"
"But HE didn't have anything to do with it,"
said the Doctor. "It was the King, his father,
who had us locked up--it wasn't Bumpo's fault.
...I wonder if I ought to go back and apologize--
Oh, well--I'll send him some candy
when I get to Puddleby. And who knows?--
he may stay white after all."
"The Sleeping Beauty would never have him,
even if he did," said Dab-Dab. "He looked
better the way he was, I thought. But he'd
never be anything but ugly, no matter what
color he was made."
"Still, he had a good heart," said the Doctor
--"romantic, of course--but a good heart.
After all, `handsome is as handsome does.'"
"I don't believe the poor booby found The
Sleeping Beauty at all," said Jip, the dog.
"Most likely he kissed some farmer's fat wife
who was taking a snooze under an apple-tree.
Can't blame her for getting scared! I wonder
who he'll go and kiss this time. Silly business!"
Then the pushmi-pullyu, the white mouse,
Gub-Gub, Dab-Dab, Jip and the owl, Too-Too,
went on to the ship with the Doctor. But Chee-
Chee, Polynesia and the crocodile stayed behind,
because Africa was their proper home, the land
where they were born.
And when the Doctor stood upon the boat, he
looked over the side across the water. And then
he remembered that they had no one with them
to guide them back to Puddleby.
The wide, wide sea looked terribly big and
lonesome in the moonlight; and he began to
wonder if they would lose their way when they
passed out of sight of land.
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