catch, were the only answer, and in real alarm the Elegant Elephant moved away from the shore, and in doing so bumped against a white sign, stuck in the sand.
"Please Don't Fall In," directed the sign politely, "It Spoils The Soup."
"Soup!" sputtered Kabumpo. Then another sign caught his eye: "Soup Sea—Salted To Taste—Help Yourself."
"Come down—come down here directly!" cried the Elegant Elephant, snatching the Prince from his back.
"Here's the soup—a whole sea full. Now all you need is a bowl."
Swallowing convulsively the last bit of carrot, Pompa stood staring out over the tossing, smoking soup sea. Every now and then a bone or a vegetable would bob out of the waves, and the poor hungry Prince of Pumperdink thought he had never seen a more lovely sight in his life.
"We'll probably be awarded a china medal for this," chuckled the Elegant Elephant. "Won't old Pumper's eyes stick out when we tell him about it? But now for a bowl!"
Swinging his trunk gently, Kabumpo walked up the white beach, and had not gone more than a dozen steps
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