nd, handing the little bag to the Dryad, he bade her
good-night, and turned toward his cottage.

"Good-night," said the Dryad. "And I thank you over, and over, and
over again, you good old man!"

Old Pipes walked toward his home, very glad to be saved the fatigue
of going all the way down to the village and back again. "To be
sure," he said to himself, "this path does not seem at all steep, and
I can walk along it very easily; but it would have tired me
dreadfully to come up all the way from the village, especially as I
could not have expected those children to help me again." When he
reached home, his mother was surprised to see him returning so soon.

"What!" she exclaimed; "have you already come back? What did the
Chief Villager say? Did he take the money?"

Old Pipes was just about to tell her that he had sent the money to
the village by a Dryad, when he suddenly reflected that his mother
would be sure to disapprove such a proceeding, and so he merely said
he had sent it by a person whom he had met.

"And how do you know that the person will ever take it to the Chief
Villager?" cried his mother. "You will lose it, and the villagers
will never get it. Oh, Pipes! Pipes! when will you be old enough to
have ordinary common sense?"

Old Pipes considered that as he was already seventy years of age he
could scarcely expect to grow any wiser, but he made no remark on
this subject; and, saying that he doubted not that the money would go
safely to its destination, he sat down to his supper. His mother
scolded him roundly, but he did not mind it; and after supper he went
out and sat on a rustic chair in front of the cottage to look at the
moonlit village, and to wonder whether or not the Chief Villager
really received the money. While he was doing these two things, he
went fast asleep.

When Old Pipes left the Dryad, she did not go down to the village
with the little bag of money. She held it in her hand, and thought
about what she had heard. "This is a good and honest old man," she
said; "and it is a shame that he should lose this money. He looked as
if he needed it, and I don't believe the people in the village will
take it from one who has served them so long. Often, when in my tree,
have I heard the sweet notes of his pipes. I am going to take the
money back to him." She did not start immediately, because there were
so many beautiful things to look at; but after a while she went up to
the cottage, and, finding Old