What have we got an interpreter for, if you break out in this rash
way?"
"All right, I'll wait," replied the Pumpkinhead, in a surly tone -- although
his face smiled as genially as ever. "Translate the speech, young woman."
"His Majesty inquires if you are hungry, said Jellia.
"Oh, not at all!" answered Jack, more pleasantly, "for it is impossible for
me to eat."
"It's the same way with me," remarked the Scarecrow. "What did he say,
Jellia, my dear?"
79
"He asked if you were aware that one of your eyes is painted larger than the
other," said the girl, mischievously.
"Don't you believe her, your Majesty, cried Jack.
"Oh, I don't," answered the Scarecrow, calmly. Then, casting a sharp look at
the girl, he asked:
"Are you quite certain you understand the languages of both the Gillikins
and the Munchkins?"
"Quite certain, your Majesty," said Jellia Jamb, trying hard not to laugh in
the face of royalty.
"Then how is it that I seem to understand them myself?" inquired the
Scarecrow.
"Because they are one and the same!" declared the girl, now laughing
merrily. "Does not your Majesty know that in all the land of Oz but one
language is spoken?"
"Is it indeed so?" cried the Scarecrow, much relieved to hear this; "then I
might easily have been my own interpreter!"
"It was all my fault, your Majesty," said Jack, looking rather foolish," I
thought we must surely speak different languages, since we came from
different countries.
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