Panda Panic (8 page)

Ping shook his head in disbelief.

“The what?!” he said.

“Through those trees,” cried Little Bear. “The Emperor's palace!”

CHAPTER SEVEN

L
ittle Bear was not wrong, or rather, Ping did not know whether he was or not. He could see several buildings through the trees, arranged on either side of a muddy street that opened out after fifty feet or so into a large square where a number of market stands were arranged in a circle. The buildings were all built from wood and painted in bright colors—reds, greens, blues, and yellows—and all of them had thatched roofs and smoking chimneys. Was this really the Emperor's palace? For all Ping knew, it might be. It was not exactly big, but it was not exactly small, either. Just as he'd described it. The truth was, Ping was completely flummoxed. If this was the palace, had he just made it appear out of his imagination? That wasn't possible, was it? But there was no doubt that he HAD been thinking about the Emperor's palace just before Little Bear had shouted, “Look!” So what was it? The Emperor's palace or somewhere else? How was he supposed to know? He'd never been to either. He'd spent all his life at home.

Meanwhile, Little Bear was having no such doubts. He had rushed through the trees and was standing in the clearing on the other side, admiring the buildings.

“You're so clever, Ping!” he squealed. “I knew you knew the Emperor and now I'm going to know him too!”

In truth it was just one of the villages in the nature reserve, so there was absolutely no chance of meeting an Emperor, but Ping didn't know that. As far as Ping was concerned, if his lie was not to be exposed, he had to keep Little Bear believing that the Emperor might appear at any moment.

“This way,” he said breezily. “And don't forget your manners.”

The sun was still dropping in the west as Ping and Little Bear walked up the street toward the square. This meant that their shadows were huge—they spread up the road in front of them and fell across the path of a small boy who was running home. As their shadows plunged his world into darkness, he stopped running and screamed.

“Giant bears! Run for your lives! The giant bears have come!” And bursting into tears he ran wailing into the nearest house.

At first Ping looked surprised, but then noticing that Little Bear was watching him for a reaction, said, “You see? They know who I am and run in terror before me!”

Little Bear shook his head in disagreement.

“I think he saw our big shadows on the ground and thought that we were both big,” he said. “What a silly boy. We're not giants, we're just little cubs.”

Of course!
thought Ping.
That's why Little Bear's shadow had looked so big and scary in the woods before
.

Ping could not believe that he had been such a fool. It wasn't as if he didn't know that when the sun was low in the sky it made shadows larger. After all, his mother had always told him that
a shadow is only as frightening as the mind that imagined the shadow-maker
. And she was right. Ping had a very active imagination and had envisioned giant snow leopards where none had ever existed.

No longer scared, Ping renewed his efforts to convince Little Bear that he really was a bodyguard.

“Shall I let you in on a secret?” he asked.

Little Bear loved secrets almost as much as a clawful of honey.

“When our long shadows fell across that boy's path—I planned that,” said Ping.

“Did you?” gasped Little Bear. “Why didn't you say so sooner? That's so embarrassing. There was me telling you about the sun and long shadows on the ground and you knew all along.”

Ping smiled and continued bluffing.

“I'm afraid I did,” he said. “As the Emperor's bodyguard it's important that I keep the people a tiny bit afraid of me so that they don't get any ideas about attacking the Emperor.”

“That's brilliant,” said Little Bear.

“As my mother always says,” said Ping, “
a wise bear fights with his brain as well as his body
.”

“I'd like to meet your mother,” said Little Bear.

“One thing at a time,” chuckled Ping. “Let's see if we can find the Emperor first.”

As they walked into the village, Little Bear swung his hips like a cowboy and narrowed his eyes to make himself look mean.

“I'm going to enjoy being a bodyguard!” he growled under his breath.

The villagers must have heard him, because suddenly they all fled, shouting out, “We'll be back with reinforcements!”

“What are reinforcements?” asked Little Bear.

“I don't know,” said Ping. “It sounds like something to hold up your pants. Where are you going?”

Little Bear had spotted something in the square.

“Look!” he cried, running up to the unmanned market stands, which were laden with fruit, vegetables, and meat, fine clothes embroidered with silver thread, and glittering trinkets studded with semi-precious stones. “It's just like you said the palace would be!”

“Gifts from the Emperor!” explained Ping, unable to believe his luck. Wherever they were, this place was backing up his story nicely.

Little Bear was hungry and clambered up onto one of the food stands. He sat down, grabbed some fruit, and started to eat it greedily. “Don't you want anything?” he asked Ping, the corners of his mouth oozing with the juicy flesh of a pear.

“I'm not really a fruit lover,” admitted Ping.

“I could get you some bugs,” said Little Bear helpfully. “If we can find rotting garbage nearby there's bound to be some moldy maggots we could share.”

Ping clutched his stomach and shuddered.

“No bugs!” he said quickly.

“Then no bugs it is,” said Little Bear, tossing a peach into the air and catching it in his mouth. “Can
you
do that?”

“No,” said Ping. “I can toss a stick of bamboo in the air like a cheerleader's baton if you'd like to see that?” But before he could demonstrate, his stomach rumbled loudly and the search for a bamboo baton was overtaken by the search for a bamboo meal. “If you'll excuse me,” he said to Little Bear, “I need a little snack. And then, who knows, I might dig myself a hole and have my forty-second poop of the day.”

A few minutes later, while squatting over his hole in the woods, Ping looked candidly at his situation. For the last few hours he had been bending over backward trying not to disappoint Little Bear by shattering the image he had of Ping as a hero. Well, maybe now Little Bear didn't need to find out that Ping wasn't the Emperor's bodyguard. Ever since they'd come across the village, Ping's luck had changed. Far from his lie being exposed, it had been backed up time and time again. Maybe his mother was wrong. Maybe sometimes lies could turn out to be true.

And it was in that frame of mind, with a confident swagger to his step, that Ping strode back into the village, believing that anything he said would eventually come true.