ently, for she
was moved by the monster's grief.
"It is unjust! It is cruel and unjust!" sobbed the creature
mournfully. "Just because we have several long arms and take
whatever we can reach, they accuse us of being like--like--oh, I
cannot say it! It is too shameful, too humiliating."
"Come, let's go," said Trot again. So they left the poor octopus
weeping and wiping his watery eyes with his handkerchief and swam on
their way. "I'm not a bit sorry for him," remarked the child, "for
his legs remind me of serpents."
"So they do me," agreed Cap'n Bill.
"But the octopi are not very bad," said the Princess, "and we get
along with them much better than we do with their cousins, the sea
devils."
"Oh. Are the sea devils their cousins?" asked Trot.
"Yes, and they are the only creatures of the ocean which we greatly
fear," replied Aquareine. "I hope we shall meet none today, for we
are going near to the dismal caverns where they live."
"What are the sea devils like, ma'am?" inquired Cap'n Bill a little
uneasily.
"Something like the octopus you just saw, only much larger and of a
bright scarlet color, striped with black," answered the Queen. "They
are very fierce and terrible creatures and nearly as much dreaded by
the inhabitants of the ocean as is Zog, and nearly as powerful as
King Anko himself."
"Zog! Who is Zog?" questioned the girl. "I haven't heard of him
before now."
"We do not like to mention Zog's name," responded the Queen in a low
voice. "He is the wicked genius of the sea, and a magician of great
power."
"What's he like?" asked Cap'n Bill.
"He is a dreadful creature, part fish, part man, part beast and part
serpent. Centuries ago they cast him off the earth into the sea,
where he has caused much trouble. Once he waged a terrible war
against King Anko, but the sea serpent finally conquered Zog and
drove the magician into his castle, where he now stays shut up. For
if ever Anko catches the monster outside of his enchanted castle, he
will kill him, and Zog knows that very well."
"Seems like you have your troubles down here just as we do on top
the ground," remarked Cap'n Bill.
"But I'm glad old Zog is shut up in his castle," added Trot. "Is it
a sea castle like your own palace?"
"I cannot say, my dear, for the enchantment makes it invisible to
all eyes but those of its inhabitants," replied Aquareine. "No one
sees Zog now, and we scarcely ever hear of him, but all the sea
people kn
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