But the china girl cried out: "Don't chase me! Don't chase me!" She had such a frightened little voice that Dorothy stopped and said, "Why not ?" "Because," answered the Princess, also stopping, a safe distance away, "if I run I may fall down and break myself." "But could you not be mended ?" asked the girl.
"Oh, yes; but one is never so pretty after being mended, you know," replied the Princess.
"I suppose not," said Dorothy.
"Now there is Mr.Joker, one of our clowns," continued the china lady, "who is always trying to stand upon his head.

He has broken himself so often that he is mended in a hundred places, and doesn't look at all pretty.

Here he comes now, so you can see for yourself." Indeed, a jolly little clown came walking toward them, and Dorothy could see that in spite of his pretty clothes of red and yellow and green he was completely covered with cracks, running every which way and showing plainly that he had been mended in many places.
The Clown put his hands in his pockets, and after puffing out his cheeks and nodding his head at them saucily, he said: "My lady fair, Why do you stare At poor old Mr.Joker?
You're quite as stiff And prim as if You'd eaten up a poker!" "Be quiet, sir!" said the Princess.

"Can't you see these are strangers, and should be treated with respect ?" "Well, that's respect, I expect," declared the Clown, and immediately stood upon his head.
"Don't mind Mr.Joker," said the Princess to Dorothy.

"He is considerably cracked in his head, and that makes him foolish." "Oh, I don't mind him a bit," said Dorothy.