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On The Toad Road II



"This Cloak?" Thomas said. "This cloak was a gift from a stranger on the road."
"And the walking staff?" Queen Angelica said.
"Also, yes," he said, "From the same kind traveler who saw I was in need of appropriate traveling attire."
Angelica could not remember hearing such a bold and ignorant lie as her brother was spewing at that moment. He had obviously stolen the cloak of a wandering sorcerer. She wondered what since she had left home turned Thomas into such a devious soul. It could not have been the farm or their mother and father. They led a good and honest life. She was more sad than angry for her brother whom she loved despite his apparent fall from honesty and integrity.
"Well Thomas," she said. "I suggest you wear your new cloak inside-out. Impersonating a mystic warrants a prison sentence, and stealing from one, well, they still behead people here, you know." Tight-lipped, Thomas fidgeted and gazed out a window.
"Yes, well don’t you know so much," he said.
"You must be hungry," the young queen said. She escorted her brother to a modest dining room with a wooden table, two wooden chairs, and a smoldering fire in the hearth. There they ate dark bread and stew made with a most subtle spice that Thomas had never tasted. They drank a sweet warm drink of egg and milk.
"What will you do now that you’re here?" Angelica said.
"I thought you might give me a position. I’ve come to make something of myself," Thomas said.
Angelica didn't offer him a position, she offered him a job instead. Thomas objected to being offered work instead of status, and they argued. The brother felt sure he deserved more by the mere fact he was the queens brother. She invited him to return to where he came from if he didn’t like the offer. He took the job.
He was given work as a messenger. His first assignment was to travel the Toad Road as a courier between the capital city and the sea. Thomas complained unendingly that the brother of the queen shouldn’t have to do such menial work as that of a delivery boy. Angelica told him that if he had aspirations toward higher positions then perhaps he should prove himself. Thomas grumbled and stomped about and then finally agreed.
On the morning he was to leave he went to the city gate with his mystic’s cloak and walking stick. There Angelica waited with a sentry and Thomas’s traveling companion. His traveling companion was the toad. The same toad he had met on his way to the city.
"It’s the withered amphibian," Thomas said. The toad smiled.
"Ah, it’s the boy," the toad said.
"You two have met," Angelica said. "Well good. Thomas listen to Toad. He knows the country well. Do stay on the road. It can be dangerous."
"Oh, yes, listen to toad." Thomas said. "Well good-by, see you soon." Thomas hustled quickly down the road, shouting behind. "I hope you can hop quickly, Toad, we have along way to go."
But Thomas was rash. He didn’t know that court stables on the edge of the city had a donkey cart waiting for him and the toad to make their journey.
Toad turned to Angelica, "Rash youth, wise Queen. I’ll take care of him for you."
Toad hobbled to the stables, got the donkey cart and started out on the road. The donkey was glad to be pulling such a light load. the donkey’s language skills were not very developed, but he and the toad had a nice conversation anyway. They talked about the donkey’s life taking passengers up and down the road, where the good patches of grass lay along the way, good stable hands and the bad ones. And time passed by.

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Thomas hurried along as quickly as he could. His intention was to lose the toad, but he was getting hungry. His stomach was tightening painfully. But as he walked along, he smelled a cooking fire off in the woods. He was drawn to the smell. He dropped the walking staff near the road and headed into the thick brush, stepping quickly in the dimming light. The cooking smell made him drool. He stumbled and tripped up to an open place in the brush. There he watched a rough looking little bear wearing a wide brim hat and nothing else. (Clothes were never mandatory for animals. It was usually a matter of fashion, especially for bears. They can be very vain.) But just then, burly paws clutched Thomas around the shoulders. The big bear that owned the paws said, "what little stray is sniffing around our camp here." He picked Thomas up and tossed him toward the small bear. The fire illuminated Thomas’s face.
"Yikes," the small bear leapt up and overturned his bowl of food.
"What, villain?" said the other. "Shall we slay him?"
"No, No," said Thomas. "I’m just hungry. I smelled the food." The large bear drew a sword and waved it over the boy.
"What, a rogue like us?
"Yes, Yes, " Thomas pleaded. "I mean no harm."
The bear lowered his sword and laughed.
"Well you want something to eat, eh? Fine. Warm yourself by the fire, villain, and lets hear about you."
The small bear rolled a log up to the fire and Thomas sat. Then he fetched him a bowl of the thick soup. Thomas scooped the smoky tasting grool into his mouth with his fingers. Bad manners even for a bear.
Thomas told of his relation to the queen, and the bears nodded to each other. He told of his courier duties, and he tried to accentuate their importance. The bears nodded again. He blathered on and on about his importance, and the bears nodded. When he was finished talking he looked at the two rough bears. The bears nodded.
"Do you like your meal," the smallest bear said. The boy nodded. And how will you pay for this fine fare we have provided for you.
"Pay?" Thomas said.
"Well, yes," said the small bear. The other chuckled. "You didn’t expect to just eat for free?"
"This cloak looks fine," the large one said. And he tore it from Thomas’s shoulder.
"And I believe," said the small one, "that I’ll take those trousers.
"M-my pants?" Thomas said.
"If you want to live," the little bear said.
So Thomas gave the small bear his pants, and he stood shivering as the small bear put the pants on and strutted around the campfire. "Look at me," he said. "I’m the queen’s brother." the bear chuckled.
"Everybody attack!" a voice cried out from the darkness. The big bear dropped the cloak from his shoulders and drew his sword. The small bear grabbed a long staff. Then it was quiet as the bears waited for an attack. The fire crackled. Out of the dark came a crackly shout, "Run boy." Thomas turned to run and stumbled, fell and landed on the cloak. He scooped it up and sprinted into the darkness. The bears circled and shuffled, waiting for the attack that never came.
Thomas sprinted through the brush to the road where he saw the donkey cart waiting and the toad just emerging out of the brush. "Get in!" the toad yelled. The boy grabbed the walking staff that he had laid by the road. He tumbled into the cart with the toad right behind. The donkey sped away, leaving the bears fumbling in the dark.
"Well, Toad said," "it’s a good thing you left that stick laying by the road, or we would have gone right by."
"Thank you," said Thomas. "Where did you get the donkey?" The donkey laughed.
"You’ve got a lot to learn," Toad said. "But the first thing you should figure out is how to explain to your sister how you lost your pants to a bear. Donkey there couldn’t keep this a secret if he tried." The donkey laughed as he trotted down the road.