ed that only Yes would be of any use to him as a
servant.

Whenever the King asked No to bring him anything, it would get
thrown away, broken, or eaten, without exception. The King was quite
sure that No was the worst servant in the entire world.

The brothers' most important task was to help pick the food for a
grand party that the King was throwing later that night. Cooks from
all over the kingdom lined up at the castle's gate to offer the King
their food for the party. Of course, the King could not go and grab
the food himself, so he asked Yes and No to do it for him.

The first cook came up the gate and yelled to the Gatekeeper, "I
bring my delicious ugberry pie for the King's banquet!" The King
heard this and thought that ugberry pie would be perfect for such an
event (and he knew that he would love to eat the leftovers). Because
he didn't want anything to happen to the ugberry pie, the King
yelled "Yes!" and then asked him to go fetch it.

The next cook stepped up to the gate. "I offer the King grukie
soup!" he said. The King didn't like grukie soup very much and he
knew just how to get rid of it. "No!" he yelled and then sent No out
to retrieve the soup. No dropped the soup before the King could even
smell it.

This went on for hours. If the king liked a dish, he would yell
"Yes!" and it would be included in the night's feast. If he did not,
everyone would hear a loud "NO!" and the dish would be destroyed
moments later by a servant with a very bad attitude.

Pretty soon this started catching on around the kingdom, for if a
King does something, his loyal subjects are never far behind. If the
villagers didn't want a second scoop of potatoes, they would say
"No." And if they liked what someone was offering, they would say,
"Yes." And ever since that day in a small village in a small
kingdom, Yes has meant yes, and No has meant no.

This small kingdom also happened to be the birthplace of Yes and
No's cousins, Please and Thanks, but that is another story for
another time...

XXXII

THE THREE BROTHERS OF MALADIME

From the Valley of Lingus to the River Waduckus,
To the mystical Mountains of Huckus Amuckus,
From the Shores of Madiddy to the Applestone Sea,
No tale's as famous as the Troll Brothers Three.

Their small little hut was in Old Maladime.
Their tempers were short and they fought all the time.
One day their Mother had seen more than enough.
She packed up her Hackeling bag with her stuf