"You are the handsomest creature in Oz," insisted Crunch over and over, "and if you were only of stone you would be more beautiful still."
"Very still," rumbled the Cowardly Lion, putting back his ears. "Though I suppose," he added thoughtfully, "a stone lion is never afraid." To change the subject he began telling Crunch about his cowardice, and how he had started out originally to find himself some courage.
"Would it make you happy to be afraid of nothing?" asked the Stone Man in his grinding voice.
"Perfectly happy," sighed the Cowardly Lion, "for though I fight when danger threatens, I suffer terribly from a desire to run away."
"Then if you had no desire to run away you would be perfectly happy?" asked Crunch, with a stamp that threw the Cowardly Lion off his feet. "Why, I can easily fix that!"
"Do you mean to say you could give me courage?" roared the Cowardly Lion, stopping perfectly still in his tracks.
"I know a trick to fix you so that you will never again be afraid," answered the Stone Man, rolling his eyes from side to side. "That is one thing I can do."