He is forced to work all day and they antagonize him by threatening him with beatings to keep him in line and torment him about the mysterious rhino and other hazards if he ever attempts to escape. After rescuing a spider from being squashed by his aunts, James meets a mysterious man with a bag of magic green “crocodile tongues”, which he gives to James to make his life better. The man instructs him not to lose the “tongues” and disappears. When James is returning to the house, he trips and the “tongues” escape into the ground.