First Frog.
At any rate we got ahead of the jackdaw and the robin. Flighty things, they stopped to wake up everybody and have a bit of worm with every old acquaintance on the way!—There they are now! Flighty things! [He shakes his stick at two birds whom we hear chattering and whistling in a nearby thicket.]
The Prince.
My old friends! [He waves his hand, whistling to the Birds who respond in kind.] But, come! To work!
First Frog.
Sir, we ask the privilege of following the adventure with you! In our tadpole days, aye, even as pollywogs, we were devoted to the Frog who was the oldest and most respected inhabitant of our pond. When he was chosen godfather to the Princess it was we who carried the christening mug to the palace. We were present when he was knighted, and baroneted! And now, if he has dried up we wish to bestow on him a watery grave and dig a mud-hole to his memory. [He weeps.]
Second Frog.
That’s it; a mud-hole to the memory of Sir Amphibious! [Weeps.]
The Prince.
Gentlemen, your sentiments do you credit, and believe me, if there is anything I can do in the way of restoratives ... casting a wet blanket, or the like—! Why, what’s this? [Stepping aside, he stoops to examine something against which his foot had brushed.]