n spite of the rough road, and soon stopped before the door of
the forestry. There everyone seemed still asleep; not a sound was to be
heard. Hugo stroked the gentle heads of the stags and bade them
good-bye, and they vanished suddenly in the thicket of the Kueppel.

With the first rays of the sun Hugo's mother awoke, and was most
astonished to find that she had slept all night in the kitchen.

"That's what happens, when one's husband is away," she said stretching
herself and shaking her clothes. "What has become of Hugo?" she thought
suddenly, and felt anxious. She went quickly upstairs to the bedroom,
but there lay Hugo snugly curled up in bed with rosy cheeks and tumbled
curls, his nose buried deeply in his pillow.

As she came in, he roused himself and said: "Mother, I have been to
fetch little Elsa. She is home again"--then he turned round and fell
fast asleep.

The next day the news reached them that little Elsa had really been
found.

"Why, how curious, my boy dreamt it last night," said Mrs Forester.

"She was left at her parents' house at about four in the morning, so I
heard," said her husband, who had just come home.

Elsa's parents always believed that she had been stolen by the gipsies;
it was strange that they should have sent her back so soon, without
asking for a reward. Moreover the child was richly dressed; that was
also a queer thing; her clothes were the wonder and admiration of the
whole village. A blue silk frock, and shoes with shining buckles; never
had such a finely dressed child been seen in Elhalten before.

The simple folk never dreamt that the buckles were real diamonds and
worth a large sum of money.

When Hugo and Elsa met again on the following Sunday, you may be sure
that they had much to talk about, at least when they were left alone
undisturbed by grown-ups!

Although the fairy gifts were invisible to all save the children
themselves, it seems that they had an influence on them as they grew
older.

Elsa became a sweet, loving little person, the sunshine of her home--so
she was called--and very, very seldom did anyone see her crying.

Hugo was a quiet, shy boy; but he seemed to observe everything and
people said of him: "Hugo has his eyes open; he will make his mark in
the world some day." So the children grew up happy and good, and what
can you want to know more about them than that?

THE WITCH'S GRANDDAUGHTER

PART I

In a green valley between two mountain-s