In an instant, every vestige of the vine vanished throughout all the
palace grounds; and in the morning the people all over the country
shouted for joy and cried with one voice: "Let us all go up to the
coronation, for to-day we have a new king who has delivered us from
the horrible vine."
And on they came, in hordes, till the capital was full and the country
about the palace was one vast camp, while throughout the kingdom not a
trace of the vine was to be seen.
Then the nobles and prelates prepared for the coronation. It was
magnificent. They girt Jim with the sword of state, clothed him in the
imperial robes, placed the scepter in his hand, and, as the golden
crown descended upon his head, all the people shouted:
"Hail, King Nimblejimble, our deliverer! Long live the king!"
[Illustration: MAKING AN ENTRANCE FOR THE KING THROUGH THE MELON IN
FRONT OF THE PALACE GATE.]
And the silly boy was happy.
Meanwhile, the poor, faithful old king, who cheerfully had given up
all for his people, was hammering and stitching and digging away on
Jim's cobbler-bench off in the village; and Jim's mother, whom the
naughty boy, in his strange elevation, had forgotten all about,
tenderly cared for the humbled old monarch.
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