It was amusing to note the expression on the face of King Dox as helooked the boy over, from his sailor hat to his stubby shoes, and itwas equally diverting to watch Button-Bright stare at the King inreturn. No fox ever beheld a fresher, fairer child's face, and nochild had ever before heard a fox talk, or met with one who dressed sohandsomely and ruled so big a city. I am sorry to say that no one hadever told the little boy much about fairies of any kind; this beingthe case, it is easy to understand how much this strange experiencestartled and astonished him.

"How do you like us?" asked the King.

"Don't know," said Button-Bright.

"Of course you don't. It's too short an acquaintance," returned hisMajesty. "What do you suppose my name is?"

"Don't know," said Button-Bright.

"How should you? Well, I'll tell you. My private name is Dox, but aKing can't be called by his private name; he has to take one that isofficial. Therefore my official name is King Renard the Fourth.Ren-ard with the accent on the 'Ren'."

"What's 'ren'?" asked Button-Bright.

"How clever!" exclaimed the King, turning a pleased face toward hiscounselors. "This boy is indeed remarkably bright. 'What's 'ren'?'he asks; and of course 'ren' is nothing at all, all by itself. Yes,he's very bright indeed."

"That question is what your Majesty might call foxy," said one of thecounselors, an old grey fox.

"So it is," declared the King. Turning again to Button-Bright, he asked:

"Having told you my name, what would you call me?"

"King Dox," said the boy.

"Why?"

"'Cause 'ren''s nothing at all," was the reply.

"Good! Very good indeed! You certainly have a brilliant mind. Doyou know why two and two make four?"

"No," said Button-Bright.

"Clever! clever indeed! Of course you don't know. Nobody knows why;we only know it's so, and can't tell why it's so. Button-Bright,those curls and blue eyes do not go well with so much wisdom. Theymake you look too youthful, and hide your real cleverness. Therefore,I will do you a great favor. I will confer upon you the head of a fox,so that you may hereafter look as bright as you really are."

As he spoke the King waved his paw toward the boy, and at once thepretty curls and fresh round face and big blue eyes were gone,while in their place a fox's head appeared upon Button-Bright'sshoulders--a hairy head with a sharp nose, pointed ears, and keenlittle eyes.

"Oh, don't do that!" cried Dorothy, shrinking back from hertransformed companion with a shocked and dismayed face.

"Too late, my dear; it's done. But you also shall have a fox's headif you can prove you're as clever as Button-Bright."

"I don't want it; it's dreadful!" she exclaimed; and, hearing thisverdict, Button-Bright began to boo-hoo just as if he were still alittle boy.

"How can you call that lovely head dreadful?" asked the King. "It'sa much prettier face than he had before, to my notion, and my wifesays I'm a good judge of beauty. Don't cry, little fox-boy. Laughand be proud, because you are so highly favored. How do you like thenew head, Button-Bright?"

"D-d-don't n-n-n-know!" sobbed the child.

"Please, PLEASE change him back again, your Majesty!" begged Dorothy.

King Renard IV shook his head.

"I can't do that," he said; "I haven't the power, even if I wantedto. No, Button-Bright must wear his fox head, and he'll be sure tolove it dearly as soon as he gets used to it."

Both the shaggy man and Dorothy looked grave and anxious, for theywere sorrowful that such a misfortune had overtaken their littlecompanion. Toto barked at the fox-boy once or twice, not realizing itwas his former friend who now wore the animal head; but Dorothy cuffedthe dog and made him stop. As for the foxes, they all seemed to thinkButton-Bright's new head very becoming and that their King hadconferred a great honor on this little stranger. It was funny to seethe boy reach up to feel of his sharp nose and wide mouth, and wailafresh with grief. He wagged his ears in a comical manner and tearswere in his little black eyes. But Dorothy couldn't laugh at herfriend just yet, because she felt so sorry.

Just then three little fox-princesses, daughters of the King, enteredthe room, and when they saw Button-Bright one exclaimed: "How lovelyhe is!" and the next one cried in delight: "How sweet he is!" andthe third princess clapped her hands with pleasure and said, "Howbeautiful he is!"

Button-Bright stopped crying and asked timidly:

"Am I?"

"In all the world there is not another face so pretty," declared thebiggest fox-princess.

"You must live with us always, and be our brother," said the next.

"We shall all love you dearly," the third said.

This praise did much to comfort the boy, and he looked around andtried to smile. It was a pitiful attempt, because the fox face wasnew and stiff, and Dorothy thought his expression more stupid thanbefore the transformation.

"I think we ought to be going now," said the shaggy man, uneasily,for he didn't know what the King might take into his head to do next.

"Don't leave us yet, I beg of you," pleaded King Renard. "I intend tohave several days of feasting and merry-making in honor of your visit."

"Have it after we're gone, for we can't wait," said Dorothy, decidedly.But seeing this displeased the King, she added: "If I'm going to getOzma to invite you to her party I'll have to find her as soon asposs'ble, you know."

In spite of all the beauty of Foxville and the gorgeous dresses of itsinhabitants, both the girl and the shaggy man felt they were not quitesafe there, and would be glad to see the last of it.

"But it is now evening," the King reminded them, "and you must staywith us until morning, anyhow. Therefore, I invite you to be myguests at dinner, and to attend the theater afterward and sit in theroyal box. To-morrow morning, if you really insist upon it, you mayresume your journey."

They consented to this, and some of the fox-servants led them to asuite of lovely rooms in the big palace.

Button-Bright was afraid to be left alone, so Dorothy took him intoher own room. While a maid-fox dressed the little girl's hair--whichwas a bit tangled--and put some bright, fresh ribbons in it, anothermaid-fox combed the hair on poor Button-Bright's face and head andbrushed it carefully, tying a pink bow to each of his pointed ears.The maids wanted to dress the children in fine costumes of woven feathers,such as all the foxes wore; but neither of them consented to that.

"A sailor suit and a fox head do not go well together," said one ofthe maids, "for no fox was ever a sailor that I can remember."

"I'm not a fox!" cried Button-Bright.

"Alas, no," agreed the maid. "But you've got a lovely fox head onyour skinny shoulders, and that's ALMOST as good as being a fox."

The boy, reminded of his misfortune, began to cry again. Dorothypetted and comforted him and promised to find some way to restorehim his own head.

"If we can manage to get to Ozma," she said, "the Princess will changeyou back to yourself in half a second; so you just wear that fox headas comf't'bly as you can, dear, and don't worry about it at all. Itisn't nearly as pretty as your own head, no matter what the foxes say;but you can get along with it for a little while longer, can't you?"

"Don't know," said Button-Bright, doubtfully; but he didn't cry anymore after that.

Dorothy let the maids pin ribbons to her shoulders, after which theywere ready for the King's dinner. When they met the shaggy man in thesplendid drawing room of the palace they found him just the same asbefore. He had refused to give up his shaggy clothes for new ones,because if he did that he would no longer be the shaggy man, he said,and he might have to get acquainted with himself all over again.

He told Dorothy he had brushed his shaggy hair and whiskers; but shethought he must have brushed them the wrong way, for they were quiteas shaggy as before.

As for the company of foxes assembled to dine with the strangers, theywere most beautifully costumed, and their rich dresses made Dorothy'ssimple gown and Button-Bright's sailor suit and the shaggy man'sshaggy clothes look commonplace. But they treated their guests withgreat respect and the King's dinner was a very good dinner indeed.Foxes, as you know, are fond of chicken and other fowl; so they servedchicken soup and roasted turkey and stewed duck and fried grouse andbroiled quail and goose pie, and as the cooking was excellent theKing's guests enjoyed the meal and ate heartily of the various dishes.

The party went to the theater, where they saw a play acted by foxesdressed in costumes of brilliantly colored feathers. The play wasabout a fox-girl who was stolen by some wicked wolves and carried totheir cave; and just as they were about to kill her and eat her acompany of fox-soldiers marched up, saved the girl, and put all thewicked wolves to death.

"How do you like it?" the King asked Dorothy.

"Pretty well," she answered. "It reminds me of one of Mr.Aesop's fables."

"Don't mention Aesop to me, I beg of you!" exclaimed King Dox."I hate that man's name. He wrote a good deal about foxes, but alwaysmade them out cruel and wicked, whereas we are gentle and kind, as youmay see."

"But his fables showed you to be wise and clever, and more shrewd thanother animals," said the shaggy man, thoughtfully.

"So we are. There is no question about our knowing more than men do,"replied the King, proudly. "But we employ our wisdom to do good,instead of harm; so that horrid Aesop did not know what he wastalking about."

They did not like to contradict him, because they felt he ought toknow the nature of foxes better than men did; so they sat still andwatched the play, and Button-Bright became so interested that for thetime he forgot he wore a fox head.

Afterward they went back to the palace and slept in soft beds stuffedwith feathers; for the foxes raised many fowl for food, and used theirfeathers for clothing and to sleep upon.

Dorothy wondered why the animals living in Foxville did not wear justtheir own hairy skins as wild foxes do; when she mentioned it to KingDox he said they clothed themselves because they were civilized.

"But you were born without clothes," she observed, "and you don't seemto me to need them."

"So were human beings born without clothes," he replied; "and untilthey became civilized they wore only their natural skins. But tobecome civilized means to dress as elaborately and prettily aspossible, and to make a show of your clothes so your neighbors willenvy you, and for that reason both civilized foxes and civilizedhumans spend most of their time dressing themselves."

"I don't," declared the shaggy man.

"That is true," said the King, looking at him carefully; "but perhapsyou are not civilized."

After a sound sleep and a good night's rest they had their breakfastwith the King and then bade his Majesty good-bye.

"You've been kind to us--'cept poor Button-Bright," said Dorothy,"and we've had a nice time in Foxville."

"Then," said King Dox, "perhaps you'll be good enough to get me aninvitation to Princess Ozma's birthday celebration."

"I'll try," she promised; "if I see her in time."

"It's on the twenty-first, remember," he continued; "and if you'lljust see that I'm invited I'll find a way to cross the DreadfulDesert into the marvelous Land of Oz. I've always wanted to visit theEmerald City, so I'm sure it was fortunate you arrived here just whenyou did, you being Princess Ozma's friend and able to assist me ingetting the invitation."

"If I see Ozma I'll ask her to invite you," she replied.

The Fox-King had a delightful luncheon put up for them, which theshaggy man shoved in his pocket, and the fox-captain escorted them toan arch at the side of the village opposite the one by which they hadentered. Here they found more soldiers guarding the road.

"Are you afraid of enemies?" asked Dorothy.

"No; because we are watchful and able to protect ourselves," answeredthe captain. "But this road leads to another village peopled by big,stupid beasts who might cause us trouble if they thought we wereafraid of them."

"What beasts are they?" asked the shaggy man.

The captain hesitated to answer. Finally, he said:

"You will learn all about them when you arrive at their city. But donot be afraid of them. Button-Bright is so wonderfully clever and hasnow such an intelligent face that I'm sure he will manage to find away to protect you."

This made Dorothy and the shaggy man rather uneasy, for they had notso much confidence in the fox-boy's wisdom as the captain seemed tohave. But as their escort would say no more about the beasts, theybade him good-bye and proceeded on their journey.