eft until the whitewash was rubbed on the wall, after which they
dipped these funny brushes in the pail again and repeated the
performance.

"That must be fun," said Button-Bright.

"No, it's work," replied the old donkey; "but we make our youngsters do
all the whitewashing, to keep them out of mischief."

"Don't they go to school?" asked Dorothy.

"All donkeys are born wise," was the reply, "so the only school we need
is the school of experience. Books are only for those who know
nothing, and so are obliged to learn things from other people."

"In other words, the more stupid one is, the more he thinks he knows,"
observed the shaggy man. The grey donkey paid no attention to this
speech because he had just stopped before a house which had painted
over the doorway a pair of hoofs, with a donkey tail between them and a
rude crown and sceptre above.

"I'll see if his magnificent Majesty King Kik-a-bray is at home," said
he. He lifted his head and called "Whee-haw! whee-haw! whee-haw!"
three times, in a shocking voice, turning about and kicking with his
heels against the panel of the door. For a time there was no reply;
then the door opened far enough to permit a donkey's head to stick out
and look at them.

It was a white head, with big, awful ears and round, solemn eyes.

"Have the foxes gone?" it asked, in a trembling voice.

"They haven't been here, most stupendous Majesty," replied the grey
one. "The new arrivals prove to be travelers of distinction."

"Oh," said the King, in a relieved tone of voice. "Let them come in."

He opened the door wide, and the party marched into a big room, which,
Dorothy thought, looked quite unlike a king's palace. There were mats
of woven grasses on the floor and the place was clean and neat; but his
Majesty had no other furniture at all--perhaps because he didn't need
it. He squatted down in the center of the room and a little brown
donkey ran and brought a big gold crown which it placed on the
monarch's head, and a golden staff with a jeweled ball at the end of
it, which the King held between his front hoofs as he sat upright.

"Now then," said his Majesty, waving his long ears gently to and fro,
"tell me why you are here, and what you expect me to do for you." He
eyed Button-Bright rather sharply, as if afraid of the little boy's
queer head, though it was the shaggy man who undertook to reply.

"Most noble and supreme ruler of Dunkiton," he said, trying not to
l