ey do. They have
nothing upon their backs to keep off the cold. I'll tell you what we
must do. I will make each of them a shirt, and a coat and waistcoat, and
a pair of pantaloons into the bargain. Do you make each of them a little
pair of shoes."

The good shoemaker liked the thought very well. One evening he and his
wife had the clothes ready, and laid them on the table instead of the
work they used to cut out. Then they went and hid behind the curtain to
watch what the little Elves would do.

At midnight the Elves came in and were going to sit down at their work
as usual. But when they saw the clothes lying there for them, they
laughed and were in high glee. They dressed themselves in the twinkling
of an eye, and danced and capered and sprang about as merry as could be,
till at last they danced out of the door, and over the green.

The shoemaker saw them no more, but everything went well with him as
long as he lived.

THE HILLMAN AND THE HOUSEWIFE

BY JULIANA HORATIA EWING (ADAPTED)

It is well known that the Fairy People cannot abide meanness. They like
to be liberally dealt with when they beg or borrow of the human race;
and, on the other hand, to those who come to them in need, they are
invariably generous.

Now there once lived a certain housewife who had a sharp eye to her own
interests, and gave alms of what she had no use for, hoping to get some
reward in return. One day a Hillman knocked at her door.

"Can you lend us a saucepan, good mother?" said he. "There's a wedding
in the hill, and all the pots are in use."

"Is he to have one?" asked the servant lass who had opened the door.

"Aye, to be sure," answered the housewife; "one must be neighborly."

But when the maid was taking a saucepan from the shelf, the housewife
pinched her arm and whispered sharply: "Not that, you good-for-nothing!
Get the old one out of the cupboard. It leaks, and the Hillmen are so
neat, and such nimble workers, that they are sure to mend it before they
send it home. So one obliges the Fairy People, and saves sixpence in
tinkering!"

Thus bidden the maid fetched the saucepan, which had been laid by until
the tinker's next visit, and gave it to the Hillman, who thanked her and
went away.

In due time the saucepan was returned, and, as the housewife had
foreseen, it was neatly mended and ready for use.

At supper-time the maid filled the pan with milk, and set it on the fire
for the children's supper. But in a