"Who taught you magic?" rumbled the Cowardly Lion suspiciously.
"No one," grated Crunch, "but this hard little secret was in the brains Wam wished into my block head. Shall I change you now?"
The Cowardly Lion sat down and scratched his ear with his hind leg. He had lived long enough in a magic country to believe anything possible, but somehow this huge, craggy giant filled him with misgivings.
"I'd like to think about this a little longer, if you don't mind," he answered cautiously. "Tell me more about it, can't you?"
Crunch shook his head solemnly. "If I told you it wouldn't work. Better let me change you, old fellow."
"No," wheezed the Cowardly Lion uneasily, "I think I'll wait a bit, I tell you," he added, brightening up, "let's not try it until this little Mudge affair is over. It isn't quite right to think of ourselves when my good friend Notta is in danger. Help me first and change me afterward."
"All right," agreed the Stone Man, starting stolidly forward, but several times the Cowardly Lion, glancing up unexpectedly, caught him moving his stiff lips and looking at him with such a stony glare that it sent a shiver of terror down his spine.