One day Hyuna had finally taken all that she could take. It was bad enough that she had baked and baked the night before, making a dozen or more of the most scrumptuous crumpets, the mouth-watering kind, only to see the Grumpling stuff them all in his mouth. It was bad enough that she had made batches of cookies and two or three delightful little cakes, only to find that Luhan had eaten them all in one single bite. But when he didn't say "thank you" or even "they tasted great, Miss Kim, ma'am," Hyuna got angry, downright mad, if you please. She deciced right then and there to tame that ill-mannered beast if it was the last thing she did.

She rushed home to her den and there, after tying her apron of ruffly ruffles firmly around her waist, she whisked and whipped this and that the whole night through. For Hyuna realized that nobody had ever formally set a tea table for Luhan, or even actually invited him for that matter. She would bake the best of the best and invite Luhan for tea. Surely then he would be polite. 

She stirred up a batch of her most special crisp crumbly crumpets and popped them in the oven. She ground broomwood seeds, oat and bran into a fine flour that she mixed with button berries and marmalade. All of this was plopped into biscuit molds and this, too, was popped into the oven.

The very next day at a quarter of three, Hyuna set up for tea right in the middle of the trail whence would come the Grumpling. She laid down her fresh lace doilies and upon them she set her best tea cozy, saucer and cups. She laid out dainty little sandwiches and the sweet biscuits of broomwood seed. She set two places at her table; one for Luhan and one for herself. At Luhan's plate she set a formal invitation which she had written in the finest cursive lettering on the linen paper with hand-cut frills. 

When all was set and ready, she sat down prim and proper and waited for the scrubby lout himself— the Grumpling. It wasn't long before she heard saucers rattling and saw crumbs flying as Luhan fed himself rudely on others' polite food.

It was but a moment before the crude beast was upon her table, ready to ravage her food. He had only taken a bite or two before she rose and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Luhan, sir, but won't you sit down and enjoy tea with me like a gentleman should?" 

The Grumpling just looked at her with jam on his face and muttered, "Whazzafrashur?" As he spoke, Hyuna was showered with a spray of crumpet crumbs and cookie bits. 

"I said," she said firmly but primly, "that you have been invited and you shall sit down like a gentleman and sip tea in a civilized manner or you shan't eat any more of my crumpets." Luhan looked at her, shocked he was.

Then he shook his head in a disdainful way and proceeded to eat all there was to eat, including the invitation, and this time he even ate the doilies! As he ate, Hyuna stood boldly in the center of the path.

"You rude, inconsiderate beast," she said, as her foot tapped in a staccato manner on the cobbled path.

Luhan just looked at her with a bit of jam still on his nose and belched the rudest burp. Then he started on his way as was his wont, but Hyuna refused to move. 

"I will not move from this spot until you apologize and at least say 'thank you!' " she said, daring him to pass. Without a thought, without a care, Luhan roughly brushed past the poor little fox, rudely bumping her out of the way.

Poor, poor Hyuna. She had tried so hard. She baked and baked and set the nicest table, but still the Grumpling was as rude as he could be. Tears began to stream down her cheeks as she cried and cried, so frustrated was she.

But Luhan didn't go on as he had on the past. He stopped fast in his tracks as the fox was racked with sobs.

He stomped back to where she sat in the moss, and while shuffling from one foot to the other, mumbled, "Oh, uh, well, don't cry, Miss Hyuna, ma'am. I am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

And the forest rang with his apology, for it was the first polite thing the Grumpling had ever done. He reached down, and with the only clean spot on his scarf, he wiped away her tears.

"You see, ma'am, I just don't know how to be polite. Nobody ever showed me, I never have been invited. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

It was then and only then that Hyuna realized that Luhan didn't mean to be impolite. For how could one be impolite when one didn't know right from wrong. She began to see Luhan in a new polite light.

Luhan helped her to her feet and Hyuna asked courteously, "If someone would help you, would you be willing to learn the polite way, the right way, to carry yourself in the land of Amenity?"

"Oh, yes ma'am," he said in a low, rumbling voice.

Hand in hand, they set off down the cobbled path to Hyuna's den in the woods. 

From that day forward, Hyuna and Luhan were the fastest of friends. She taught him how to lay his napkin on his lap and not to wrap it around his neck. She taught him how and when to say "please" and "thank you." She even washed his scarf with soap and bleach, pressed it flat and pleated it. The Grumpling even learned to tie it in a rakish way, a polite and proper sort of thing to do when you have tea at a quarter of three. 

For in the rudest of people there is always convention, if we would only take time to teach it.

AS YOU LIVE AND AS YOU GROW IN THE LAND OF AMENITY BE POLITE AND GRACIOUS, TOO, AND YOU NEVER WILL A GRUMPLING BE.

~The End~