“And...and...I got big, and helped him pull the goat from the pit,” Butternut sputtered, “and what do you think he said? 'Thank you!' Fancy that! 'Thank you' indeed! Of all the...Why are you laughing?”

For his sister Bittersweet was falling over giggling, and Petal laughed also, albeit gently.

“'Tis considered polite amongst Mortals,” she explained, “to thank one for a favor. To us, to thank one means one is forgetting the good deed done, and wanting something to guarantee remembrance of it. But 'tis different with them. Mortals think it rude not to thank one.”

Butternut thought this over, with crossed arms, and crossed legs also.

“Well,” he sniffed, “I'm glad one of us has lived amongst them, and knows their ways. However, you certainly won't catch ME doing so. I've a good mind to tie a knot in his hair while he sleeps.”