But Rōlâ-Bōlâ’s messengers were at hand with most costly presents, and it all ended in their finding an almost similar case in their books, where a wounded prince, who was quite unable to roll an inch, had been placed upon an elevated platform in order that his round-bodied sweetheart might pass beneath and he be enabled to pinch her little toe while it was in the air at the highest point from the ground.
Seeing that it would be useless to make further opposition, I now submitted with a good grace, for it was plain to me that once the husband of the princess Rōlâ-Bōlâ I should become, to a certain extent, one of the family and be accorded greater liberty, by means of which I confidently hoped to make my escape from the land of the Roundbodies.
Preparations for the marriage were now begun with extraordinary haste, in order to have all things ready for the first feast-day in the calendar.
As the time drew near, however, I somewhat lost my courage.
“Was I not,” I asked myself, “simply lending my aid in forging my own fetters, in laying chains upon my neck, which would render it impossible for Bulger and me ever to set eyes again upon our beloved home?”
I became very nervous, and found it impossible to catch a wink of sleep.
At last I resolved to postpone my fate, at least for several days.
And this was my scheme:—
I should explain to the fair Rōlâ-Bōlâ how utterly impossible it would be for me, in my fright and anxiety, to get my thumb and finger upon her little toe at all, as she revolved swiftly beneath me.
I therefore would implore her to roll very slowly.