"Well?"

The voice seemed far away. Mr. Greencroak stretched his arms as he tried to open his tired eyes.

"Are you ready? "

It was that voice again. But the frog wasn't waking up. It had been a restless night, and he had only recently fallen asleep. He was tired.

"Wake up, frog. We have things to settle."

Immediately, his eyes shot open. Now he remembered why he had been unable to sleep the night before. He remembered what it was he had stayed up all night thinking about, stewing about, troubling about. The wish. It was time to make the wish.

He stretched his arms again and looked toward the sun, just now beginning to grip the long rays of its fingers over the horizon, effortlessly pulling itself up into full view. It had been a long night, but the sun was an early reminder that it was only the beginning of a long, long day.

"Good morning, Koostan." Mr. Greencroak thought it would be best to start as politely as possible. "Did you sleep well?"

"Have you decided on a wish?" Koostan's curtness said it all. He wanted the wish done and over
with so he could go home.

"I think so," Mr. Greencroak said, "but I'm not sure it's a good one, or even one you can grant."

"Just make your wish. You can wish for gold, or maybe fame, or..."

"Can I wish to be a king?" Mr. Greencroak asked the question softly, almost as a whisper.
Koostan fell silent. He studied the frog from top to bottom and shook his head slightly from side to side. Then he studied him from bottom to top and nodded ever so slightly. Whatever was going on in his mind, Mr. Greencroak could tell that Koostan was having a battle over whether he could grant that wish or not.

"Can I wish to be a king?" Mr. Greencroak repeated. "That would be something that would
make me very happy, if it's not asking too much."

"A king?" Koostan questioned. "Why would you want to be a king, my friend? It seems you would be much happier without all those worries."

"Last night," the frog offered, "I talked to some of my friends after you left, or disappeared, or whatever it was you did when you vanished."

"And your friends think you should suffer the pressures of being a king?" Koostan's forehead wrinkled into little ridges. "Don't your friends like you?"

"Of course they do," Mr. Greencroak said. "They help me a lot when I am trying to make decisions." Mr. Greencroak looked out toward the forest to see if any of the animal creatures were in sight. They weren't. He knew they were there, listening to everything like they always did, but they were carefully staying just out of sight. He hoped quietly that none of them had been offended by the elf's accusation that they were not good friends. In fact, he thought, it might be a good idea to let Koostan meet one of his best friends.

"Diamondwing," Mr. Greencroak called out. "Diamondwing, could we talk to you for just a little
bit?"

Soon there was a buzz, hum, whisper sound, and from behind a nearby lily pad flower, a beautiful crystal winged dragonfly cautiously emerged. His wings were as long as his body, which seemed very long indeed compared to his small head. The head didn't even look like a head. It looked more like two big eyeballs stuck on the end of a stick. And his wings...

Oh, his wings were a thing of beauty. They looked like delicate glass fans that had been lovingly created and fired by an artist and then was accidentally placed on the ugly, stick-like body of this shy little insect. Now, his beautiful wings carried him delicately and gracefully into the sky above the elf and frog. Hovering in the early sunrise glow, the gangly dragonfly looked as though he was being held in midair on an incredible set of multicolored diamond-studded wings.

"I hope you don't mind, Koostan, but I wanted you to meet one of my truest and most trusted
friends." Mr. Greencroak pointed proudly toward the dragonfly. "Koostan, this is Diamondwing."

"Humph," the elf grunted. "We would have met yesterday...if he would have flown up and popped the bubble that imprisoned me."

"I'm sorry, sir, so sorry," Diamondwing squealed nervously. "Really, truly, I am truly really sorry. Really."

"Then why didn't you help me?"

"Fear. I was afraid, I'm afraid. I was fearfully frightened of failing in flight. Fear of failure is what
fearfully frightened me. Yes. Fear."

Koostan looked at Mr. Greencroak. "Does he talk this way all the time?" he asked.

"Mostly when he is afraid," Mr. Greencroak explained.

"But..." Koostan was trying to keep his composure.

"Or nervous," the frog added.

"Yes, nervous," Diamondwing echoed. "Nerve racking nerves make me nervous. And I notice my
nerves are nervously nervous now."

Koostan held up his hands. "Let's just get on with the wish. This is serious business, and we are
taking so long it's beginning to get on my nerves."

Mr. Greencroak motioned for Diamondwing to land beside him. They were friends, and it would be good for them to share whatever was about to happen. Though the dragonfly sometimes talked a bit strange, he had never failed to help Mr. Greencroak when help was needed. It was Diamondwing that had talked to him throughout the night, trying to help him come to a firm decision about the wish he was being forced to accept. Between the two of them, it was decided that if a wish were to be made, it must be one that would make a difference to more than just
the frog, no matter what Koostan had said about Mr. Greencroak needing to wish something that would help himself the most. No wish would ever make him happy unless it also could make others happy.

"Koostan." Mr. Greencroak tried to fill his short stature with as much confidence as he could muster, but he could still feel his knees shaking like a baby's rattle. "Koostan," he repeated, "I have decided that my wish is to be a king." Then he added, just for emphasis, "A real king."

"You are serious, aren't you?" Koostan started to pace back and forth on the Thinking Rock but
then remembered how it had upset the frog the day before. He stopped. "You are asking for a wish that is definitely going to require some pacing." Koostan pointed toward a leaf-covered path through the nearby forest. "Let's walk."

With a graceful, floating leap, Koostan bounded to the pathway. Mr. Greencroak was quick to hop to his side and Diamondwing, startled by the sudden change of plans, chose to fly just within hearing distance behind them.

"Now," Koostan began, as they passed the first of the tall, majestic trees, "you have decided your most satisfying wish would be for me to make you a king." He watched the frog carefully, trying to understand the reason for such a strange request. He could hear Diamondwing buzzing behind them, so he lifted his hand toward the dragonfly. "I suppose your bug friend wants to be your court jester?"

Diamondwing gave a fluttering buzz of indignation at the insult, but Mr. Greencroak gave him a signal and his friend reluctantly stopped making angry noises.

"No," Mr. Greencroak said bluntly. "He desires nothing more than to remain my friend and help me in any way he can. That's how it has always been and that is the way I wish it to stay."

Koostan took two little paces, stomped his foot, and then continued walking.

"Why?" he asked. "Why would you want to be a king? Kings sometimes can be tyrants. They can
hurt people without even realizing it. The decisions of a king should be...no, must be fair at all times. That is most often a very difficult, almost impossible thing to do."

"At least, I would have the chance to make a difference. I would hope the failures would not outnumber the times I actually succeeded in helping my subjects." Mr. Greencroak was speaking now without any nervousness. "I know I am probably not the ideal material for being a king, but I have spent a lifetime watching the animals in the forest hiding when someone stronger was near, or not having enough food because the winter lasted longer than their stored nuts and berries." Now the frog was getting somewhat emotional, but the elf could see that the emotion was prompted by how Mr. Greencroak truly felt, so he did not interrupt.

"There are times," Mr. Greencroak continued, "when, if I were a person of more importance, I
could have helped my friends...and even strangers who needed help, like you needed help to get out of the bubble. I help when I can, but if I were a king...if I were a king, I could help so much more. I know it sounds silly to you, since you have never been a king, but I would at least like the chance to try."

"Silly?" Koostan gave Mr. Greencroak a big, fatherly hug. "My boy, you sound like the kind of
king I would want ruling over me."

"Then you will grant my wish?" Mr. Greencroak glanced at Diamondwing, whose wings had once
again started fluttering rapidly, but this time from excitement rather than fear or anger. The elf was still intent on watching for reactions in the frog. Actually, he was ignoring everything else
around him...until...

THUMP.

The little green man ran right smack into...something. A wall? No, it felt like a wall but...A tree?
No, this had feet. And it had fur. And it had a growl.

"ROARRRRR."

Koostan looked up.

There, right in front of him, was the largest, meanest looking Grizzly Bear he had EVER seen.

"Run. Run for your lives!" the elf yelled.

"Oh, really." Mr. Greencroak giggled.

The giggle was so unexpected to Koostan that he instantly stopped running and turned to see what was going on. What he saw took him completely by surprise.

Mr. Greencroak had somehow been scooped into the mouth of the huge bear. But instead of the bear chomping down on the defenseless frog...he was giggling.

"Be careful, Mr. Greencroak." The voice was from Diamondwing, still fluttering a safe distance
away. "You know how ticklish the roof of his mouth is."

The elf gasped in disbelief.

"Don't worry," the frog said. "I'm almost finished."

With that, he gave a tug on something and...out popped a walnut seed that had gotten lodged
between two of the bear's back teeth. Immediately, the bear reached into his mouth, removed the frog, and gently placed him back on the ground beside the shocked and confused elf.

"Thank you, Mr. Greencroak," the bear said gently. "That seed has been bothering me for two
days now." The huge beast smiled politely, turned, and quietly lumbered back into the depths of the forest, leaving the small group in total silence.

Finally, Mr. Greencroak decided it was time to get back to the wishing business.

"You haven't answered my question," he said. "Will you grant my wish to be a king?"

"You were in a bear's mouth."

Mr. Greencroak could see that he needed to do some explaining; otherwise, the elf might never get back to talking about the wish.

"That?" he asked. "That was just Grissom the Grizzly Bear. Sometimes he puts more food in his
mouth than he can chew, and he comes to me to help get his teeth cleaned. You might say I'm like his dentist." The elf nodded, as though he understood, although he really couldn't imagine how that kind of relationship had ever come into being. "Koostan," the frog said, "I really want to know...Will you make me a king? Can you?"

Instantly, almost like the question had flipped a switch in the elf's mind, Koostan got right back into the conversation about the wish, as though the incident with the bear had never actually happened. He turned his back from the frog and began talking. He looked at the shimmering rays of the sun as he spoke, and for an instant, Mr. Greencroak wondered if he had started talking to the sun for some reason rather than to them. It was soon obvious, though, that he was only trying to keep his thoughts organized as he spoke what needed to be said.

"You have, indeed, wished a difficult wish." He started, "A most difficult wish. I would have preferred granting you any wish other than the one you have requested. Nevertheless, you have given it careful thought, and so now I must obey the law of my land. In the future, though, when you might wish you were not a king, remember that I will have no power to give your simple life back to you."

He turned around to observe the reactions to what had been said thus far. The dragonfly was atching Mr. Greencroak and the frog was... NO! Surely not... It couldn't be. His eyes were closed. Had he fallen asleep?

"Mr. Greencroak?" Koostan's train of thought had suddenly vanished. "Mr. Greencroak, are you
awake?"

"Yes, sir," the frog said quickly. "I was only listening to what you said. I often think with my eyes closed."

Koostan breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I was afraid I had lost your interest. Now, where were we?"

"You will have no power to give my simple life back to me," Mr. Greencroak quoted. "That's okay, though. If I am not a good king, then the people I serve will make me return to my simple life. That would be the first law I write when I become king."

"Sensible. That, though, is not the thing that makes this a most difficult wish." Koostan turned
again to face the sun. "The difficultly has already been mentioned. The magic of the elfin kingdom has been stolen by an evil giant known as the Gruel. The Gruel stole the magical rainbow that has always been worn by the daughter of our king. Our king's name is His
Most Royal Highness, Foremost Keeper of the Kingdom and All Within Its Realm, King Natsook the Great."

The frog and dragonfly looked at each other, their eyes twinkling at the thought of a king with
such a long name. But they said nothing and let Koostan continue talking.

"Until the magical rainbow is returned to the neck of the princess, I'm afraid I have no ability to
grant such a wish. I am powerless until the giant is defeated and our magic is regained. In fact, that is how I ended up trapped in the bubble. I had gone to the Gruel's tower in an attempt to retrieve the rainbow and return it to the princess, but I have failed miserably."

"Then you are saying there is no way to grant my wish because you have no magical powers with which to grant them?" The disappointment in Mr. Greencroak's voice was obvious, so Koostan once again turned around to face him directly.

"No, my friend. I did not say there was no way. I meant to say that there is only one way."

Mr. Greencroak's excitement began to grow again, and he could feel the breeze from
Diamondwing's energetic fluttering.

"What is that one way?" he asked.

"Someone must go to the tower of the Gruel and get the rainbow back."

It sounded simple enough. Go to a tower and get a rainbow. How hard could that be? Wait until
the giant is gone, sneak in, job done. That plan would work fine, unless the Gruel carried the rainbow with him and could use the magical power of the rainbow to stop anyone from getting close. It was also possible that traps were set, or vicious beasts guarded the rainbow. Or...

"Can it be done, Koostan?" Mr. Greencroak asked.

"I failed, but I learned some things that might give someone else a chance to succeed."

"Someone like me?"

"Like you?" Koostan acted like the thought had never crossed his mind, but the frog was certain that it had.

"Yes, like me," Mr. Greencroak stated boldly. "The Gruel would expect an elf to come for the rainbow, but would he be looking for a frog? Of course not. I can go and get the rainbow for your princess. If I fail...Well, you also failed, so I would at least be in good company."

"The task would be almost too difficult to accomplish," Koostan said.

"Let me try."

"But you might not even return from the tower," he continued.

"Let me try," the frog repeated.

"But if you fail..."

"Then you will have at least granted my wish by letting me try to become a king. You could return home knowing I had been repaid in full according to the laws of your land."

It was clear that Koostan would rather not agree, but the frog had also made it clear that he wanted to go, even knowing the dangers.

"Very well," the elf said. "You will go as the king's hero, and should you return the magic to our
kingdom, I will use that magic to make you a king."

Koostan heard a noise at the edge of the pond. An ever-increasing chorus of squeaks, grunts, howls, and other animal sounds was building up behind him. He whirled around to see. Every creature in the forest was at the edge of the pond, cheering with glee for the decision that had
just been finalized.

"It seems" Koostan smiled, "that you are not the only one who thinks you have a chance to
succeed."

Again, he turned to face Mr. Greencroak. "But it won't be without preparation. We have
much to plan before you can begin your quest. So, shall we begin?"

And with that, they finally both sat down on comfortable clumps of grass and began the task of
preparing Mr. Greencroak for his dangerous venture into the elfin world of Magicland. Finally, after an hour, the forest cheering had ceased and the adventurers were ready to depart.

Koostan left first, partly because he needed to inform King Natsook about the frog's venture, but mostly to show the frog the magical way to Magicland. He had made Mr. Greencroak repeat several times the steps he had to take and the funny little twists and turns needed to get him and Diamondwing into the magic portal. Just to be certain, Koostan thought it wise to show them how to vanish into the gate to the kingdom by letting them watch him as he vanished.

Mr. Greencroak watched closely as the elf put his hand on his hip and began a careful jig, jig, jaggy jig dance that ended with his toes fading out of sight, followed by his legs, then his waist, chest, arms and...

"Goodbye, brave frog. Follow me quickly."

Poof.

He was gone.

Now, at last, Mr. Greencroak knew it was time for him to leave his Thinking Rock, his pond, the
forest, and his friends to begin a long and dangerous mission to defeat an evil giant. He gave a little shudder at what he was thinking. It was very possible he would never see his
friends again.

"Oh my."

Diamondwing was flying rapidly through the empty air where Koostan had just vanished.

"How can we follow? We can't jig a jig as jiggy as the jig he jigged." The dragonfly was definitely
uptight about what was expected of them.

"Calm down, Diamondwing," Mr. Greencroak said. "I'm sure Koostan wouldn't have shown us how to go to Magicland if we wouldn't be able to follow him."

"But I...but we...when he...if we..."

Diamondwing was really nervous. Usually he could at least get a sentence out, no matter how uptight he was. "How can we...since he?"

"I said to calm down." The frog put his hand gently on the shaking wings of his friend. Little pats on his back soon had its calming effect on the dragonfly. The shaking all but stopped.

"I'll go first," Mr. Greencroak spoke reassuringly. "After I vanish into Magicland, then you can try to follow. If you can't do it, well..." He took a step back from his friend to give himself room to do the magical little dance that would begin his journey. "If you try to follow and can't do it, then just wait for me here. Take care of my Thinking Rock until I return."

The shocked look on Diamondwing's tiny face told it all. "Stay here and wait? But we were going on the journey together. Friend with friend to the very end."

Mr. Greencroak had already begun the strange little movements that hopefully would take him to the gates of Magicland. He had already turned right, bent over, and nodded one time.

"You will always be my dear friend." He dared not stop, for fear of losing the chance to go on this venture. Jump twice, straighten up, look left, look right. "Whether you are by my side in fierce battle or caring for my Thinking Rock, your friendship will be a strength for me." Left, nod, right, bounce three times, look up to the sky. "So follow if you can." Clap, clap, whistle. "If you can't follow, then wait..."

Then, with a poof, the frog vanished.