“I b’lieve he’s a giant after all,” she said.
Mary laughed and laughed. “Ha! Ha! Why, he isn’t even a big man. Look! There he is now!”
She pointed but Muffs and Tommy could see no one who looked in the least like a wondrous wise man. Mr. Tyler had walked up toward the stage and he and the headless man stood there talking. Then he pressed a button that made lights all around the stage. A blue light shone from the ceiling, making everything shadowy and mysterious the way it had been in the Bramble Bush Man’s own house.
“But where is he?” Muffs and Tommy both asked. “We don’t see him.”
“There he is! There! Right where I’m pointing.”
Mr. Tyler had gone back to his seat and left the headless man standing alone. Soon he went up the little stairs that ended on the stage. Now he was standing before them and smiling.
“He’s got a lot of nerve,” Tommy said.
Then everything was quiet for the headless man had begun to speak. “Boys and girls, big and little,” he said. “I have come to introduce the Bramble Bush Man, a wondrous wise magician. He owes his name to three children who are sitting here in the front row. Also, I think, his wisdom.”
“What does he mean?” whispered Tommy.
“He means us,” Mary whispered back. “Sh! He’s still talking.”