Tianwen·Magweth Pengolodh

.So the jugglers did some slapstick after the ceremony to distract Ossie and make him laugh instead of rage. "

This time, Pengolod could see.The leader of the buffoons rolled into the empty space in the middle of the table.To say that he is "rolling" is hardly a metaphor, because he has a big belly, and his hands and feet are very small against the fat limbs.His black beard hung over a smock of an astonishingly noble color—purple all over him; and on his head he wore a tattered pewter crown, beneath which lay a tangle of flat black hair.

As he strode about, he bellowed: "Good people, where is the ship? I say, where is the ship? The Pocket King has something for her! The real Crown Prince has poured gold and silver over the bow of the ship, And managed to get a virgin to hang on a branch—it's not easy to find these days. But if I don't take care of this boat, she won't sail well, oh no way." He held up a ginger and a long Bunch of dried chilli, "I'll peel ginger and stuff it into the boat like the merchants of Frosta did with their good horses! Add chilli, and no ship at sea can run faster than her!" She'll go so fast that only real sailors can hold the deck—which means most of you guys are out of business, huh?"

Someone in the crowd replied with a nasty sentence, and the Pocket King responded calmly: "It's no problem for me to go to sea. No three-masted ship has a belly bigger than mine. I can hold a lot of supplies, and my sails can eat too much." Gotta hold a strong gust of wind. My good sir, your mouth--or your ass? I don't have a good ear--and I don't want anything. Where's my crew? My boys are all Where are those dear bastards in the pocket court? Those people are just like any of your own tithe masters, it’s really driving people crazy!" The out-of-key horn blew, and a group of motley characters From the back of the crowd popped up, some scrawny, some fat, and one or two only half the height of normal people.The Pocket King pointed at them: "Look, they are here! They are as slow as in the past, and only money can cheer them up. So, it proves that they are all real nobles! Come, my ministers, Did you hear what our benevolent crown prince said? Let's set sail and fight for money!"

The team of ragged characters immediately turned around, trying to slip away.The crowd started laughing.

The Pocket King retorted: "You cowards, you don't mean to go tonight! We have to eat and drink first."

Showing exaggerated ecstasy, they turned back, rolled and crawled, jumped and swayed happily, and gathered into a messy group in front of the Pocket King.The Pocket King looked over their heads at the crowd and said, "See? That's how a decent court should be run! But what's going on here? Where's the prettiest of you lot? Mine with fair hair Where is the lady like Uni, as light as Vana? Where is my pocket queen? Sir, is she hiding under the back of your blouse? No? I am astonished! I heard that the first place to look That's right there! What about you..." The Pocket King slipped into the crowd and teased the laborers.Everyone put on a posture full of anticipation.

Behind the crowd, where the jagged pocket court emerged, a burly figure pushed through the crowd.It was a man who came, judging from his well-developed muscles, he was a man who relied on his strength to make a living on the pier.He was clean-shaven, but compared with him, other clowns were almost dignified.He wore a baggy white denim gown with a woman's belt, and the most eye-catching thing was a long wig dangling on his bald head, with braids that were sloppily braided and stuck in place. Around Zhang's heavily made-up face.As soon as he moved, the strings of glass beads hanging all over his body rattled.

The hideously ugly creature flung its arms open and cried out in a hoarse voice, "I am a beautiful elf lady!"

Hearing this, the crowd burst into wild laughter.

Encouraged, the Pocket Queen exclaimed: "I am a beautiful elf lady! But alas, my handsome lover, our Pocket King, has deserted me." He sobbed exaggeratedly imitating a woman's voice Get up, the people of the pocket court hastened to flatter and comfort the mourning buffoon.A second group of comedians came out, also dressed as women and girls.Most of these people are as unsuitable for women's clothing as the central figure, but some of them can stand up to inspection, and two are even barely beautiful.They all curtseyed, and the ugliest of them announced in an exaggerated falsetto: "Let us ladies help you! We'll find you a new lover!"

"Yes, yes, new lover! Want young and handsome! Want the most handsome man here!" The women's clowns scattered, rushing to the crowd like pocket kings, but their targets concentrated on places where decent people gather .

Faced with this spectacle, Pengolod didn't know whether to be ecstatic as a scholar or terrified as an elf.Alfwine coughed: "They will pick a handsome young man and drag him out, and he will have to give him a kiss. This is mainly because people think elves are as beautiful as—" Before he finished speaking, It was interrupted by a scream in front of him pinching his throat.They were spotted by two clowns in costume, and one of them blew a piercing whistle.

"Look, here's a noble lad from Armenelos, clean-shaven, with learned men!" they screamed.Suddenly three hands grabbed Pengolod's wrist and dragged him out of the crowd.Alfwine yelled, and Tom tried to grab Pengolod's blue cloak to keep him from going, but the kid didn't help him - not only blocked Pengolod's struggling movements, but also made him greater disaster.If Tom hadn't pulled off the long hood of the blue robe, Pengolod could have continued to pretend to be from Armenelos, but during this commotion, all his long hair fell freely, leaving only his ears The ones on the side are specially braided to show the ears.In a blink of an eye, he showed his true face as an elf, among a group of clowns.

The crowd, horrified by the sight of a real elf caught up in the farce, rose from laughter to screams.Those who pulled him showed fear on their heavily made-up faces, and they let go and retreated, but it was too late.The rough vaudeville queen heard the signal from the whistle, and followed the sound towards them. "Oh, handsome guy!" he growled in a low voice, "kiss the beauty, kiss, to save face!" He squeezed to the side of Pengolod, bent down, and pursed his red lips.More than half of the crowd followed suit, stomping their feet and shouting, constantly yelling kiss one, kiss one, kiss one.

In an instant, several approaches popped into Pengolod's mind.Immediately, he raised a hand and exclaimed, "I'm flattered, my charming lady!" Then he took a step forward, closed his eyes (very tightly), and touched his lips (very lightly) licked the clown's lips.

The audience was silent at first, and then the noise broke out to a higher level.

"What's the matter, what's the matter?" Someone behind them said in a tone, and the Pocket King appeared again.He leaned forward and poked a finger at the elf intruder as a warning: "Bah, you elf man is trying to abduct my lovely queen! Go back to the real king's seat. With those people, you don’t need to sell your looks to please people, they will all nod and bow to things like you!” The gesture of poking was changed to a gesture of dismissing.He walked over, dragged the pocket queen a little farther, and then began to describe his great cause to her impassionedly, and that was all to bring her back a diamond from Middle-earth.When the Pocket Queen saw that the Pocket King had given her a large piece of bottle glass tied up with strings, she was overwhelmed with gratitude and declared that she had completely forgiven him.When the Pocket King buried his head on the queen's bulging fake chest, Pengolod was able to slip back into the crowd.

The Pocket King obviously had a tacit understanding with the servants at the banquet. He asked someone to blow the horn out of tune again, announcing that everyone must pay tribute to the real court and that great new ship. The method is to eat until full.So far, each dining table has been filled to the brim, and the crowd rushed over to take their seats.

Pengolod allowed himself to follow the pandemic with Alfwine and the other merchants, only to end up sitting next to the fastidious woman again.She was a little friendlier than she was at first, saying: "We think it's good luck for a handsome young man to handle that sort of thing gracefully. I don't know why we allow them to go on with that kind of stupid stuff." , I guess, just because that's the custom."

"And, it works! They've been doing this farce for 300 years, and Ossie hasn't bothered our ship all that time. These guys are hilarious as hell," her husband said across the table, "but luckily this It's true. You'll be the love of the night."

Alfwine's sympathy was more pleasant - he passed a bottle of wine.This added to the evening's astonishing surprises - the wine was truly exceptional.Pengolod was thankful for this, because it gave him something else to talk about, and he could not mention the big scene just now.The Númenóreans around him, striving to appear decent, also gladly played the role of generous master.