w 121
Dick and I 123
Grandpapa 124
Monsieur et Mademoiselle 125
Young Dandelion 127
A September Robin 128

[Illustration]

THE ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE

ADVENTURE THE FIRST

BROWNIE AND THE COOK

THERE was once a little Brownie, who lived--where do you think he lived?
in a coal-cellar.

Now a coal-cellar may seem a most curious place to choose to live in;
but then a Brownie is a curious creature--a fairy, and yet not one of
that sort of fairies who fly about on gossamer wings, and dance in the
moonlight, and so on. He never dances; and as to wings, what use would
they be to him in a coal-cellar? He is a sober, stay-at-home, household
elf--nothing much to look at, even if you did see him, which you are not
likely to do--only a little old man, about a foot high, all dressed in
brown, with a brown face and hands, and a brown peaked cap, just the
color of a brown mouse. And, like a mouse, he hides in corners--especially
kitchen corners, and only comes out after dark when nobody is about, and
so sometimes people call him Mr. Nobody.

I said you were not likely to see him. I never did, certainly, and never
knew any body that did; but still, if you were to go into Devonshire,
you would hear many funny stories about Brownies in general, and so I
may as well tell you the adventures of this particular Brownie, who
belonged to a family there; which family he had followed from house to
house, most faithfully, for years and years.

A good many people had heard him--or supposed they had--when there were
extraordinary noises about the house; noises which must have come from a
mouse or a rat--or a Brownie. But nobody had ever seen him except the
children--the three little boys and three little girls--who declared he
often came to play with them when they were alone, and was the nicest
companion in the world, though he was such an old man--hundreds of years
old! He was full of fun and mischief, and up to all sorts of tricks, but
he never did any body any harm unless they deserved it.

Brownie was supposed to live under one particular coal, in the darkest
corner of the cellar, which was never allowed to be disturbed. Why he
had chosen it nobody knew, and how he lived there, nobody knew either,
nor what he lived upon. Except that, ever since the family could
remember, there