alled together all the Fireflies for miles and miles around.

Of course, it did not take those sprightly little creatures long to fly
miles and miles, and pretty soon in one corner of the woods were
gathered together thousands of Fireflies.

"My plan is this," said the old Firefly when they were all there, "the
Goblins are to go sailing on the lily pads after the frolic and we will
go around to all the rocks and alight on all of them, for that is where
they live, and when they return from their sail they will think their
homes are on fire.

"Shine as brightly as you can, every one of you, and don't wink or
blink, so the Goblins will not suspect us. They will have a good
fright, if nothing else."

Away went the Fireflies in groups of thousands, and pretty soon all the
rocks in the woods were covered; but not until the Goblins returned
from their moonlight sail did the Fireflies let their bright lights be
seen.

The Goblins stopped every one when they reached the woods, for all the
rocks were a blaze of light. "Oh, our homes!" they all cried; "someone
has set them on fire. What shall we do?"

Hither and thither like little bees they flew, but it was no use; they
could not enter their homes. They were all on fire.

"Where shall we sleep?" they began to ask one another, for they were
all very tired after the frolic.

"We can crawl under the leaves," said one Goblin, "but we dare not
sleep, for if the fairies should find us, no knowing what they would do
to us with their wands. We will have to stay awake all night, and in
the morning if the fire is out we can crawl into our homes, for, of
course, the rocks cannot burn."

"No, but they can be very hot and burn us," said another. "Oh dear, I
wish we had not gone sailing; perhaps we could have saved our homes."

So under the leaves they crawled, but not a wink of sleep did those
Goblins dare take, and when it was 'most daylight time the Fireflies
put out their lights and silently flew away.

When the Goblins went to their rocks they were surprised to find them
all cool and not at all hot as they had expected, and one of the
Goblins, putting a pointed little finger on the side of his pointed
nose said to the others: "I have a thought, and it is this: The
Fireflies were not invited to our frolic and I wonder if they alighted
on our rocks for revenge?"

"I wonder," said the others; but they were all so sleepy they could not
think, so in they tumbled and were s