mr. frog led the angry beaver around to the front of his shop, while the others followed, and pointed to his sign.
"there!" he said. "don't you see that i claim to be an unfashionable tailor? you'll have to keep that suit, and pay me for it, too. and so will everybody else."
but the whole beaver family cried out that they objected. "no one ever pays his tailor," they told mr. frog. "it's not the fashionable thing to do."
even then ferdinand frog continued to smile at them. he was such an agreeable chap![83]
"i know it's not fashionable now," he admitted, "but it will be five years from now. and since it's my way to collect on delivery, i'll thank you to step up one at a time and pay me. . . . and please don't crowd!" he added.
there was really no need of that last warning, because nobody made a move.
mr. frog, however, was not dismayed. he leaped suddenly into the air and alighted directly in front of a beaver known among his friends as stingy steve—the very one to whom mr. frog had just shown his sign.
"pay up, please!" ferdinand frog said.
"how much do i owe you?" the uneasy beaver asked him.
"sixty!" mr. frog told him, with a grin.
stingy steve thrust his hand inside the[84] pocket of his new trousers, from which he slowly drew one of mr. frog's tape-measures—of which the tailor had at least a dozen. mr. frog was always tucking them away in odd places.
"here!" stingy steve cried. "here's your pay—sixty inches, neither more nor less!"
but ferdinand frog only laughed and told him that he didn't mean inches. that, he explained, was no pay at all.
"i know," stingy steve replied. "i know it's not the fashionable way to pay a bill at present. but it will be five years from now. and what's more, you can't prove that what i say isn't true."
for a few moments mr. frog stood there gasping. and pretty soon he noticed that his customers were all busily picking up chips and sticks and pebbles. at first he thought they were going to[85] throw them at him; and he was all ready to jump.
but he soon found that he was mistaken.
"here! here's your pay, mr. frog!" they began to cry. and to their astonishment mr. frog began to laugh.
"i don't want any pay," he declared. "will you all promise to wear your new clothes if i make them free?"
"yes! yes! yes!" sounded on all sides.
"then it's a bargain!" ferdinand frog shouted. and he leaped into the air and kicked his heels together three times.
after that he turned a back somersault, and then he rolled over and over until he landed with a great splash in the pond.
deep down on the muddy bottom mr. frog laughed as if he could never stop.[86] the beavers on the bank could neither see nor hear him. and he knew there was no danger of their thinking him impolite, especially when he said:
"they don't even know that i've played a trick on them! and what a terrible sight they are! i've never seen any company that looked the least bit like them."
