g of the Elves.

Pretty soon the garden was filled with water so that the grass could
not be seen, while old Wind Witch danced about overhead and cackled
with delight at the mischief she had done.

"Oh dear! I did not know there were so many of you!" cried a rose as
her stem broke and she fell into the water.

"I was afraid of it," sighed the lily as she fell to the ground. "A
few Elves at a time is best. The mother Rain Clouds know."

Such a commotion as there was in the Rain Cloud homes when the mothers
found the doors of their houses open! They hustled about and called
for the Rain Elves to come home; but they were so taken up with the fun
they were having, spattering and splashing, they did not hear.

By and by old Sun Man saw them, and it did not take him long to throw
his hot rays on old Wind Witch and drive her away, and then the Rain
Elves felt the Sun Man's breath and thought of home.

One by one they disappeared. Some hid among the roses and other
flowers that were left in the garden, and others were lucky enough to
get back to their cloud houses and their mothers, but they left the
garden a very sad-looking place.

"Who ever would have thought there were so many of those Rain Elves,"
said a bedraggled-looking flower. "I shall never wish for them to stay
all day again."

"The lily was wiser than we thought," said another. "The Rain Cloud
mothers know best what is good for us, and the next time they send a
part of their children I think we better be satisfied and not get them
all here at once."

"I think you are right," sighed the hollyhock from the ground, where he
had fallen. "Shall I ever see over the wall again, I wonder. Such a
fall as I took none of you can realize."

MR. FOX'S HOUSEWARMING

[Illustration: Mr. Fox's Housewarming]

Mr. Fox had been so much disturbed by Mr. Dog and his master that he
decided to try living somewhere besides on the ground floor of the
woods.

One night he took a look around in the moonlight, and to his delight he
discovered the very place for him to live.

It was a house built in the branches of a big tree that some boys very
likely had made the year before. "Now with a very little repairing
this will be the finest house in the woods," said Mr. Fox.

So over the hill he ran to Mr. Man's and brought away all that was
needed to make his house comfortable.

He even found an old piece of stovepipe to make his stove draw well,
and in a few days