ylight."

Snow-White was very sad when she said good-bye to the good-natured
beast, and unfastened the door, that he might go; but in going out he
was caught by a hook in the lintel, and a scrap of his fur being torn,
Snow-White thought there was something shining like gold through the
rent; but he went out so quickly that she could not feel certain what
it was, and soon he was hidden among the trees.

One day the mother sent her children into the wood to pick up sticks.
They found a big tree lying on the ground. It had been felled, and
towards the roots they noticed something skipping and springing, which
they could not make out, as it was sometimes hidden in the grasses. As
they came nearer they could see it was a dwarf, with a shrivelled up
face and a snow-white beard an ell long. The beard was fixed in a gash
in the tree trunk, and the tiny fellow was hopping to and fro, like a
dog at the end of a string, but he could not manage to free himself.
He stared at the children, with his red, fiery eyes, and called out,
"Why are you standing there? Can't you come and try to help me?"

"What were you doing, little fellow?" enquired Rose-Red.

"Stupid, inquisitive goose!" replied the dwarf; "I meant to split the
trunk, so that I could chop it up for kitchen sticks; big logs would
burn up the small quantity of food we cook, for people like us do
not consume great heaps of food, as you heavy, greedy folk do.
The bill-hook I had driven in, and soon I should have done what
I required; but the tool suddenly sprang from the cleft, which so
quickly shut up again that it caught my handsome white beard; and
here I must stop, for I cannot set myself free. You stupid, pale-faced
creatures! You laugh, do you?"

In spite of the dwarf's bad temper, the girls took all possible pains
to release the little man, but without avail; the beard could not be
moved, it was wedged too tightly.

"I will run and get someone else," said Rose-Red.

"Idiot!" cried the dwarf. "Who would go and get more people? Already
there are two too many. Can't you think of something better?"

"Don't be so impatient," said Snow-White. "I will try to think." She
clapped her hands as if she had discovered a remedy, took out her
scissors, and in a moment set the dwarf free by cutting off the end of
his beard.

Immediately the dwarf felt that he was free he seized a sackful
of gold that was hidden among the tree roots, and, lifting it up,
grumbled out, "Clumsy c