glance it was
apparent to the bird and the mouse that their companion was in trouble.

"Elephant!" shouted Tweaty. "Get away from that thing! Look at its
teeth! It will eat your nose off! Get your body away from it!"

[Illustration: Elephant vs. Forest Monster]

But Elephant was determined. He made a loud trumpet noise and stepped
on the Monster's foot. With a howl of pain, the Forest Monster dropped
the cat.

"What do you think you're doing, to try and eat Fisher up like that? A
poor defenseless cat! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

"I wasn't going to eat her up, you dolt!" said the Monster in a cold and
scratchy voice. "I was trying to see if it was a lion. I was told by a
certain squirrel that it was a lion who lopped my head off."

"But you've still got your head," Tweaty interjected.

"Yeah, _now_!" said the Monster. "But it was a pain in the neck trying
to get it back! And before I could, my body began to shrink. I kept
getting smaller and smaller. I felt like Alice after eating the wrong
thing!"

"Holy cow!" said Nibbles. "Are you saying that you were once bigger than
you are now?"

"No, actually. I found myself a way to restore my size."

"How is that?"

"I have captured a very magical insect-bug in one of my webs. Sweet
little thing, too. Some people spray insects with a flit gun, but I like
to eat them up. Bugs are yummy in my tummy! But my little Lovebug is
special. She doesn't go in my tummy. Instead, she gets to stay wound up
in my web, only to be let free long enough to give me what I need."

"What is that?" asked Elephant with a shudder.

"The biggest and grandest thing in the universe is, of course, True
Love. Even though shaped a bit like a cockroach, my Lovebug can produce
the stuff inside her teeny little heart. All I have to do is chant a
certain incantation and then to have her kiss me once or twice each day,
and I stay as big as I like!"

"But that is terrible!" said Tweaty. "You can't abuse Love that way!
Love is supposed to be beautiful and friendly and stuff like that! To
cheapen this sacred gift by forcing someone into submission by magic or
force is an abuse of Love, and not what the gods had in mind for us at
all. If you are making this Love-insect your slave, you are abusing the
whole concept and also missing the point!"

With another tremendous roar, the huge spider was gone. He obviously did
not care for any more lecturing that day.

"Good riddance, I say!" spoke