Bartholomew, an eclectic elf, high on dandelion wine and sugar-plum snooters, fancied he'd pry a sprig from the Elderbush. But unawares to spry Barty, a mulldrifter manticore was huffing about in his abode in a nearby water-lilly, angrily sulking, pevish at his loss of a game of chinese checkers. Leering through the fog, the manticore spyed shameless Barty, who was trying his best to break off a branch. "Codswollop! Humperdink!" Barty hiccuped feverishly in frustration, his cheeks turning strawberry red with strain. The manticore, trundling out of his lilly-bloom, spread his teeth like a fan, licked his lips, and shot into the air. Then suddenly downward he spiraled, whirligiggling and shrieking, so rapidly that Barty, loopily absorbed in his mind-numbing foolery, barely had time to react. He dodged slightly to the side (a moment too late), and saw at the instant before darkness, the periwinkle smile of cloud outlined in shimmer, and then plummeted beneath the surface of the loch.