They sat on the hammock’s edge, gently swinging back and forth. Apart from the odd spike that had to be removed from the canvas, they all agreed it was very comfortable. Soll smiled with pleasure.

“H’ideal, h’ideal! Now, you ’elp yoreselves to grapes while I crack some almonds for ye. Grow ’em all meself, nothin’ better fer puttin’ a twinkle to yore eye an’ a point to yore spikes.”

The grapes were delicious, small but plump and juicy. Soll sat on a treestump, lining almonds up and popping them gently with his giant mallet.

“Isn’t it lonely, mister Soll, living alone in the midst of the woods with nobeast for company?” Dann asked.

Soll passed them a great pawful of kernels, raising his bushy brows. “Lonely, wot’s lonely? Great shells’n’vines, ’ow could a body get lonely round ’ere, liddle bushtail? I got birds t’sing fer me, sunshine, showers, fresh breezes t’ruffle the hair o’ my lovely trees, clear water t’drink . . . Oh, an’ Croikle, too!” He reached down by the side of the stump and a small green frog hopped onto his platelike paw. Soll grinned happily. “Croikle, these are me new friends. Bid ’em good noontide, will ye?”

The frog’s tiny green throat bulged out. “Croikle!”

This seemed to amuse Soll greatly. “Hohohoho! ’Tis all ’e ever says. Croikle! An’ who pray could argue wid that? Lissen t’this. Yore a great fierce beast who’s slayed thousands, aren’t you, mate?”

The frog gazed at him with its small golden eyes. “Croikle!”

Soll laughed until his spikes rattled, and the four travelers could not resist laughing along with the simple-hearted giant. He passed them more almonds and grapes. “See, my friend’s never in a bad mood, never argues or grizzles. Go on, ask ’im a question.”

Dippler winked at the little frog. “Soll tells me you ate four barrels o’ grapes’n’almonds. True?”

The frog turned its gaze on the Guosim shrew as if it had heard his question and was considering the answer. Then it spoke. “Croikle!”

Soll nearly fell off his treestump laughing. “Hohohoohoohoo! ’E said it weren’t four barrels, ’twas six!”

He encouraged the others to question his frog, commenting each time the tiny creature croaked. Song, Dann and Burble took turns.

“Tell me, sir, where d’you sleep at night?”

“Croikle!”

“Well I never. ’E said that ’e kicks me out o’ my ’ammock an’ sleeps there every night. Hoohoohoohoo!”

“Is it true that frogs like to swim in the stream?”

“Croikle!”

“Wot, swim, says ’e, never! I’ve got me own liddle boat, he says, mister Soll made it outta an almond shell. Hohohoho!”

“Sir, you look like a fine singer, would you sing us a song?”

“Croikle!”

“Did you ’ear that? ’E just sang ’is favorite song, the shortest one ever written. My my, wot a clever frog. Hohohohoohoo!”