Pygmies (Greek Πυγμαῖοι - "people the size of a fist") are a group of undersized Negroid peoples living in the equatorial forests of Africa.

Testimonies and mentions

Mentioned already in the ancient Egyptian inscriptions of the 3rd millennium BC. e., at a later time - in ancient Greek sources (in the "Iliad" by Homer, Herodotus and Strabo).

In the XVI-XVII centuries. they are referred to as "matimba" in descriptions left by researchers in West Africa.

In the 19th century, their existence was confirmed by the German researcher Georg August Schweinfurt, the Russian researcher V.V. Juncker and others, who discovered these tribes in the rainforests of the Ituri and Uzle river basins (various tribes under the names: Akka, Tikitiki, Obongo, Bambuti, Batwa) ...

In 1929-1930. expedition P. Shebest described the pygmies bambuti, in 1934-1935 researcher M. Guzinde found the pygmies Efe and Basua.

At the end of the 20th century, they live in the forests of Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Rwanda.

The earliest mention of pygmies is contained in the story of the Egyptian Khirhuf, a nobleman of the Old Kingdom, who boasted that he had managed to bring a dwarf from his campaign for the amusement of the young king. This inscription dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. NS. In the Egyptian inscription, the dwarf brought by Khirhuf is called dng. This name has survived to this day in the languages ​​of the peoples of Ethiopia: in Amharic, the dwarf is called deng, or dates. Ancient Greek writers tell all sorts of stories about African pygmies, but all of their messages are fantastic.

Pygmies lead a hunting lifestyle. In the pygmy economy, gathering seems to occupy the first place and mainly determines the nutrition of the entire group. Most of the work is done by women, since it is women’s business to obtain plant foods. Women of the whole group living together daily, accompanied by children, gather wild roots, leaves of edible plants and fruits around their camp, catch worms, snails, frogs, snakes and fish.

The pygmies are forced to leave the camp as soon as all suitable plants have been eaten in the vicinity of the camp and the game has been destroyed. The whole group moves to another area of ​​the forest, but wanders within the established boundaries. These boundaries are known to everyone and are strictly observed. Hunting in foreign lands is not allowed and can lead to hostile clashes. Almost all groups of pygmies live in close contact with the tall population, most often with the Bantu. Pygmies usually bring game and forest products to villages in exchange for bananas, vegetables, and iron spearheads. All groups of pygmies speak the languages ​​of their tall neighbors.


House of pygmies made of leaves and sticks

The primitive nature of the culture of the pygmies sharply distinguishes them from the surrounding peoples of the Negroid race. What are pygmies? Is this the autochthonous population of Central Africa? Do they constitute a special anthropological type, or is their origin the result of the degradation of the tall type? These are the main questions that constituted the essence of the Pygmy problem, one of the most controversial in anthropology and ethnography. Soviet anthropologists believe that pygmies are the aborigines of tropical Africa of a special anthropological type, of independent origin.

Growth from 144 to 150 cm for adult males, the skin is light brown, the hair is curly, dark, the lips are relatively thin, the body is large, the arms and legs are short, this physical type can be classified as a special race. The possible number of pygmies can range from 40 to 280 thousand people.

In appearance, the Negritos of Asia are close to them, but genetically there are strong differences between them.

Baka pygmies inhabit the rain forests in the southeast of Cameroon, in the north of the Republic of the Congo, in northern Gabon and in the southwest of the Central African Republic. In February 2016, photographer and journalist Susan Schulman spent several days among the Buck pygmies, making a short report on their lives.

Tropical rainforests are their natural habitat. The main occupations are hunting and gathering, in this harmonious unity with nature they live for centuries, and their world is determined by the presence of a forest. Pygmy tribes are scattered across Africa on an area of ​​178 million hectares.

Pygmies differ from representatives of other African tribes in their diminutiveness - their height rarely exceeds 140 cm. In the photo above, members of the tribe conduct a traditional hunting ceremony.

Susan Schulman became interested in the life of the Baka pygmies after hearing about Louis Sarno, an American scientist who has lived among the Baka pygmies for 30 years in Central Africa, in the rain forest between Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.

Louis Sarno is married to a tribal woman and has spent all these years studying, helping and treating the Baka Pygmies. According to him, half of the children do not live to be five years old, and if he left the tribe for at least a year, he would be scared to return, because he would not find many of his friends alive. Louis Sarno is now in his early sixties, and the average life span of the Buck Pygmies is forty years.

Louis Sarno not only provides medicine, but also does other things: he acts as a teacher for children, lawyer, translator, archivist, writer and chronicler for a community of 600 Baka pygmies in the village of Yandubi.

Louis Sarno came to live with the pygmies in the mid-80s, after one day he heard their music on the radio and decided to go and record more of this music, as much as possible. And he doesn't regret it a bit. He has the opportunity to regularly visit America and Europe, but always returns to Africa. We can say that the song led him to the heart of Africa.

The music of the Baka pygmies is a yodling-like polyphonic chant set against the background of the natural sounds of the rainforest. Imagine the polyphony of 40 female voices and a drum beat by four men on plastic drums.

Louis Sarno claims that he has never heard anything like it before, and it is divine.

Their hypnotic music usually acts as a prelude to the hunt, as the tribe sings to summon a forest spirit named Boby and ask him for permission to hunt in his forest.

Dressed in a suit of leaves, the "spirit of the forest" grants permission to the tribe and blesses those who take part in tomorrow's hunt. In the picture above, a pygmy is about to go hunting with a net.

The basis of the tribe's diet is the meat of a monkey and blue duker - a small forest antelope, but recently these animals in the forest are becoming less and less. This is due to poaching and logging.

“Poachers hunt at night, they scare the animals with torches and calmly shoot them while they are paralyzed by fear. Tank pygmy nets and arrows cannot compete with poachers' firearms.

Deforestation and poachers seriously devastate the forest and greatly harm the way of life of the tank pygmies. Many of these poachers are from the neighboring Bantu ethnic group, which makes up the majority of the population in the region, ”says Susan Shulman.

As a result of the gradual depletion of the rain forests in which the Baka tribe live, the future of their forest home is in question, as it is not clear where this will all lead.

Historically, the Bantu tribe viewed Baka pygmies as “subhuman” and discriminated against them. Currently, relations between them have improved, but some echoes of the past still make themselves felt.

As the traditional life of the Baka pygmies becomes more difficult and problematic day by day, the younger generation has to look for work in cities dominated by Bantu.

“Young people are now at the forefront of change. There are very few opportunities for them to earn money. As forest resources are depleted in terms of hunting, you have to look for other opportunities - and this is usually just a temporary job for the Bantu, who offer, say, five days of hunting $ 1 - and even then they often forget to pay, ”says Susan.

Pygmies (Greek Πυγμαῖοι - "people the size of a fist") are a group of undersized Negroid peoples living in the equatorial forests of Africa.

Testimonies and mentions

Mentioned already in the ancient Egyptian inscriptions of the 3rd millennium BC. e., at a later time - in ancient Greek sources (in the "Iliad" by Homer, Herodotus and Strabo).

In the XVI-XVII centuries. they are referred to as "matimba" in descriptions left by researchers in West Africa.

In the 19th century, their existence was confirmed by the German researcher Georg August Schweinfurt, the Russian researcher V.V. Juncker and others, who discovered these tribes in the rainforests of the Ituri and Uzle river basins (various tribes under the names: Akka, Tikitiki, Obongo, Bambuti, Batwa) ...

In 1929-1930. expedition P. Shebest described the pygmies bambuti, in 1934-1935 researcher M. Guzinde found the pygmies Efe and Basua.

At the end of the 20th century, they live in the forests of Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Rwanda.

The earliest mention of pygmies is contained in the story of the Egyptian Khirhuf, a nobleman of the Old Kingdom, who boasted that he had managed to bring a dwarf from his campaign for the amusement of the young king. This inscription dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. NS. In the Egyptian inscription, the dwarf brought by Khirhuf is called dng. This name has survived to this day in the languages ​​of the peoples of Ethiopia: in Amharic, the dwarf is called deng, or dates. Ancient Greek writers tell all sorts of stories about African pygmies, but all of their messages are fantastic.

Pygmies lead a hunting lifestyle. In the pygmy economy, gathering seems to occupy the first place and mainly determines the nutrition of the entire group. Most of the work is done by women, since it is women’s business to obtain plant foods. Women of the whole group living together daily, accompanied by children, gather wild roots, leaves of edible plants and fruits around their camp, catch worms, snails, frogs, snakes and fish.

The pygmies are forced to leave the camp as soon as all suitable plants have been eaten in the vicinity of the camp and the game has been destroyed. The whole group moves to another area of ​​the forest, but wanders within the established boundaries. These boundaries are known to everyone and are strictly observed. Hunting in foreign lands is not allowed and can lead to hostile clashes. Almost all groups of pygmies live in close contact with the tall population, most often with the Bantu. Pygmies usually bring game and forest products to villages in exchange for bananas, vegetables, and iron spearheads. All groups of pygmies speak the languages ​​of their tall neighbors.


House of pygmies made of leaves and sticks

The primitive nature of the culture of the pygmies sharply distinguishes them from the surrounding peoples of the Negroid race. What are pygmies? Is this the autochthonous population of Central Africa? Do they constitute a special anthropological type, or is their origin the result of the degradation of the tall type? These are the main questions that constituted the essence of the Pygmy problem, one of the most controversial in anthropology and ethnography. Soviet anthropologists believe that pygmies are the aborigines of tropical Africa of a special anthropological type, of independent origin.

Growth from 144 to 150 cm for adult males, the skin is light brown, the hair is curly, dark, the lips are relatively thin, the body is large, the arms and legs are short, this physical type can be classified as a special race. The possible number of pygmies can range from 40 to 280 thousand people.

In appearance, the Negritos of Asia are close to them, but genetically there are strong differences between them.

Pygmies are first mentioned in ancient Egyptian inscriptions from the 3rd millennium BC. NS. at a later time - in ancient Greek sources. In the XVI-XVII centuries. they are referred to as "matimba" in descriptions left by researchers in West Africa. In the 19th century, their existence was confirmed by the German researcher G. Schweinfurt, the Russian researcher V.V. Juncker and others who discovered these tribes in the rainforests of the Ituri and Uzle river basins. In 1929-1930. expedition P. Shebest described the pygmies bambuti, in 1934-1935 researcher M. Guzinde found the pygmies Efe and Basua.

Size and population

The total population of the pygmies is about 300 thousand people. ... Including in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda over 100 thousand people. Zaire - 70 thousand Congo - 25 thousand Cameroon - 15 thousand Gabon - 5 thousand They speak Bantu languages, the Ituri pygmies - Ser-Mundu languages.

Pygmies make up the pygmy Negroid race, are distinguished by their short stature, yellowish skin tone, narrow lips, narrow and low nose. Before the settlement of the Bantu, the pygmies occupied the whole of Central Africa, then they were forced out into the area of ​​tropical forests. We were in strong isolation. We have preserved an archaic culture. They are engaged in hunting, gathering and fishing. The weapon is a bow with arrows, often poisoned, with an iron tip, sometimes a small spear. Traps and traps are widely used. Applied arts are well developed. They retain many features of the tribal structure, roam in groups of 2-4 families.

Occupation

Pygmies eat only what they find, catch or kill in the jungle. They are excellent hunters and their favorite meat is elephant, but more often they manage to catch not very large animals or fish. Pygmies have a special fishing technique. The method they use is based on the poisoning of fish with vegetable poisons. The fish falls asleep and floats to the surface, after which it can be collected simply by hand. Pygmies live in harmony with nature and take as much fish as they need. Unclaimed fish wakes up after half an hour without any damage.

Who are the pygmies PIGMIES are a people living in equatorial forests and migrating from camp to camp, depending on the season. Pygmies make up the pygmy Negroid race, are distinguished by their short stature, yellowish skin tone, narrow lips, narrow and low nose. The average lifespan of pygmies is from 16 to 24 years, depending on the specific people, so evolution made sure that they quickly reach the state of an adult, albeit a short person, in order to have time to have children. It is believed that these are the most ancient inhabitants of the Congo Basin. According to the latest estimates, the number of pygmies in the world varies from 150 thousand to 300 thousand people. The vast majority of them live in Central African countries: Burundi, Gabon, DRC, Zaire, Cameroon, Congo, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda and CAR.

The first mentions of pygmies were made in ancient Egyptian records dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. Later, the ancient Greek historians Herodotus, Strabo, Homer wrote about the pygmies. The real existence of these African tribes was confirmed only in the 19th century by the German traveler Georg Schweinfurt. Russian researcher Vasily Juncker and others.

The growth of adult male pygmies is from 144-150 cm in height. Females are about 120 cm. They have short limbs, light brown skin, which serves as an excellent camouflage in the forest. The hair is dark, curly, the lips are thin.

Pygmies live in the forests. For them, the forest is the supreme deity, the source of everything necessary for survival. The traditional occupation for most pygmies is hunting and gathering. They hunt birds, elephants, antelopes and monkeys. Short bows and poisoned arrows are used for hunting. In addition to various meats, pygmies are very fond of honey from wild bees. In order to get to their favorite treat, they have to climb 45-meter trees, after which they use ash and smoke to disperse the bees. Women collect nuts, berries, mushrooms and roots.

Pygmies live in small groups, no less than 50 members. Each group has a special area for building huts. Marriages between members of different tribes are quite common here. Also, absolutely any member of the tribe, when he wishes, can freely leave and join another tribe. There are no formal leaders in the tribe. The questions and problems that have arisen are resolved by open negotiations.

The weapon is a spear, a small bow, arrows. Pygmies exchange iron for arrowheads from neighboring tribes. Various traps and traps are widely used.

Pygmies are the most famous dwarf tribes living in the forests of tropical Africa. The main areas of concentration of pygmies today are Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Cameroon and Gabon.

Mbutis a tribe of pygmies living in the Ituri forest in Zaire. Most scientists believe that they were most likely the first inhabitants of this region.

Tva a tribe of pygmies in equatorial Africa. They live both in the mountains and on the plains near Lake Kivu in Zaire, Burundi and Rwanda. They maintain close ties with neighboring cattle-breeding tribes, they know how to make pottery.

Tswa this large tribe lives near the swamp south of the Congo River. They, like the Twa tribe, live in cooperation with neighboring tribes, adopting their culture and language. Most of the Tswa are hunters or fishermen.

A group of peoples belonging to the Negrillic race, the indigenous population of tropical Africa. They speak the languages ​​of the Bantu, the Adamaua-Eastern group and the Shari-nil group. Many pygmies maintain a wandering lifestyle, an archaic culture, and traditional beliefs.

- in Greek mythology, a tribe of dwarfs, symbolizing the barbarian world. The name is associated with the small stature of the pygmies and symbolizes the distorted perception of the true ethnos. The Greeks determined the size of the pygmies from ant to monkey. According to various sources, this tribe lived on the southern periphery of the Oycumene - south of Egypt or in India. Herodotus attributed the habitat of the pygmies to the upper reaches of the Nile. Strabo listed pygmies along with large-headed, nest-eared, whiskers, noseless, one-eyed and hook-fingered half-dogs.

There was a legend that the pygmies gave rise to the fertile soil layer of the Egyptian river valleys, so they sometimes acted as a symbol of the fertility of the semi-fabulous lands of the south. To reap the ears, they armed themselves with axes, as if they were going to cut wood. Pliny the Elder argued that pygmies build their huts from mud mixed with feathers and eggshells, and Aristotle settled them in underground caves.

A characteristic motif of pygmy mythology is geranomachy. Legends said that pygmies fight cranes each year for three months, riding on rams, goats and partridges, trying to steal or break the eggs of birds. Moreover, the military campaigns, which took the pygmies three months a year, they made in the southern Russian steppes, where there were nesting cranes. Their enmity was explained by the legend about the transformation into a crane of a pygmy girl who opposed the tribe. The symbolism of geranomachy was found on vases, mosaics, Pompeian frescoes and gems.

Another symbolic motive associated with the pygmies was heraclomachia: myths tell that the pygmies tried to kill the sleeping hero, taking revenge on him for defeating their brother Antaeus. Hercules gathered the pygmies in the skin of the Nemean lion and took them to Eurystheus. Family relations with Antaeus were intended to emphasize the semiotic image of the pygmies, its astonic aspect. A popular technique in artistic creation was the reduction of pygmies and giants into a single storyline.

A Carthaginian deity was also called pygmy, whose head, carved from wood, was placed by the Carthaginians on military ships to intimidate enemies.

Pygmies in Africa

The word "pygmy" usually means something small. In anthropology, this refers to a member of any human group whose adult males do not exceed one and a half meters in height. But the basic concept of this word, as a rule, refers to the African tribes of the pygmies.

The growth of most African pygmies is from 1 m 22 cm to 1 m 42 cm in height. They have short limbs. The skin is reddish brown in color and serves as camouflage in the forest. The head is usually round and broad, with curly hair.

Most pygmies are traditional hunter-gatherers. They hunt antelopes, birds, elephants and monkeys. For this, small bows and poisoned arrows are used for hunting. The women usually pick berries, mushrooms, nuts and roots.

Pygmies live in small groups. Each tribe has at least fifty members. There is a territory for building huts for each group. But with the threat of disappearance of food, each tribe can occupy a different territory. Marriages between members of different tribes are common. In addition, any member of the group is free to leave one and join another tribe whenever he wishes. There are no formal tribal leaders. All problems are resolved through open negotiations.

Sources: www.africa.org.ua, ppt4web.ru, www.worldme.ru, c-cafe.ru, www.e-allmoney.ru

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And etc.; formerly supposedly Pygmy languages

Religion

Traditional beliefs

Racial type

Negrillic type of large Negroid race


Pygmies(Greek. Πυγμαῖοι - "people the size of a fist") - a group of undersized Negroid peoples living in the equatorial forests of Africa. Another name for African pygmies is negrilli.

Testimonials

Mentioned already in the ancient Egyptian inscriptions of the 3rd millennium BC. e., at a later time - in ancient Greek sources (in the "Iliad" by Homer, Herodotus and Strabo).

Pygmies in mythology

Physical type

The Efe and Sua peoples living to the east of the tank initially give birth to small children - the growth restrictor is turned on during intrauterine development. At the tank, children are born normal, but in the first two years of life, the children of the tank grow noticeably slower than Europeans.

Occupation

Pygmies are inhabitants of forests, the forest for them is the source of everything necessary for life. The main occupations are hunting and gathering. Pygmies do not make stone tools, previously they did not know how to make fire (they carried the source of fire with them). The hunting tool is a bow with arrows with metal tips, and these tips are often poisoned. Iron is exchanged with neighbors.

Language

Pygmies usually speak the languages ​​of the peoples around them - Efe, Asua, Bambuti, etc. There are some phonetic differences in the dialects of the Pygmies, but with the exception of the Baka people, the Pygmies have lost their native languages.

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Literature

  • Patnam E. Eight Years Among the Pygmies / Ann Putnam; With a preface. and ed. B.I.Sharevskaya; Artist B. A. Diodorov. - M .: Publishing house of oriental literature, 1961. - 184 p. - (Travel to the countries of the East). - 75,000 copies(region)

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Excerpt from the Pygmies

- Dr ... or a fool! ... - he said.
“And that one is not! they have been gossiping about her too, ”he thought of the little princess, who was not in the dining room.
- And where is the princess? - he asked. - Hiding? ...
“She’s not quite well,” said m llе Bourienne, smiling cheerfully. “She will not come out. This is so understandable in her position.
- Hm! um! kh! kh! - said the prince and sat down at the table.
The plate didn’t seem clean to him; he pointed to the spot and dropped it. Tikhon picked it up and handed it to the barman. The little princess was not unwell; but she was so overwhelmingly afraid of the prince that, hearing that he was out of sorts, she decided not to go out.
“I’m afraid for the child,” she said to m lle Bourienne. “God knows what fright can do.
In general, the little princess lived in Bald Hills constantly under a feeling of fear and antipathy towards the old prince, which she was not aware of, because fear so prevailed that she could not feel it. There was also antipathy on the part of the prince, but it was drowned out by contempt. The princess, having settled down in the Bald Hills, especially fell in love with m lle Bourienne, spent her days with her, asked her to spend the night with her, and often talked with her about her father-in-law and judged him.
- Il nous arrive du monde, mon prince, [Guests are coming to us, prince.] - said m lle Bourienne, unrolling a white napkin with her rosy hands. - Son excellence le rince Kouraguine avec son fils, a ce que j "ai entendu dire? [His Excellency Prince Kuraguine with his son, as far as I have heard?]" She said inquiringly.
“Hm… this excellence boy… I assigned him to the college,” the prince said insulted. - And why my son, I cannot understand. Princess Lizaveta Karlovna and Princess Marya may know; I do not know why he is bringing this son here. I don’t need it. - And he looked at the reddened daughter.
- Unhealthy, or what? From the fear of the minister, as this fool Alpatych said today.
- No, mon pere. [father.]
No matter how unfortunate M lle Bourienne got on the subject of conversation, she did not stop and chatted about the greenhouses, about the beauty of the new blossoming flower, and the prince softened after the soup.
After dinner he went to see his daughter-in-law. The little princess was sitting at a small table and chatting with Masha, the maid. She turned pale when she saw her father-in-law.
The little princess has changed greatly. She was rather bad than good, now. The cheeks drooped, the lip went up, the eyes were drawn down.
- Yes, some kind of heaviness, - she answered the prince's question, what she felt.
- Do you need what?
- No, merci, mon pere. [thank you, father.]
- Well, good, good.
He went out and walked to the waiter's. Alpatych, bending his head, stood in the waiter's room.
- Is the road covered?
- Thrown over, your Excellency; forgive me, for God's sake, for one stupidity.
The prince interrupted him and laughed his unnatural laugh.
- Well, good, good.
He held out his hand, which Alpatych kissed, and went into the office.
In the evening, Prince Vasily arrived. He was met at the avenue (as the avenue was called) by a coachman and waiters, with a shout they drove his carts and sleighs to the outbuilding along a road covered with snow on purpose.
Prince Vasil and Anatol were assigned separate rooms.
Anatole was sitting, taking off his jacket and propping his hands on his sides, in front of the table, to the corner of which he, smiling, fixedly and absentmindedly fixed his beautiful large eyes. Throughout his life, he looked at it as a continuous amusement, which for some reason someone undertook to arrange for him. In the same way, he now looked at his trip to the evil old man and to the rich ugly heiress. All this could come out, according to his assumption, very good and funny. And why not marry, if she is very rich? It never gets in the way, Anatole thought.
He shaved, perfumed himself with the thoroughness and panache that had become his habit, and with his natural, good-natured, victorious expression, carrying his handsome head high, he entered his father's room. Near Prince Vasily his two valets were busy dressing him; he himself looked animatedly around him and nodded cheerfully to his son who entered, as if he were saying: "So, that's how I need you!"
- No, no kidding, father, is she very ugly? A? He asked, as if continuing the conversation he had more than once conducted during the trip.
- Completely. Nonsense! The main thing is to try to be respectful and reasonable with the old prince.
“If he scolds, I'll leave,” said Anatole. - I hate these old people. A?
- Remember that for you everything depends on it.
At this time, in the maiden's room, not only was the arrival of the minister with his son known, but the appearance of both of them was already described in detail. Princess Marya sat alone in her room and tried in vain to overcome her inner excitement.
“Why did they write, why did Lisa tell me about it? After all, this cannot be! She said to herself, looking in the mirror. - How do I get out into the living room? If even I liked him, I would not be able to be with him by myself now. " The thought of her father's gaze terrified her.
The little princess and m lle Bourienne have already received all the information they need from the maid Masha about what a ruddy, black-browed handsome man the minister’s son was, and how papa forced their legs up the stairs, and he, like an eagle, walking three steps, ran behind him. Having received this information, the little princess with m lle Bourienne, still heard from the corridor in their animatedly talking voices, entered the princess's room.