were such dear funny little dwarfs! After they had thanked Minnie
for her trouble, they took white bread and honey from the closet and
asked her to sup with them.

While they sat at supper, they told her that their fairy housekeeper had
taken a holiday, and their house was not well kept, because she was
away.

They sighed when they said this; and after supper, when Minnie washed
the dishes and set them carefully away, they looked at her often and
talked among themselves. When the last plate was in its place they
called Minnie to them and said:--

"_Dear mortal maiden will you stay
All through our fairy's holiday?
And if you faithful prove, and good,
We will reward you as we should_."

Now Minnie was much pleased, for she liked the kind dwarfs, and wanted
to help them, so she thanked them, and went to bed to dream happy
dreams.

Next morning she was awake with the chickens, and cooked a nice
breakfast; and after the dwarfs left, she cleaned up the room and mended
the dwarfs' clothes. In the evening when the dwarfs came home, they
found a bright fire and a warm supper waiting for them; and every day
Minnie worked faithfully until the last day of the fairy housekeeper's
holiday.

That morning, as Minnie looked out of the window to watch the dwarfs go
to their work, she saw on one of the window panes the most beautiful
picture she had ever seen.

A picture of fairy palaces with towers of silver and frosted pinnacles,
so wonderful and beautiful that as she looked at it she forgot that
there was work to be done, until the cuckoo clock on the mantel struck
twelve.

Then she ran in haste to make up the beds, and wash the dishes; but
because she was in a hurry she could not work quickly, and when she took
the broom to sweep the floor it was almost time for the dwarfs to come
home.

"I believe," said Minnie aloud, "that I will not sweep under the rug
to-day. After all, it is nothing for dust to be where it can't be seen!"
So she hurried to her supper and left the rug unturned.

Before long the dwarfs came home. As the rooms looked just as usual,
nothing was said; and Minnie thought no more of the dust until she went
to bed and the stars peeped through the window.

[Illustration: All the little dwarfs came running out to see what was
the matter.]

Then she thought of it, for it seemed to her that she could hear the
stars saying:--

"There is the little girl who is so faithful and good"; and Minn