arm and went out, and on the way he met two of the little people in a
lonesome place. The moment he approached they fell to the ground, and
whimpered and howled most lamentably as long as he was near them.

Satisfied now of his power, he, the next morning, summoned the fifty
principal persons, with their wives and children, to his apartment. When
they came he addressed them, reminding them once again of his kindness
and gentleness towards them, and of the good terms on which they had
hitherto lived. He reproached them with their ingratitude in refusing
him the only favour he had ever asked of them, but firmly declared that
he would not give way to their obstinacy.

"Therefore," said he, "for the last time, think for a minute, and if you
then say 'No,' you shall feel that pain which is to you and your
children the most terrible of all pains."

They did not take long to deliberate, but unanimously replied "No"; and
they thought to themselves, "What new scheme has the youth hit on with
which he thinks to frighten wise ones like us?" and they smiled as they
said "No." Their smiling enraged John above all, and he ran back a few
hundred paces to where he had laid the casket with the toad under a
bush.

He was hardly come within a few hundred paces of them when they all fell
to the ground as if struck with a thunderbolt, and began to howl and
whimper, and to writhe, as if suffering the most excruciating pain. They
stretched out their hands, and cried--

"Have mercy, have mercy! We feel you have a toad, and there is no escape
for us. Take the odious beast away, and we will do all you require."