It seems a long time since we have heard anything of the Frogman andCayke the Cookie Cook, who had left the Yip Country in search of thediamond-studded dishpan which had been mysteriously stolen the samenight 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 mountaintop, 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 EmeraldCity bade farewell to the Czarover of the City of Herku, Cayke and theFrogman awoke in a grove in which they had passed the night sleepingon beds of leaves. There were plenty of farmhouses in the neighborhood, but no one seemed to welcome the puffy, haughty Frogmanor the little dried-up Cookie Cook, and so they slept comfortablyenough underneath the trees of the grove. The Frogman wakened firston this morning, and after going to the tree where Cayke slept andfinding her still wrapped in slumber, he decided to take a little walkand seek some breakfast. Coming to the edge of the grove, he observedhalf a mile away a pretty yellow house that was surrounded by a yellowpicket fence, so he walked toward this house and on entering the yardfound a Winkie woman picking up sticks with which to build a fire tocook her morning meal.

"For goodness sake!" she exclaimed on seeing the Frogman. "What areyou 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, andthey're good enough for anybody. So go back to your pond and leave mealone." She spoke rather crossly and with a lack of respect thatgreatly annoyed the Frogman.

"Allow me to tell you, madam," said he, "that although I am a frog, Iam the Greatest and Wisest Frog in all the world. I may add that Ipossess much more wisdom than any Winkie--man or woman--in this land.Wherever I go, people fall on their knees before me and render homageto the Great Frogman! No one else knows so much as I; no one else isso grand, so magnificent!"

"If you know so much," she retorted, "why don't you know where yourdishpan is instead of chasing around the country after it?"

"Presently," he answered, "I am going where it is, but just now I amtraveling and have had no breakfast. Therefore I honor you by askingyou for something to eat."

"Oho! The Great Frogman is hungry as any tramp, is he? Then pick upthese sticks and help me to build the fire," said the womancontemptuously.

"Me! The Great Frogman pick up sticks?" he exclaimed in horror. "Inthe Yip Country where I am more honored and powerful than any Kingcould 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 sticksto the house, "that your wisdom doesn't inform you that you'll get nobreakfast here." And she went in and slammed the door behind her.

The Frogman felt he had been insulted, so he gave a loud croak ofindignation and turned away. After going a short distance, he cameupon a faint path which led across a meadow in the direction of agrove of pretty trees, and thinking this circle of evergreens mustsurround a house where perhaps he would be kindly received, he decidedto follow the path. And by and by he came to the trees, which wereset close together, and pushing aside some branches he found no houseinside the circle, but instead a very beautiful pond of clear water.

Now the Frogman, although he was so big and well educated and now apedthe ways and customs of human beings, was still a frog. As he gazedat this solitary, deserted pond, his love for water returned to himwith irresistible force. "If I cannot get a breakfast, I may at leasthave a fine swim," said he, and pushing his way between the trees, hereached the bank. There he took off his fine clothing, laying hisshiny 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 ofthe pond.

The water was deliciously cool and grateful to his thick, rough skin,and the Frogman swam around the pond several times before he stoppedto rest. Then he floated upon the surface and examined the pond withThe 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 of 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 heleaped upon the bank and hurriedly began to dress himself. "A greatmisfortune has befallen me," he told himself, "for hereafter I cannottell people I am wise, since it is not the truth. The truth is thatmy boasted wisdom is all a sham, assumed by me to deceive people andmake them defer to me. In truth, no living creature can know muchmore than his fellows, for one may know one thing, and another knowanother thing, so that wisdom is evenly scattered throughout theworld. But--ah me!--what a terrible fate will now be mine. EvenCayke the Cookie Cook will soon discover that my knowledge is nogreater than her own, for having bathed in the enchanted water of theTruth Pond, I can no longer deceive her or tell a lie."

More humbled than he had been for many years, the Frogman went back tothe grove where he had left Cayke and found the woman now awake andwashing her face in a tiny brook. "Where has Your Honor been?" sheasked.

"To a farmhouse to ask for something to eat," said he, "but the womanrefused me."

"How dreadful!" she exclaimed. "But never mind, there are otherhouses where the people will be glad to feed the Wisest Creature inall the World."

"Do you mean yourself?" he asked.

"No, I mean you."

The Frogman felt strongly impelled to tell the truth, but struggledhard against it. His reason told him there was no use in lettingCayke know he was not wise, for then she would lose much respect forhim, but each time he opened his mouth to speak, he realized he wasabout to tell the truth and shut it again as quickly as possible. Hetried to talk about something else, but the words necessary toundeceive the woman would force themselves to his lips in spite of allhis struggles. Finally, knowing that he must either remain dumb orlet 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 wiseat all."

"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 this lie,my good Cayke, but if you must know the truth, the whole truth andnothing but the truth, I am not really as wise as you are."

The Cookie Cook was greatly shocked to hear this, for it shattered oneof her most pleasing illusions. She looked at the gorgeously dressedFrogman in amazement. "What has caused you to change your mind sosuddenly?" she inquired.

"I have bathed in the Truth Pond," he said, "and whoever bathes inthat 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. Forif we are to travel together and encounter unknown adventures, itwould not be fair that I alone must always tell you the truth, whileyou could tell me whatever you pleased. If we both dip in theenchanted water, there will be no chance in the future of ourdeceiving one another."

"No," she asserted, shaking her head positively, "I won't do it, YourHonor. 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 cansay what she wants to without hurting anyone's feelings."

With this decision the Frogman was forced to be content, although hewas sorry the Cookie Cook would not listen to his advice.