ty,
however, and to the gulls who approach it from the sea it must resemble
a huge green wedge lying upon the waters, for its grass and trees give
it the color of an emerald.

The grass came to the edge of the sloping shores; the beautiful trees
occupied all the central portion of Pingaree, forming a continuous grove
where the branches met high overhead and there was just space beneath
them for the cosy houses of the inhabitants. These houses were scattered
everywhere throughout the island, so that there was no town or city,
unless the whole island might be called a city. The canopy of leaves,
high overhead, formed a shelter from sun and rain, and the dwellers in
the grove could all look past the straight tree-trunks and across the
grassy slopes to the purple waters of the Nonestic Ocean.

At the big end of the island, at the north, stood the royal palace of
King Kitticut, the lord and ruler of Pingaree. It was a beautiful
palace, built entirely of snow-white marble and capped by domes of
burnished gold, for the King was exceedingly wealthy. All along the
coast of Pingaree were found the largest and finest pearls in the whole
world.

These pearls grew within the shells of big oysters, and the people raked
the oysters from their watery beds, sought out the milky pearls and
carried them dutifully to their King. Therefore, once every year His
Majesty was able to send six of his boats, with sixty rowers and many
sacks of the valuable pearls, to the Kingdom of Rinkitink, where there
was a city called Gilgad, in which King Rinkitink's palace stood on a
rocky headland and served, with its high towers, as a lighthouse to
guide sailors to the harbor. In Gilgad the pearls from Pingaree were
purchased by the King's treasurer, and the boats went back to the island
laden with stores of rich merchandise and such supplies of food as the
people and the royal family of Pingaree needed.

The Pingaree people never visited any other land but that of Rinkitink,
and so there were few other lands that knew there was such an island.
To the southwest was an island called the Isle of Phreex, where the
inhabitants had no use for pearls. And far north of Pingaree--six days'
journey by boat, it was said--were twin islands named Regos and Coregos,
inhabited by a fierce and warlike people.

Many years before this story really begins, ten big boatloads of those
fierce warriors of Regos and Coregos visited Pingaree, landing suddenly
upon the nort