We always try with all our might To keep completely out of sight When folks like you, got up in style, Come visiting this desert isle. For well we know that we at best Are far from being overdressed. And so until we get a chance To find a way to get some pants, And maybe too, a fancy vest And derby hats, and all the rest, All we can do is weave a spell And make ourselves invis-i-ble. "That," said the Cannibal Chief, "covers the case completely. In other words, we're the most refined savages you ever met." "Then," said Frip, "if you're so refined, what do you want to be cannibals for? And why do you wish to eat that poor Gingerbread Man? That's not very refined." "Not very refined--I admit it," responded the Cannibal Chief, "but very necessary, for meals come before manners. And speaking of meals, I was thinking of asking you to join us at dinner. We'll have the Gingerbread Man for dessert." "Oh," cried Frip, "I couldn't think of eating the Gingerbread Man, though I must say he smells awfully good when he's warmed up." "That's all right," said the Cannibal Chief, "you won't have to eat the Gingerbread Man, in fact, you won't be here to do it. We're going to eat you first." Now if Frip had chanced to sit down on a hornet and the hornet had got mad about it, it would certainly have made him jump, but nothing to what the remarks of the Cannibal Chief did. Indeed they almost froze him stiff and his eyes fairly popped out of his head. "Eh?" he gasped--"why--what--say--why you--you don't mean to eat--eat _me_?" "If you will join us at dinner--yes," said the Cannibal Chief, politely. "But of course if you have another dinner engagement--" "I have," put in Frip, hastily, "I have a whole lot of 'em. And--and I'm not a bit hungry, so I simply _could not_ join you at dinner." "Well, supper then, or breakfast," responded the Cannibal Chief. "We'll call it whatever you want. We'll even call it a little side snack, if you wish. You surely can't have engagements for every one of those things." "Yes, I have," said the Prince, desperately, edging away. "I have engagements for everything, day and night. I haven't a second to spare. And besides, my father, the Emperor of Fizz, is waiting for me to take a walk and if you stop me he'll--he'll put you in prison." "Pooh," put in the Gingerbread Man, suddenly, "his father isn't here." "I didn't say he was," replied Frip, "but he's waiting for me at home."