 The big black bird, who was once a Prince, quickly explains to Toby that this Witch has an Ugly Son, who also loves the Princess, and the Witch can conjure Evil Sprites within her cauldron on the fiery hearth (the capital-initial letters not only name characters they emphasise the malevolence).The Witch casts a magic spell that turns the King of Pog's people into horrid toads, transforms the Prince into a bird of prey, makes the King dangerously ill, and takes Princess Flower away to a secret hiding place.Naturally, Toby is keen to do what he can to help the Prince, ...

As with Tourtel, much depends on coincidence – the prince-bird happening to find Toby, vulnerable and alone out at sea; the golden stone walls of the castle of the King of Pog that Toby and the prince-bird happen to reach at the end of their first day of searching (walking, now, not flying) – and that thin veil or border between a normal world of a seaside holiday and the dangerous world of magic, witches, and demonic evil.