*
Winifred was beside herself. She was sure that she had forgotten to make a dish, or that the food was going to spoil and she would be responsible for poisoning everyone. She had donned one of her dresses that she had set aside for a special occasion. This was definitely one of them. She went over a mental list of everything that had to go up to the market house. She could always send someone for something if her mental list was at fault. “Grumps, we have to go now. Are you ready to leave? Grumps?” Winifred made her way back to his bedroom. Grumps was on his hands and knees, peering underneath his bed. “What are you doing, Father?”
“A furry monster stole my sock, but I have it trapped underneath my bed.” Grumps grunted as his short arms tried in vain to retrieve the lost sock.
“Here, for the love of Kern, let me get it for you.” Winifred reached blindly for the sock and instead found a small ball of fur. She grabbed hold and brought it forth from its hiding spot, giving a mew of protest. She took the sock out of the ‘monster’s’ jaws and handed it to her father. “Please, Father, we have to get going. It would be in bad taste for the hostess to be late to her own party.”
“A party, you say? Will there be any food there? I’m getting mighty hungry.” Grumps sat on the floor, putting his sock on. He finally got to his feet and headed for the door.
“Father, are you forgetting something?” Winifred looked down at her father’s feet. “Your boots, Father, your boots.” Winifred shook her head and went over and picked up her father’s boots and brought them over to him. She knelt down and wrestled his feet into them. She then helped him into his jacket and hat. “Now out the door with you. You can help me carry the bread.”
Derry ran up to them out of breath. She was carrying a platter of frosted cakes. “I almost missed you. Can you please tell me, Winifred, why does everything go wrong when you are in a hurry?”
Winifred smiled. “Put your cakes on the sled in place of one of the bags of bread. It will be a lot easier for you to carry.”
Together the three of them strode up to the market house. Surprisingly, they found it empty.
“Where are all the bucks when you need them? Gertrude was supposed to be up here getting the tables set up.” A sigh of relief sprang forth from her mouth as Winifred found the whole inside of the market house ready. Someone had done a marvelous job of decorating, and every table and chair was arranged as she had instructed. “Well, I guess that the foods will not set themselves up. Derry, would you please get the skirts for the tables and get those on while I get things hot in the kitchen. Grumps, would you please go into the market larder and retrieve twenty candles for me?”
Grumps went towards the larder door. Winifred watched to make sure he knew where he was going. “He amazes me! There are times that he can not remember his own name, yet he remembers where things are located….” She smiled. “Especially food…”
The ladies busied themselves with the chores at hand. By the time the guests started arriving, all the preparations were complete. Octavius, Emmaline and Norman were the first guests to arrive. Norman had a small, neatly wrapped package underneath her arm.
“Winifred, your dress is beautiful, and your hair just shines.” Emmaline looked about the expansive room. “Did you do all of this yourself?”
Winifred laughed. “Oh my, no. I had a dear friend, Derry ,over there help me with all of the food. As far as the decorations, I really do not know who to thank for that.”
“They sure did a wonderful job!” Emmaline watched as a few frog trolls walked in and waved in her direction. She waved back.
Octavius was looking around also. “Where is the one being honored tonight?”
“I am sure he went home to change into clean clothes for the party. He may have stopped at Gillion’s to see if all the guards are in place. If you will please excuse me, I must greet the other guests.” Winifred took her leave and headed to the door.
In a few moments, the three royals were surrounded by frog trolls. Octavius looked as if he was having a good time talking with a couple of elderly frog trolls, Kirch and Sprig. Emmaline and Norman were surrounded by the lady frog trolls. Some felt the materials of Emmaline’s and the princess’ dresses. Soon the whole hall was filled with laughter and talk.
Winifred looked around. “Hmmm…No Gertrude. Where could that son of mine be? You didn’t happen to see Gertrude on your way, Tern, did you?”
“No, I can’t say that I did. I know that one of the guards had a problem earlier, but I do not know what it was.”
“Thank you, Tern. There is food and drink over there on the other side of the room.” Winifred smiled as she spied Gertrude caught up with some well-wishers on the steps to the market house.
Gertrude finally broke free and entered the room. “I am sorry I am late, Mother.” Gertrude bent over and gave her a kiss. “Toddy had stopped me on the way back to let us know that she and her mother would not be coming tonight. Her mother has come down with a case of rashes. I guess Goodly has been to see her, but says that she should rest, and told Toddy to stay with her ‘til the fever leaves.”
“The poor dear. I shall have to take food over to her tomorrow. I think you should go over and speak to Octavius as he appears to be swamped by frog trolls wanting to speak to him.” Winifred nodded her head in the direction of where Octavius was standing.
Gertrude made his way through the throng of frog trolls towards the besieged royals. “Your Majesty...” Gertrude made his way over to Octavius. He looked over toward the queen and Norman, who were at this point hopelessly surrounded by a bunch of ladies. Gertrude could only imagine some of the animated conversations going on. He noticed that Borg, the tinsmith, had Octavius locked in a conversation. “May I butt in, Borg?”
Borg smiled broadly. “Gertrude, you young hopper, of course you can join in the conversation. I was just telling the king about my idea for a machine that would run by wind power. “
“It sounds like a good idea. He says that the wind could help bring water into the castle.” Octavius smiled. “Gertrude, maybe we could set up a group of frog trolls and humans to exchange some of our ideas and make the ideas into reality.”
Gertrude put his hand on Borg’s shoulder and winked. “Maybe some day we will be able to fly like birds, too. If you will excuse me for a moment…” Gertrude noticed his mother doing sign language. He smiled. It was time to get the evening’s festivities in gear. Gertrude grabbed a chair and stood on it. He let forth a shrill whistle to gain everyone’s attention.
“Good evening, everyone. I am so happy that you could join us to tonight. My mother would like to let you know that all the food is ready and that there is plenty to drink. Enjoy!” He jumped down from the chair as a good majority of the crowd headed towards the food. Gertrude bid Octavius and the two ladies to follow him.
Queen Emmaline went first through the food line and Gertrude guided her choices so that she wouldn’t be surprised by something moving on her plate. He wasn’t as lucky with Octavius and Norman as they insisted they would like to try some of the more interesting-looking foods. They headed over to an area set up especially for them with human-size chairs and table. Soon everyone was sitting down, enjoying the meal. Gertrude was glad to see the sun disappear as they sat down. The candles would hide some of the foods’ movement. Winifred and Derry made their way to the table, plates laden with food.
“Lady Winifred, this food is superb!” Emmaline gushed. “Would you be willing to give our cook some of your recipes?”
“Thank you for the compliment.” Winifred gushed. “I would be more than happy to give you the recipes. Did you try the root pies with the dried sweet berries in the egg scrapple?”
“Oh, is that what this is? It has such a wonderful flavor.” The Queen kept sampling the food on her plate. Gertrude watched as everyone enjoyed their meal. Norman hadn’t noticed the small weevil crawling off her plate. He managed to set his cup of berry juice over it. The rest of the meal went by wit
hout anything scurrying across the table.
Winifred excused herself and went over to the small stage that had been left set up from the last meeting. Gertrude let go with another whistle to gain everyone’s attention. “Hello, everyone. All of you know why we are here tonight…” Applause broke out and Winifred smiled broadly and held up her arms to regain quiet. “Dear friends, this is to celebrate my son Gertrude becoming Grand Frog Troll.” Applause broke out again, echoing throughout the room. “So, without any further delays, my son, Gertrude.” Winifred stepped down from the stage.
The applause was deafening as Gertrude stepped onto the platform. “Good evening. I want to thank all of you for coming.” Gertrude noticed the princess coming towards the stage and stopped speaking. “I guess Princess Norman has something to say.”
Norman climbed up onto the stage. “It is a privilege and a pleasure to be invited to tonight’s gathering to congratulate Gertrude on his election to your highest seat of government. My parents and I felt that on this auspicious occasion that he was deserving of a gift befitting his newly attained station in the committee.” Norman handed the small package to her friend. “Go ahead, take it.” she whispered.
Gertrude took the package and opened it. Inside was a royal purple sash with ‘Gertrude of Tinker Hollow’ stitched in golden thread. Below that, in larger lettering, was stitched ‘Grand Frog Troll of Awll’. An emblem of an eagle identical to the one on his sword was next to that. The words ‘Honor above Glory’ were stitched around the eagle.
The newly elected Grand Frog Troll felt a lump in his throat as he looked at the gift. He smiled and put it on so everyone could see it. At first there was a hush that came upon the crowd as they tried to read the sash. Like a tempest, the voices of everyone erupted into the ‘Frog Troll Glory Song’. After the song was over, Gertrude leaned and bid Norman to give him her ear. “Thank you and your parents for the beautiful gifts that you have given me upon this joyous eve.” Norman looked at him quizzically. “Gertrude, we have only given you one gift.”
Gertrude shook his head. “No, you have given me three. The first two are the ones that I shall cherish the most. They are your presence tonight, and the thoughtfulness behind the tangible gift.”
Norman smiled and a tear came to her eye. “Sir Gertrude, you are indeed a rare and beautiful gift to me.”
Gertrude raised his arms. “Thank you all… Now let’s get this party going!”
The band started playing and the frog trolls started dancing. Laughter rolled through the market house as everyone started to really enjoy the evening. One of the highlights was when Grumps grabbed Winifred and did the ‘Happy Frog Troll Jig’. The dance started real slow, with Winifred shadowing her father’s steps. With each verse of the song, the tempo picked up until it reached a dizzying frenzy. Grumps sure remembered how to dance! The next dance brought Winifred and Gertrude together. The band played the ‘Rose Waltz’.
The market house rang forth with clapping and singing and the merriment went on for a long time. It started to empty out after the midnight hour. Soon all was quiet. Gertrude blew out the last candle and walked over to the doors. He turned and gazed into the darkened room. He ran his hand over the sash and smiled. Slowly, he closed the doors to the building. Turning, once again, he joined the others for the walk home.