“I want to go upstairs and play,” he said to the lord high steward. “I don’t see why I can’t.”
“Very soon your Majesty may go. Just now it is your duty to hear the grievances of your people,” answered Tallydab, gently.
“What’s the matter with ’em?” asked Bud, crossly. “Why don’t they keep out of trouble?”
“I do not know, your Majesty; but there are always disputes among the people.”
“But that isn’t the king’s fault, is it?” said Bud.
“No, your Majesty; but it’s the king’s place to settle these disputes, for he has the supreme power.”
“Well, tell ’em to hurry up and get it over with,” said the boy, restlessly.
Then a venerable old man came in leading a boy by the arm and holding a switch in his other hand.
“Your Majesty,” began the man, having first humbly bowed to the floor before the king, “my son, whom I have brought here with me, insists upon running away from home, and I wish you would tell me what to do with him.”
“Why do you run away?” Bud asked the boy.