is couch was fit for a princess, and a princess Finola
was, though she did not know it herself.

Outside the hut the bare, brown, lonely moor stretched for miles on
every side, but towards the east it was bounded by a range of
mountains that looked to Finola blue in the daytime, but which put on
a hundred changing colours as the sun went down. Nowhere was a house
to be seen, nor a tree, nor a flower, nor sign of any living thing.
From morning till night, nor hum of bee, nor song of bird, nor voice
of man, nor any sound fell on Finola's ear. When the storm was in the
air the great waves thundered on the shore beyond the mountains, and
the wind shouted in the glens; but when it sped across the moor it
lost its voice, and passed as silently as the dead. At first the
silence frightened Finola, but she got used to it after a time, and
often broke it by talking to herself and singing.

The only other person beside the old woman Finola ever saw was a dumb
dwarf who, mounted on a broken-down horse, came once a month to the
hut, bringing with him a sack of corn for the old woman and Finola.
Although he couldn't speak to her, Finola was always glad to see the
dwarf and his old horse, and she used to give them cake made with
her own white hands. As for the dwarf he would have died for the
little princess, he was so much in love with her, and often and often
his heart was heavy and sad as he thought of her pining away in the
lonely moor.

It chanced that he came one day, and she did not, as usual, come out
to greet him. He made signs to the old woman, but she took up a stick
and struck him, and beat his horse and drove him away; but as he was
leaving he caught a glimpse of Finola at the door of the hut, and saw
that she was crying. This sight made him so very miserable that he
could think of nothing else but her sad face that he had always seen
so bright, and he allowed the old horse to go on without minding where
he was going. Suddenly he heard a voice saying: "It is time for you to
come."

The dwarf looked, and right before him, at the foot of a green hill,
was a little man not half as big as himself, dressed in a green jacket
with brass buttons, and a red cap and tassel.

"It is time for you to come," he said the second time; "but you are
welcome, anyhow. Get off your horse and come in with me, that I may
touch your lips with the wand of speech, that we may have a talk
together."

The dwarf got off his horse and followed