Ran? What wonderful slippers those were! He had only to say to them, “Go!” and they would impel him forward with the rapidity of the wind. They seemed to him like wings.
“I will become a courier,” said Little Mook, “and so make my fortune, sure.”
So Little Mook went to the palace in order to apply to the king.
He first met the messenger-in-ordinary.
“What!” said he, “you want to be the king’s messenger,—you with your little feet and great slippers!”
“Will you allow me to make a trial of speed with your swiftest runner?” asked Little Mook.
The messenger-in-ordinary told the king about the little man and his application.
“We will have some fun with him,” said the king. “Let him run a race with my first messenger for the sport of the court.”
So it was arranged that Little Mook should try his speed with the swiftest messenger.
Now the king’s runner was a very tall man. His legs were very long and slender; he had little flesh on his body. He walked with wonderful swiftness, looking like a windmill as he strode forward. He was the telegraph of his times, and the king was very proud of him.