Trot and Cap'n Bill meet Button-Bright near their home on the California coast. The boy has been using his grandfather's Magic Umbrella to take journeys from his Philadelphia home; it has transported him to his present location. After an explanation of the umbrella's function, the three new friends decide to take a trip to a nearby island. Trot and the Cap'n call it "sky island," because it looks like it is "halfway in the sky" — but the umbrella flies them to another place entirely, a literal sky island.
The place is divided into two contrasting countries, separated by a Fog Bank. The three travelers land on the blue side of Sky Island, to find it a grim country of Blueskins. They are ruled by a sadistic tyrant, the Boolooroo of the Blues. He amuses himself by splitting his subjects into halves, then joining the disparate halves together to create miserably mixed individuals. This is called "patching." The Boolooroo threatens to do the same to his human visitors; meanwhile he imprisons the Cap'n and Button-Bright, and gives Trot as a slave to his daughters, the Six Snubnosed Princesses (named Cerulia, Turquoise, Sapphire, Azure, Cobalt, and Indigo). They plan to use Trot as a human pincushion.
The three visitors manage to escape from the Blues; penetrating the Great Fog Bank, they reach the pink or sunrise side of Sky Island. The pink country has chubby cheerful residents, who regard the newcomers as sort of pink, though of a sadly pale shade. Still, the laws of the country demand that visitors be put to death; even the ruler, the sylph-like Tourmaline the Poverty Queen, cannot pardon them. (Among the fabulously wealthy Pinkies, only the ruler lives in want; Tourmaline has been sentenced to the job, because she is the thinnest member of the populace.)
In the nick of time, Polychrome arrives to prevent the execution. In the topsy-turvy value system of the Pinkies, Trot is selected their queen, since her pale skin makes the disadvantaged girl the least pink person among them. (Tourmaline retires to private life, and vast riches.) After Cap'n Bill leads an invasion and conquest of the island's opposite side, Trot becomes "Booloorooess" of the Blues as well; she uses her new power to "regulate" both societies into more sensible forms.
The three visitors eventually return home, more than a little relieved to escape from Sky Island. (non illustrated)
--This text refers to the
Kindle Edition
edition.
The place is divided into two contrasting countries, separated by a Fog Bank. The three travelers land on the blue side of Sky Island, to find it a grim country of Blueskins. They are ruled by a sadistic tyrant, the Boolooroo of the Blues. He amuses himself by splitting his subjects into halves, then joining the disparate halves together to create miserably mixed individuals. This is called "patching." The Boolooroo threatens to do the same to his human visitors; meanwhile he imprisons the Cap'n and Button-Bright, and gives Trot as a slave to his daughters, the Six Snubnosed Princesses (named Cerulia, Turquoise, Sapphire, Azure, Cobalt, and Indigo). They plan to use Trot as a human pincushion.
The three visitors manage to escape from the Blues; penetrating the Great Fog Bank, they reach the pink or sunrise side of Sky Island. The pink country has chubby cheerful residents, who regard the newcomers as sort of pink, though of a sadly pale shade. Still, the laws of the country demand that visitors be put to death; even the ruler, the sylph-like Tourmaline the Poverty Queen, cannot pardon them. (Among the fabulously wealthy Pinkies, only the ruler lives in want; Tourmaline has been sentenced to the job, because she is the thinnest member of the populace.)
In the nick of time, Polychrome arrives to prevent the execution. In the topsy-turvy value system of the Pinkies, Trot is selected their queen, since her pale skin makes the disadvantaged girl the least pink person among them. (Tourmaline retires to private life, and vast riches.) After Cap'n Bill leads an invasion and conquest of the island's opposite side, Trot becomes "Booloorooess" of the Blues as well; she uses her new power to "regulate" both societies into more sensible forms.
The three visitors eventually return home, more than a little relieved to escape from Sky Island. (non illustrated)
