The Tale of Solomon Owl, Arthur Scott Bailey [first color ebook reader .txt] 📗
- Author: Arthur Scott Bailey
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It was a true statement, too; because Mr. Frog had not yet discovered Solomon Owl's exact whereabouts.
[pg 013]But he learned them soon; for Solomon immediately dropped down from the big willow and alighted on the bank near Mr. Frog—altogether too near him, in fact, for the tailor's comfort.
Solomon looked at Mr. Frog very solemnly. And he thought that he shivered.
“What's the matter? Are you ill?” Solomon Owl inquired. “You seem to be shaking.”
“Just a touch of chills and fever, probably!” replied Mr. Frog with an uneasy smile. “You know it's very damp here.”
“You don't look in the best of health—that's a fact!” Solomon Owl remarked. “You appear to me to be somewhat green in the face.” And he laughed once more—that same hollow, mirthless laugh.
Mr. Frog couldn't help jumping, because the sound alarmed him.
“Don't be disturbed!” said Solomon Owl. “I like all the Frog family.”
[pg 014]At that remark, Mr. Frog started violently That was exactly the trouble! Solomon Owl was altogether too fond of frogs, whether they were old or young, big or little.
It was no wonder that Mr. Frog swallowed rapidly sixteen times before he could say another word.
[pg 015]An Odd Bargain
While Mr. Frog was swallowing nothing rapidly, he was thinking rapidly, too. There was something about Solomon Owl's big, staring eyes that made Mr. Frog feel uncomfortable. And if he had thought he had any chance of escaping he would have dived into the brook and swum under the bank.
But Solomon Owl was too near him for that. And Mr. Frog was afraid his caller would pounce upon him any moment. So he quickly thought of a plan to save himself. “No doubt——” he began. But Solomon Owl interrupted him.
[pg 016]“There!” cried Solomon. “You can speak, after all. I supposed you'd swallowed your tongue. And I was just waiting to see what you'd do next. I thought maybe you would swallow your head.”
Mr. Frog managed to laugh at the joke, though, to tell the truth, he felt more nervous than ever. He saw what was in Solomon Owl's mind, for Solomon was thinking of swallowing Mr. Frog's head himself.
“No doubt—” Mr. Frog resumed—“no doubt you've come to ask me to make you a new suit of clothes.”
Now, Solomon Owl had had no such idea at all. But when it was mentioned to him, he rather liked it.
“Will you?” he inquired, with a highly interested air.
[pg 017]“Why, certainly!” the tailor replied. And for the first time since he had turned his backward somersault into the bulrushes, he smiled widely. “I'll tell you what I'll do!” he said. “First, I'll make you a coat free. And second, if you like it I will then make you a waistcoat and trousers, at double rates.”
Solomon Owl liked the thought of getting a coat for nothing. But for all that, he looked at the tailor somewhat doubtfully.
“Will it take you long?” he asked.
“No, indeed!” Mr. Frog told him. “I'll make your coat while you wait.”
“Oh, I wasn't going away,” Solomon assured him with an odd look which made Mr. Frog shiver again. “Be quick, please! Because I have some important business to attend to.”
[pg 018]Mr. Frog couldn't help wondering if it wasn't he himself that Solomon Owl was going to attend to. In spite of his fears, to work to cut up some cloth that hung just outside his door.
“Stop!” Solomon Owl cried in a voice that seemed to shake the very ground. “You haven't measured me yet!”
“It's not necessary,” Mr. Frog explained glibly. “I've become so skilful that one look at an elegant figure like yours is all that I need.”
Naturally, Mr. Frog's remark pleased Solomon Owl. And he uttered ten rapid hoots, which served to make Mr. Frog's fingers fly all the faster. Soon he was sewing Solomon's coat with long stitches; and though his needle slipped now and then, he did not pause to take out a single stitch. For some reason, Mr. Frog was in a great hurry.
[pg 019]Solomon Owl did not appear to notice that the tailor was not taking much pains with his sewing. Perhaps Mr. Frog worked so fast that Solomon could not see what he was doing.
Anyhow, he was delighted when Mr. Frog suddenly cried:
“It's finished!” And then he tossed the coat to Solomon. “Try it on!” he said. “I want to see how well it fits you.”
Solomon Owl held up the garment and looked at it very carefully. And as he examined it a puzzled look came over his great pale face.
There was something about his new coat that he did not understand.
[pg 020]The Cold Weather Coat
Yes! As he held up his new coat and looked at it, Solomon Owl was puzzled. He turned his head toward Mr. Frog and stared at him for a moment. And then he turned his head away from the tailor and gazed upon the coat again.
Mr. Frog was most uncomfortable—especially when Solomon looked at him.
“Everything's all right, isn't it?” he inquired.
Solomon Owl slowly shook his head.
“This is a queer coat!” he said. “What's this bag at the top of it?”
[pg 021]“Oh!” exclaimed Mr. Frog. “That's the hood! Knowing that you spend your winters here in Pleasant Valley, I made a hood to go over your head.... You'll find it very comfortable in cold weather—and it's the latest style, too. All the winter coats this year will have hoods, with holes to see through, you know.”
Solomon Owl looked relieved at Mr. Frog's explanation. But there was still something more that appeared to trouble him.
“How shall I get into the coat?” he inquired. “It doesn't open in front, as it should.”
“Another cold-weather style!” Mr. Frog assured him. “It's wind-proof! And instead of buttoning the coat, you pull it on over your head.”
Solomon Owl said he didn't like that style very well.
[pg 022]“Then I can easily change it,” the tailor told him. “But just try it on!” he urged. “It may please you, after all.”
So Solomon Owl pulled the coat over his head. And it fell down about him, almost reaching his feet. But the coat did not seem to suit him at all, for he began to splutter and choke.
“What's the matter now?” Mr. Frog asked him.
“I can't see—that's what's the matter!” Solomon Owl cried in a voice that sounded hollower than ever, because it was muffled by the hood, which covered his head.
“I declare—I haven't cut the holes for your eyes!” the tailor exclaimed. “Just wait a moment and I'll make everything satisfactory.” He clinked his shears together sharply as he spoke.
But Solomon Owl told him that he wouldn't think of letting anybody use shears so near his eyes.
“I'll take off the coat,” he said. “And I know now that you're a very poor tailor, or you wouldn't have made such a mistake.” He began to tug at the coat. But he soon found that taking it off was not so easy as putting it on. Solomon's sharp claws caught in the cloth; and his hooked beak, too, fastened itself in the hood the moment he tried to pull the coat over his head. “Here!” he cried to Mr. Frog. “Just lend me a hand! I can't see to help myself.”
But Mr. Frog did not even answer him.
“Don't you hear me?” Solomon Owl shouted, as he struggled with his new coat, only to become tangled in it more than ever.
Still, the tailor said never a word, though something very like a giggle, followed by a splash, caught Solomon's ear.
“He's left me!” Solomon Owl groaned.
[pg 024]“Mr. Frog has left me to get out of this coat alone. And goodness knows how I'm ever a-going to do it.” He threshed about so vigorously that he tripped himself and fell upon the bank of the brook, rolling over and over toward the water.
He had a very narrow escape. If he hadn't happened to bring up against an old stump he would certainly have tumbled into the stream.
Though Solomon couldn't see, he knew that he was in danger. So he lay on his back on the ground and carefully tore his new coat into strings and ribbons.
At last he was free. And he rose to his feet feeling very sheepish, for he knew that Mr. Frog had played a sly trick on him.
[pg 025]“Nevermind!” said Solomon Owl, as he flew way. “I'll come back to-morrow and ask Mr. Frog to make me a waistcoat and trousers. And then——” He did not finish what he was saying. But there is no doubt that whatever it was, it could not have been very pleasant for Mr. Frog.
Just as he had planned, Solomon Owl returned to the brook the next day. And he was both surprised and disappointed at what he found.
The door of Mr. Frog's tailor's shop was shut and locked. And on it there was a sign, which said:
TO LET
“He's moved away!” cried Solomon Owl. And he went off feeling that he had been cheated out of a good dinner—to say nothing of a new waistcoat—and new trousers, too.
[pg 026]He had not been gone long when the door opened. And Mr. Frog leaped nimbly outside. He took the sign off the door; and sitting down cross-legged upon the bank, he began to sew upon Jasper Jay's new blue suit, while his face wore a wider smile than ever.
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