your dirty
frocks, it is time you learnt to do so, if only that you may know what
the trouble is you impose on other people. _She_ will teach you."

The dwarf kicked out his foot in front of him, and pointed with his
long toe to a woman who sat by a fire made upon the heath, where a pot
was suspended from crossed poles. It was like a bit of a gipsy
encampment, and the woman seemed to be a real woman, not a fairy--which
was the case, as Amelia afterwards found. She had lived underground for
many years, and was the dwarfs' servant.

And this was how it came about that Amelia had to wash her dirty
frocks. Let any little girl try to wash one of her dresses; not to half
wash it, not to leave it stained with dirty water, but to wash it quite
clean. Let her then try to starch and iron it--in short, to make it
look as if it had come from the laundress--and she will have some idea
of what poor Amelia had to learn to do. There was no help for it. When
she was working she very seldom saw the dwarfs; but if she were idle or
stubborn, or had any hopes of getting away, one was sure to start up at
her elbow and pinch her funny-bone, or poke her in the ribs, till she
did her best. Her back ached with stooping over the wash-tub; her hands
and arms grew wrinkled with soaking in hot soapsuds, and sore with
rubbing. Whatever she did not know how to do, the woman of the heath
taught her. At first, whilst Amelia was sulky, the woman of the heath
was sharp and cross; but when Amelia became willing and obedient, she
was good-natured, and even helped her.

The first time that Amelia felt hungry she asked for some food.

"By all means," said one of the dwarfs; "there is plenty down here
which belongs to you;" and he led her away till they came to a place
like the first, except that it was covered with plates of broken meats;
all the bits of good meat, pie, pudding, bread-and-butter, &c., that
Amelia had wasted beforetime.

"I can't eat cold scraps like these," said Amelia, turning away.

"Then what did you ask for food for before you were hungry?" screamed
the dwarf, and he pinched her and sent her about her business.

After a while she became so famished that she was glad to beg humbly to
be allowed to go for food; and she ate a cold chop and the remains of a
rice pudding with thankfulness. How delicious they tasted! She was
surprised herself at the good things she had rejected. After a time she
fancied she would like to warm up some of