Pumela Who Was the City of Gold

Pumela was an African princess who had been banished from her kingdom for being too beautiful. She lived in a small hut on the edge of the village. She wore a ragged dress and a scarf over her head. Her only possession was a small gold bracelet. One day, a traveling theater company came to the village. They put on a play about a lost explorer who finds a city of gold in Africa.

Pumela took the stage. She was the city of gold. She wore a gold-spangled tunic and nothing else. The explorers who found her were played by two of the hired hands from the local dairy farm. The dairy hands were huge, blond, and stupid-looking. Pumela was supposed to fall in love with one of them, but she couldn’t stop giggling. She said they smelled like cheese.

The dairy hands were fired, and the two hired hands from the hardware store were given their parts. The hardware store hired hands were small, dark, and stupid-looking. Pumela fell in love with one of them.

After the rehearsal, Pumela and the hardware store hired hand went off behind the barn and made love. Then they made love in a meadow, in a hayloft, in a woodshed, in a tool shed, in a chicken coop, in a rowboat, in a canoe, and in a tree house.

Then she said he smelled like nails. The theater company gave up and left the village. Pumela went back to her hut. She took off her gold-spangled tunic and put on her ragged dress. She sat in the darkness, dreaming of her lost kingdom.