'
"'Your Majesty means--?' said the Royal Librarian.
"'I mean,' said the king, 'that he shall be stung to death by
bees. By the royal bees, of course.'
"'A most elegant death,' said the Librarian.
"'Elegant and spectacular, and decidedly painful,' said the king;
'it fulfils all the conditions that could be wished for.'
"The king himself thought out all the details of the execution
ceremony. Vespaluus was to be stripped of his clothes, his hands
were to he bound behind him, and he was then to be slung in a
recumbent position immediately above three of the largest of the
royal beehives, so that the least movement of his body would bring
him in jarring contact with them. The rest could be safely left
to the bees. The death throes, the king computed, might last
anything from fifteen to forty minutes, though there was division
of opinion and considerable wagering among the other nephews as to
whether death might not be almost instantaneous, or, on the other
hand, whether it might not be deferred for a couple of hours.
Anyway, they all agreed, it was vastly preferable to being thrown
down into an evil smelling bear-pit and being clawed and mauled to
death by imperfectly carnivorous animals.
Pages:
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154