let with, and
also I pulled a fish from the river and left it lying on the bank to
gasp for lack of water until it died. I don't know why I did those
wicked things, but I did them. So the Emperor of the Winkies--who is
the Tin Woodman and has a very tender tin heart--punished me by denying
me any communication with beasts, birds or fishes. I cannot understand
them when they speak to me, although I know that other people can do
so, nor can the creatures understand a word I say to them. Every time
I meet one of them, I am reminded of my former cruelty, and it makes me
very unhappy."

"Really," said Cayke, "I'm sorry for you, although the Tin Woodman is
not to blame for punishing you."

"What is he mumbling about?" asked the Frogman.

"He is talking to me, but you don't understand him," she replied. And
then she told him of the ferryman's punishment and afterward explained
to the ferryman that they wanted to stay all night with him and be fed.

He gave them some fruit and bread, which was the only sort of food he
had, and he allowed Cayke to sleep in a room of his cottage. But the
Frogman he refused to admit to his house, saying that the frog's
presence made him miserable and unhappy. At no time would he look
directly at the Frogman, or even toward him, fearing he would shed
tears if he did so; so the big frog slept on the riverbank where he
could hear little frogs croaking in the river all the night through.
But that did not keep him awake; it merely soothed him to slumber, for
he realized how much superior he was to them.

Just as the sun was rising on a new day, the ferryman rowed the two
travelers across the river--keeping his back to the Frogman all the
way--and then Cayke thanked him and bade him goodbye and the ferryman
rowed home again.

On this side of the river, there were no paths at all, so it was
evident they had reached a part of the country little frequented by
travelers. There was a marsh at the south of them, sandhills at the
north, and a growth of scrubby underbrush leading toward a forest at
the east. So the east was really the least difficult way to go, and
that direction was the one they had determined to follow.

Now the Frogman, although he wore green patent-leather shoes with ruby
buttons, had very large and flat feet, and when he tramped through the
scrub, his weight crushed down the underbrush and made a path for Cayke
to follow him. Therefore they soon reached the forest, where t