Magica

Chapter 3

A Great Celebration

So the soldier returned to the visitors and said, “The king is pleased to have you in his palace. He desires to see you right away, if you don’t mind.”

And thus the visitors followed the soldier to the room where the king sat on the most splendid throne in the whole world. Then they all bowed before his majesty, King Friendly of Magica City.

His real name is ‘the Friendly Statue,’ but it was shortened to ‘Friendly,’ or ‘King Friendly.’ Although he was a statue, he was still dressed in golden garments. He looked so attractive that the other statue did not recognize him at first.

“Welcome, my friends!” began the king.

Then he shook hands with the Good Statue, whom he recognized at once. Next, the statue introduced him to Rose, whom he was pleased to meet.

“Please sit and share your stories with me,” said King Friendly.

So the Good Statue told him his story. Then Rose spoke on her behalf and her horse.

“Now tell us your story,” smiled the Good Statue at the king.

And the king began thus: “Well the same night the girl had kissed you, I was also kissed by the young man who had me in his room. Then I was able to transport myself back to this world. Suddenly I discovered that the young man had also been transported. His name was George. As we were walking together, we found the girl who had you in her room. Her name is Natasha. George and Natasha were best friends. So we began searching for Magica City, because we had heard of a magician who could grant all of our wishes. We met two nice creatures in our way. They were Caty the cat, and Don the donkey.” And he told them the rest of his journey with his friends to Magica City.

After a little while, King Friendly said in a sad voice, “Well the same magician who had granted our wishes is lost. Two days ago, I sent two of my servants to see how he was doing. But when they had reached his house, the house was empty. Even his magical tools were not there. So we realized that something bad has happened. But now I feel happy that you’ve come to visit us.”

Then he pointed at the Good Statue and asked, “So where will you go after you’re done visiting me?” “Do you have a house?”

“I’m not sure, your majesty,” was the response. “And I don’t have a house either.”

“You don’t have to call me ‘your majesty,’” laughed the king. “I treat everyone as friends in this city. But why don’t you stay with me in my palace? I would be very glad to have you with me.”

“Thank you for the generous offering,” replied the Good Statue. “And I’m willing to live in Magica City.”

Next, the king pointed at Rose and asked, “I’ve heard that you’ve returned to live in Magica City again. Is that right?”

“Yes, sir,” replied the sweet girl.

“And you don’t have to call me ‘sir’ either,” laughed the king. “But do you remember where you lived before you left this city?”

“I don’t remember,” replied Rose excitedly. “But maybe our house is still alive!”

“Well then you must search for it,” commented King Friendly. “Magica City is quite a large city, you know. But I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”

“Is there a book that has the name of every person who has ever lived in Magica City?” was the Good Statue’s question.

“There is!” replied the king excitedly.

Then he told one of his servants to go and fetch the ‘Book Of Magica City.’

Now the book of Magica City was the smallest book that you could ever think of. It had only three pages. The first page was empty. But the second page had buttons painted on it. You could write using these buttons. The answers would appear on the third page. This book contained information about every building that existed in Magica City.

So the king looked in the book for Rose. Of course there were many girls named Rose in Magica City. Rose did not even remember her last name, which made the search even harder.

“Ask the book to tell you about a girl named Rose who was living in Magica City four years ago,” suggested Rose.

At last, the king found the house that he was looking for. He explained to Rose, “Your house now belongs to Mr. Arthur and his wife, Mrs. Maria.”

“That’s where I’m staying now!” she exclaimed joyfully. “Mr. Arthur and his wife are very kind to us!”

“Why don’t you live in the palace?” asked the king.

“I can’t,” replied the little girl. “The house belongs to me and my family. So I’ll live in it. But Mr. Arthur and his wife will stay there. So we’ll live together.”

“Well the house is not very far from the palace anyways,” stated the king. “So you could visit me every day if you like.”

“For sure!” she smiled sweetly, for she had began to like him.

“O I forgot that Caty the cat and Don the donkey are here in my palace!” exclaimed the king after a little while.

So he told one of his servants to bring the two friends to meet his new friends.

“I thought that the cat had her own invisible house,” said the Good Statue. “So why is she here?”

King Friendly replied, “Well she came when she heard about the loss of the good magician.”

“What about the donkey?” asked Rose.

“He has remained with me ever since I came to Magica City,” was the response.

So Caty and Don came into the throne room, and the king introduced them to Rose and her companions. Both parties were glad to meet one another.

“We’re going to have a great celebration that will last for a whole week,” the king told everyone. “My new friends deserve it.”

After that, the king said to the Good Statue, “Your name shall be ‘Mr. Good.’”

“Thank you very much, your majesty,” replied the statue. “I like my new name.”

Meanwhile Don the good donkey and Rose’s horse had become best friends. They stayed together as much as possible. They were different from one another because one was a regular horse, while the other one was a wooden donkey. But what made them like one another was the fact that both of them could talk.

Rose and Caty the cat had also become best friends. Rose treated the cat like her daughter, which Caty enjoyed very much. Both of them did not have parents, after all.

The king decided to show his new visitors his splendid palace. So they spent the whole evening exploring The marvelous palace of Magica City.

The palace had hundreds of rooms. But most of them were empty, because there were not too many people living in the palace. These rooms were preserved for visitors. Some of them housed important material that belonged to the palace and Magica City.

On the last floor of the palace was a huge and magnificent hall. This enormous hall was used for important events. When the king would give an important speech, everyone would be able to see him.

King Friendly had many servants. However, he did not call them ‘servants,’ but ‘helpers.’ He treated them like friends. That’s why they liked him very much.

After that, King Friendly took his visitors to the huge hall, which was called the ‘Celebration chamber.’ Most of the people who lived in the palace were also present when the visitors came in.

The king’s helpers had prepared many kinds of food including fried birds, chickens, other kinds of fried meat and various kinds of barbecue. So there was more fried and barbecue meat that you could imagine.

But before the food was ready, King Friendly made a little speech to everyone who was living in the palace. He began: “Ladies and gentlemen! I’m honoured to present to you my best friend Mr. Good and Rose and her donkey! Mr. Good was the other statue that I was looking for. We were both thrown into the other world by the evil Prince of Darkness. And we were both rescued by George and Natasha, two friends from Canada.” And he told them the rest of the story, which you know already.

In the huge hall was the most   magnificent table that the visitors had ever seen. This table was used only by the king and important officials. But now, the king was sitting with Rose and Mr. Good. Each one of them was sitting on a magnificent throne. They could not believe how kind the king was.

The donkey and the horse were also near the table. They were chatting with one another. The horse said, “For four years, I’ve only eaten kuls. They taste wonderful, but after a little while you get tired eating only one kind of food.”

“I was once like you,” replied the donkey. “I ate, drank, slept, got sick and tired. But when I came to this city, I asked the great magician, Mr. Wishman to change me into a wooden donkey. So now, I like my life even more. I don’t eat, nor drink, nor sleep, etc.”

While they were waiting for the food to be brought in, Mr. Good said to the king, “When George had kissed you, you were able to speak and move again. But your magical powers had not been restored to you yet. So how were you able to transport yourself back to this world?”

“I’ve never thought about this question,” replied the king in a puzzled tone. “Even you were enchanted, and you were also able to transport yourself back to this country. How did that happen?”

“So we have two mysteries that need to be solved now,” chuckled the Good Statue.

“It’s actually one mystery,” the king told him. “We were both enchanted by the same magician. So the same reason why I was able to transport myself back to this country applies to you as well.”

“What kind of magic can you perform?” asked Rose interestedly.

“Nothing,” laughed the king. “My magic only works in Statueland, where I came from. However, because I don’t need it here, I don’t worry about it. But if I use any magical object, it would still work, because we’re in Magica!”

Suddenly, dishes and cups were flying over the table. Then they sat in front of the people. More dishes and cups were coming and settling on other tables.

“I don’t eat,” laughed the king.

“Neither do I,” added Mr. Good, because they were both statues.

“Then what should I do with all this food?” asked Rose, for the food was too much for her.

“Eat as much as you like, and let the horse eat as much as he likes,” responded King Friendly.