It seems a long time since we have heard anything of the Frogman and
Cayke the Cookie Cook, who had left the Yip Country in search of the
diamond-studded gold dishpan which had been mysteriously stolen the same
night that Ozma had disappeared from the Emerald City. But you must
remember that while the Frogman and the Cookie Cook were preparing to
descend from their mountain-top, and even while on their way to the
farmhouse of Wiljon the Winkie, Dorothy and the Wizard and their friends
were encountering the adventures we have just related.
So it was that on the very morning when the travelers from the Emerald
City bade farewell to the Czarover of the City of Herku, Cayke and the
Frogman awoke in a grove in which they had passed the night sleeping on
beds of leaves. There were plenty of farmhouses in the neighborhood, but
no one seemed to welcome the puffy, haughty Frogman or the little
dried-up Cookie Cook, and so they slept comfortably enough underneath
the trees of the grove.
The Frogman wakened first, on this morning, and after going to the tree
where Cayke slept and finding her still wrapt in slumber, he decided to
take a little walk and seek some breakfast. Coming to the edge of the
grove he observed, half a mile away, a pretty yellow house that was
surrounded by a yellow picket fence, so he walked toward this house and
on entering the yard found a Winkie woman picking up sticks with which
to build a fire to cook her morning meal.
"For goodness sakes!" she exclaimed on seeing the Frogman, "what are you
doing out of your frog-pond?"
"I am traveling in search of a jeweled gold dishpan, my good woman," he
replied, with an air of great dignity.
"You won't find it here, then," said she. "Our dishpans are tin, and
they're good enough for anybody. So go back to your pond and leave me
alone."
She spoke rather crossly and with a lack of respect that greatly annoyed
the Frogman.
"Allow me to tell you, madam," he said, "that although I am a frog I am
the Greatest and Wisest Frog in all the world. I may add that I possess
much more wisdom than any Winkie--man or woman--in this land. Wherever I
go, people fall on their knees before me and render homage to the Great
Frogman! No one else knows so much as I; no one else is so grand--so
magnificent!"
"If you know so much," she retorted, "why don't you know where your
dishpan is, instead of chasing around the country after it?"
"Presently," he answered, "I am going where it is; but just now I am
traveling and have had no breakfast. Therefore I honor you by asking you
for something to eat."
"Oho! the Great Frogman is hungry as any tramp, is he? Then pick up
these sticks and help me to build the fire," said the woman
contemptuously.
"Me! The Great Frogman pick up sticks?" he exclaimed in horror. "In the
Yip Country, where I am more honored and powerful than any King could
be, people weep with joy when I ask them to feed me."
"Then that's the place to go for your breakfast," declared the woman.
"I fear you do not realize my importance," urged the Frogman. "Exceeding
wisdom renders me superior to menial duties."
"It's a great wonder to me," remarked the woman, carrying her sticks to
the house, "that your wisdom doesn't inform you that you'll get no
breakfast here," and she went in and slammed the door behind her.
The Frogman felt he had been insulted, so he gave a loud croak of
indignation and turned away. After going a short distance he came upon a
faint path which led across a meadow in the direction of a grove of
pretty trees, and thinking this circle of evergreens must surround a
house--where perhaps he would be kindly received--he decided to follow
the path. And by and by he came to the trees, which were set close
together, and pushing aside some branches he found no house inside the
circle, but instead a very beautiful pond of clear water.
Now the Frogman, although he was so big and so well educated and now
aped the ways and customs of human beings, was still a frog. As he gazed
at this solitary, deserted pond, his love for water returned to him with
irresistible force.
"If I cannot get a breakfast I may at least have a fine swim," said he,
and pushing his way between the trees he reached the bank. There he took
off his fine clothing, laying his shiny purple hat and his gold-headed
cane beside it. A moment later he sprang with one leap into the water
and dived to the very bottom of the pond.
The water was deliciously cool and grateful to his thick, rough skin,
and the Frogman swam around the pond several times before he stopped to
rest. Then he floated upon the surface and examined the pond with some
curiosity. The bottom and sides were all lined with glossy tiles of a
light pink color; just one place in the bottom, where the water bubbled
up from a hidden spring, had been left free. On the banks the green
grass grew to the edge of the pink tiling.
And now, as the Frogman examined the place, he found that on one side
the pool, just above the water line, had been set a golden plate on
which some words were deeply engraved. He swam toward this plate and on
reaching it read the following inscription:
_This is_
THE TRUTH POND
_Whoever bathes in this
water must always
afterward tell_
THE TRUTH
This statement startled the Frogman. It even worried him, so that he
leaped upon the bank and hurriedly began to dress himself.
"A great misfortune has befallen me," he told himself, "for hereafter I
cannot tell people I am wise, since it is not the truth. The truth is
that my boasted wisdom is all a sham, assumed by me to deceive people
and make them defer to me. In truth, no living creature can know much
more than his fellows, for one may know one thing, and another know
another thing, so that wisdom is evenly scattered throughout the world.
But--ah, me!--what a terrible fate will now be mine. Even Cayke the
Cookie Cook will soon discover that my knowledge is no greater than her
own; for having bathed in the enchanted water of the Truth Pond, I can
no longer deceive her or tell a lie."
[Illustration]
More humbled than he had been for many years, the Frogman went back to
the grove where he had left Cayke and found the woman now awake and
washing her face in a tiny brook.
"Where has Your Honor been?" she asked.
"To a farmhouse to ask for something to eat," said he, "but the woman
refused me."
"How dreadful!" she exclaimed. "But never mind; there are other houses,
where the people will be glad to feed the Wisest Creature in all the
World."
"Do you mean yourself?" he asked.
"No, I mean you."
The Frogman felt strongly impelled to tell the truth, but struggled hard
against it. His reason told him there was no use in letting Cayke know
he was not wise, for then she would lose much respect for him, but each
time he opened his mouth to speak he realized he was about to tell the
truth and shut it again as quickly as possible. He tried to talk about
something else, but the words necessary to undeceive the woman would
force themselves to his lips in spite of all his struggles. Finally,
knowing that he must either remain dumb or let the truth prevail, he
gave a low groan of despair and said:
"Cayke, I am _not_ the Wisest Creature in all the World; I am not wise
at all."
[Illustration]
"Oh, you must be!" she protested. "You told me so yourself, only last
evening."
"Then last evening I failed to tell you the truth," he admitted, looking
very shamefaced, for a frog. "I am sorry I told you that lie, my good
Cayke; but, if you must know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth, I am not really as wise as you are."
The Cookie Cook was greatly shocked to hear this, for it shattered one
of her most pleasing illusions. She looked at the gorgeously dressed
Frogman in amazement.
"What has caused you to change your mind so suddenly?" she inquired.
"I have bathed in the Truth Pond," he said, "and whoever bathes in that
water is ever afterward obliged to tell the truth."
"You were foolish to do that," declared the woman. "It is often very
embarrassing to tell the truth. I'm glad _I_ didn't bathe in that
dreadful water!"
The Frogman looked at his companion thoughtfully.
"Cayke," said he, "I want you to go to the Truth Pond and take a bath in
its water. For, if we are to travel together and encounter unknown
adventures, it would not be fair that I alone must always tell you the
truth, while you could tell me whatever you pleased. If we both dip in
the enchanted water there will be no chance in the future of our
deceiving one another."
"No," she asserted, shaking her head positively, "I won't do it, Your
Honor. For, if I told you the truth, I'm sure you wouldn't like me. No
Truth Pond for me. I'll be just as I am, an honest woman who can say
what she wants to without hurting anyone's feelings."
With this decision the Frogman was forced to be content, although he was
sorry the Cookie Cook would not listen to his advice.
[Illustration]
The Unhappy Ferryman
[Illustration]