With great trepidation, Fret and Numnutz moved through the porch door, stepping over what appeared to be an exploded bagpipe stomach, and into the darkened interior of Rick O'the Fielding's lair.   After the first few moments, their eyes became accustomed to the vast space, completely disguised from the outside.

To begin at the floor level, every square inch of space was covered in what appeared to be an amalgam of cat fur, loose quarter notes, picks, and rolls of paper covered in mysterious slanted hieroglyphics, redolent of ancient Runic inscriptions, which upon closer inspection turned out to be TAB transcriptions of some of the great Greens masters, including hits by "Dwarf" Willie Jones, "Elvish the Pelvish", and "Brownie" McGhee, mostly for 6-string slide lyre. Along the edges of this array of the great man's activity, and climbing the walls in all directions, were stacks of yellowing manuscripts and textbooks, which, in off moments, Fret could discern had seductive titles such as "Nights at Stonehenge: A Druid Recalls"; "The Incomplete Minstrel", "Dragonchanter's Workbook", "Guinivere: the Gurlgrup Years", and "Rise Up Shapeshifting". Between the walls and the floors, hung an astonishing array of what Fret tentatively identified as musical instruments.   This was confirmed in an unfortunate way, when Fret reached over and touched what seemed to be a saxophone in the form of a Klein bottle.

"What'chew doin'?" tooted the saxophone. "Keep yo' hans' to youself." It wailed harshly, raising the ire of all the other instruments along the wall, that started yelling and berating the two small figures. Hundreds of instruments, all shapes sizes and forms, whistled, whined, plonked, howled, until Fret and Numnutz were unable to keep from covering their ears against the din.

At this moment, Rick O'the Fielding appeared from nowhere, with a whip. "Down, down, my children, down!!," he thundered, cracking his whip, "They are guests!!!!"

The din slowly subsided, except for a slightly out of tune guitar that was a recent addition to the stable, and had still not settled in. It rangled for a few moments, until Rick stared it down.

Fret and Numnutz uncoiled themselves from their defensive position on the floor, and were finally face to face with the Minstrel himself.