while the teenie weenie soldiers were gallantly marching to the rescue of their little friends, the lady of fashion and the poet were being kept prisoners in one of the funny little houses of the wild men.
queen mooie, ruler of the saboes, was a very fat little lady, and like all fat people, big or little, she was very good-natured. when the lady of fashion and the poet were brought before her, she was much interested in them and she made a long speech to the two teenie weenies in her strange language, but not one word could the little people understand.
the house in which the lady of fashion and the poet were kept was built up on posts about six teenie weenie feet (three inches in our measurement) from the ground. the houses were built up high as protection from the dampness, for the saboes lived on a little island in the heart of a big swamp, and it also protected the little people from bugs. the floor of the house was made of sticks and the roof and sides were covered with a peculiar swamp grass. a flat stone about the size of a half dollar was placed on the floor, on which the wild men built a tiny fire to keep themselves warm in winter, and a small hole in the roof provided a chimney for the smoke.
twice a day the wild men brought the two teenie weenies delicious pieces of smoked frog ham, with many tiny rice cakes, and every other day the two prisoners were given a blackberry.
one night shortly after the lady of fashion and the poet had been brought to the wild men’s village, the two teenie weenies heard the beating of a drum. for what seemed hours the little prisoners listened to the tumtum, tumtum, tumtum, of the drum. there was no use asking the wild man who guarded them just outside their door, for he couldn’t understand them, so there was nothing to do but listen to the tumtum, tumtum, tumtum, and wonder what it was all about.
presently one of the wild men climbed up the ladder to their house and motioned the two teenie weenies to follow him. he led them beneath a bush near by, where a lot of wild men were dancing about a great fire. the men sang a queer sort of song as they danced, while one strange-looking fellow, who was a sort of witch doctor, rattled a huge seed pod fastened to the end of a forked stick. the wild men performed this strange dance once a month, as they believed it would keep bad luck away from their tribe.
the queen of the wild men sat near the fire on the back of her turtle, while the rest of the saboes stood in a circle about the dancing men. the fire had been built in a deep hole on top of a large stone and when the stone was almost red-hot, the wild men scraped the fire all out with long sticks.
then they lined the hole in the stone with sassafras leaves, into which they threw four large frog hams and then covered them over with several big leaves. sand was then thrown onto the leaves, covering the hams tightly in the hot hole.
the wild men built a fire all around the outside edge of the stone, and while the hams cooked they again took up the wild dance. when the hams were baked they were taken out and a piece was served to each person and the lady of fashion and the poet both enjoyed the delicious meat.
after everyone had eaten of the ham, the queen ordered the two teenie weenies to be taken back to their prison, but although it was very late, the lady of fashion and the poet could hear the loud shouts of the wild little people for many hours.
