"There's a jolly idea," cried another. "Is it to be a spider giant?"
"Ahem!" replied Fuz-buz. "I wish there were such giants, and I wish one of them would come along this very moment and gobble you all up."
This he said in so fierce a voice that the young spiders ran away squealing so loud that if you had been a spider and had owned an ear-trumpet, you might have heard them at least three inches off.
As for Mrs. Grabem she hurried in a rage to Fuz-Buz, and gave him a shake, saying, "Have a care old rascal, how you scare my young ones. Tell them a story at once, or you shall never tell another on this earth."
"Yes, madam," answered Fuz-buz very meekly, and as soon as ever he could get his breath he began as follows, to tell them the story of Krusstikuss and Growlegrum.
Krusstikuss and Growlegrum.
"There have been many giants I believe, but there never were any others like the great giant Growlegrum and his twin brother Krusstikuss.
"These two giants were both of them Ogres. Their mother was an Afrite, and their grandfather a Ghoul. On which account they were probably the most unpleasant giants that anybody ever came across.
"When very young they were tall and stout, but one day unluckily for Krusstikuss, his grandmother, who was a fat giantess, sat down on him.