Mr. Frogg awoke suddenly from the strange dream with a start. It took a moment before he realized that Scarf was lying across his belly. After wondering briefly why Scarf was not on the couch, he remembered Tommy. Then he remembered the subject of dreaming. Next he remembered his unusual dream. “That was extremely strange. It all seemed so terribly real.” He mumbled to himself quietly. Mr. Frogg stood and stretched. He could somehow tell that it was earlier than he normally woke up. “It was that strange dream that woke me.” Mr. Frogg told himself softly.1
He quietly went into his kitchen to get a drink of golden water. “I suppose I should stay up and get ready for the trip.” He told himself as he sat the water jug down. He stood for a moment trying to decide where to start. He then went quietly back to his bed. He slowly sat down and put on his shoes. After standing up, he carefully slid his bed away from the wall. He had built the bed specially so it would act as a door to cover up the entrance into the storeroom below his living quarters.2
He remembered when he’d found the three blue trees which grew as one tree as a young boy and he’d decided to make his home inside. He had found the tree growing alone in the middle of the strange clearing while wandering in the forest. He was amazed at the way three trees had grown as one. While closely inspecting each large crevice where the trees grew together, he had found a large hole to left of the largest crevice. The hole was just high enough on the tree that he couldn’t quite see into it. His first thought had been, was it the home of some creature.3
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A moment later he remembered a pile of flat stones on the other side of the tree. He brought them around and stacked them under the hole until he could see into it. He could see clear to the back of the dark hole. He couldn’t however, see the bottom of it. He began looking around until he found a good solid stick he could use as a club. He used the club like stick to strike the bottom edge of the hole. He continued in this manner until he had knocked loose and removed several chunks of rotted blue wood. Soon the edge of the hole was low enough for him to see the dark bottom. He could tell there was nothing living in the hole.6
He realized he could very easily stand inside the tree. A moment later he lowered himself into the hole. When he didn’t feel the bottom he looked down. He saw that he was not far from the bottom so he dropped to the soft dirt floor below him. He looked around the narrow hole, and then decided to climb back out. At first he was worried because he couldn’t find a solid hand hold to pull himself back out. Each time he tried the rotted blue wood pulled loose and he was left standing on the soft ground within the tree. He then decided to continue to pull chunks of the rotted wood loose so he could stack it up and climb out. He began with the wall underneath the opening and then working his way around the walls of the tree, he began to quickly remove large chunks of wood. Before he realized it he had made a small cavern inside the tree. He walked across the layer of dry wood and easily lifted himself out. He happily stepped down onto the stack of stones.7
He decided right then that he would make this his home. He began by picking several more large flat rocks from the pile and dropping them into the hole. After moving the rotted blue wood out of the way he then arranged the stones to make a set of stairs inside the tree. When he was sure they wouldn’t move he began taking the dry wood outside. Before long he could not only walk around inside the tree, but he also no longer had to duck down when he went to the back of the cavern he had made.8
After a short rest, he walked to a hollow log he remembered seeing on the outskirts of the meadow. He broke off a large slab of the extremely strange thick bark and dragged it back to his new home. Then he tied a knot in one end of a strong vine. Next he fed the vine through a small hole in the bark. He then climbed inside his home and pulled the bark tight against the outside of the opening. He tied the vine around his club to hold the thick bark in place. After feeling his way to the back of his home he laid himself down and promptly fell asleep.9
As time passed by, he slowly continued to remove chunks of the dry rotted wood. Eventually there wasn’t any left to remove. His walls and ceiling inside the tree were as solid as the tree was on the outside. Though the room he had created was very large from side to side he knew over the years he would grow taller and his home would seem nearly as large. Since removing the solid wood ceiling was next to impossible he began digging out the soft dirt floor. Using a deformed branch he had found that worked great as a wooden shovel he would fill up a dirt holder he had made from a partially rotted piece of log. He would then carry the holder full of dirt outside. Each time he would pour the dirt out onto and beside a rock wall he had built to keep his puppy, Scarf, safely out of the way.10
After removing the first level of dirt, he piled more stones against the outside of the wall he was building. During the removal of the second level of dirt, he continued to dump the dirt on top of the wall. He wasn’t far into the removal of the third level when he discovered sand. After he removed all of the dirt covering the sand, he built a wooden floor with a large doorway in it. He began removing the sand and continued until he had a full sized basement with walls that were formed mainly by a woven mat of dark blue roots. In spots here and there he dug the sand out from between the roots and created shelf within the roots. He then built a second wooden floor with yet another trap door. He continued to dig underneath this floor also. Before he finished he had another storeroom underneath the first one. 11
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