“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.”

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