An indeterminate amount of time later time unfroze and James found he was able to move again. However, his relief at the story resuming was somewhat tampered by an immediate realisation that something was dramatically wrong.
The last thing he remembered was a crazy hare with magical powers casting a spell on him and the Princess and now everything felt way off. The perfect green grass he had been standing in moments ago now being taller than he was the most immediate clue that the hare's magic had worked on him in some way or other.
"There, that will teach you to mess with ol' Johnny!" He heard the unmistakeable voice of the strange leporid creature call out triumphantly from above before vanishing into the distance.
James told himself to resist the urge to panic. This was just a story, a silly children's story no matter how real it felt. Whatever had happened to him and the Princess...wait Princess Penelope! Fictional character or not she felt real to James and he needed to check she was ok.
Leaping through the grass - and quickly guessing what he had become even if it hadn't been confirmed to him - he soon came across a giant pile of Penelope's discarded clothes. On top of them sat a frog. A cute, cartoonish looking amphibian with obvious feminine features - like pretty eyelashes he was sure real frog's didn't have.
"Um, Penelope?" James asked tentatively, relieved his human voice was still in perfect working order.
"Oh James! Is that you!" The critter responded in Penelope's unmistakeble regal tone "Oh dear! I'm afraid that ghastly hare has turned you into a lowly frog! Oh, what a terrible fate! I can't imagine how awful that must be!"
"Um, I have some bad news for you.." as James wondered how to break the bad news to his comlanion he heard footsteps approach and the voices of a friendly sounding young couple were eminating from several feet above them. James decided to take his chance.
"Excuse me! Down here!" He shouted "You have to help us! Your Princess is in trouble!"
"Wait, what do you mean I'm in trouble!" Penelope interrupted "and where did those two come from? We haven't seen giants in knihoodia for more than a century!"
"Help us please!" James continued in desperation.
"Ah, I love the sound of croaking frogs" the woman sighed wistfully "reminds me of growing up by the river"
"Yes, it's almost like they are tryimg to talk to us" the man replied "if only we could understand them"
The girl giggled and the pair moved on despite James' pleas. Great, so children's story book logic meant that humans heard his clearly spoken English as ribbiting now.
This sucked. James was a helpless, enchanted cartoon frog in a children's story book stuck with a bimbo Princess who wasn't even attractive to him anymore. As the chapter closed he could only hope the next person to open the book would treat him more kindly than the previous readers had.