gilded dining hall. Before his host of cowardlycourtiers, I threw myself upon him and sought to bury myteeth into his breast. *But ah, under his velvet robes, he was wearing a coat ofstrong steel links. My teeth crunched against them—andcould go no further. I fell back dismayed. A hundredmen—courtiers and guards—were upon me, pinning me tothe marble floor. Take him away! cried the King, my enemy. *Takehim away, and pull out all his teeth! And one by one, in the dark dungeon, they pulled outof my gums the joy of my life—my white, my sharp, my glis-tening teeth. Think of it! Think of the pain, of the deepshame! But I swore a deep revenge, and when I was banished,I went to live as a simple farmer in that neighbor
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