w how to do anything; she could not make bread, she could
not sweep a room, she could not sew a seam; she could only laugh and
sing. But she was so sweet and merry that everybody loved her. And by
and by, she married one of the people who loved her, and had a house of
her own to take care of.

Then, then, my dears, came hard times for Elsa! There were so many
things to be done in the house, and she did not know how to do any of
them! And because she had never worked at all it made her very tired
even to try; she was tired before the morning was over, every day. The
maid would come and say, "How shall I do this?" or "How shall I do
that?" And Elsa would have to say, "I don't know." Then the maid would
pretend that she did not know, either; and when she saw her mistress
sitting about doing nothing, she, too, sat about, idle.

Elsa's husband had a hard time of it; he did not have good things to
eat, and they were not ready at the right time, and the house looked
all in a clutter. It made him sad, and that made Elsa sad, for she
wanted to do everything just right.

At last, one day, Elsa's husband went away quite cross; he said to her,
as he went out the door, "It is no wonder that the house looks so, when
you sit all day with your hands in your lap!"

Little Elsa cried bitterly when he was gone, for she did not want to
make her husband unhappy and cross, and she wanted the house to look
nice. "Oh, dear," she sobbed, "I wish I could do things right! I wish
I could work! I wish--I wish I had ten good fairies to work for me!
Then I could keep the house!"

As she said the words, a great gray man stood before her; he was
wrapped in a strange gray cloak that covered him from head to foot; and
he smiled at Elsa. "What is the matter, dear?" he said. "Why do you
cry?"

"Oh, I am crying because I do not know how to keep the house," said
Elsa. "I cannot make bread, I cannot sweep, I cannot sew a seam; when
I was a little girl I never learned to work, and now I cannot do
anything right. I wish I had ten good fairies to help me!"

"You shall have them, dear," said the gray man, and he shook his
strange gray cloak. Pouf! Out hopped ten tiny fairies, no bigger than
that!

"These shall be your servants, Elsa," said the gray man; "they are
faithful and clever, and they will do everything you want them to, just
right. But the neighbors might stare and ask questions if they saw
these little chaps running about your