"Thick-headed brute!" he yelled at the hippopotamus, angrily.

"Hump-backed idiot!" shrieked the other.

At this the camel swung himself fiercely on his branch, and bumped
against the hippopotamus, knocking him off from the tree. The ground
underneath was chocolate, and it was soft and sticky, not having dried
since the last rain. So when the hippopotamus fell he sank half way
into the ground, and his beautiful brown color was spattered with the
muddy chocolate.

At this vengeful deed on the part of the camel all the other animals
became furious. A full-grown goat-cracker swung himself against the
camel and knocked it, in turn, from its stem; and in falling on the
ground it broke its hump off. Then a lion-cracker knocked the goat
down, and an elephant knocked a cat down, and soon the whole tree was
in a violent commotion. The animals fought with each other so
desperately that before long the entire treeful of animal-crackers had
fallen to the ground, where many lay broken and disfigured, and the
remainder were sunk deep in the chocolate mud.

So when the King, finally remembering his tree, came and looked on the
sorry sight, it dampened his usual good spirits, and he heartily wished
he had picked the quarrelsome crackers before they began to fight among
themselves.

While he stood thinking dismally on this, up came Prince Fiddlecumdoo
and asked permission to go on a journey.

"Where do you wish to go?" asked the King.