all. His wife had died when the baby was born and he
could not make as many coats as before, for he must now do all the work
of the house. Johnnie and Tommy were idle and lazy and too thoughtless
to help their father, although they were fine grown lads of five and
seven.

One night Tommy had a wonderful dream. He thought he went down in the
meadow by the old mill pond, and there he saw an owl who shook her
feathers, rolled her great eyes, and called: "Tuwhit, tuwhoo! Tuwhoo,
whoo-o-o-o! Tommy, what are you doing way down here this time of
night?"

"Please, I came to find the brownies," said Tommy; "can you tell me
where they live, ma'am?"

"Tuwhoo, tuwhoo!" screamed the old owl; "so it's the brownies you are
after, is it? Tuwhoo, tuwhoo! Go look in the mill pond. Tuwhoo,
tuwhoo! Go look in the water at midnight, and you'll see one. By the
light of the moon a brownie you'll see, to be sure, but such a lazy
one! Tuwhoo, tuwhoo!" screamed the old owl; and, flapping her wings,
she went sailing away in the moonlight.

"The mill pond, at midnight, by moonlight," thought Tommy. What could
the old owl mean? It was midnight then, and moonlight, too; and there
he was right down by the water. "Silly old thing," said Tommy,
"brownies don't live in the water." But for all that Tommy went to the
bank and peeped in. The moon was shining as bright as day; and what do
you suppose he saw? Why, just a picture of himself in the water, and
that was all. "Humph! I'm no brownie," said he to himself; but the
longer he looked the harder he thought. At last he said:

"Am I a brownie? Perhaps I am one, after all. Grandmother said they
are about as large as I, and the old owl said that I would see a very
lazy one if I looked in the water. Am I lazy? That must be what she
meant. I am the brownie myself." The longer he thought about it the
surer he was that he must be a brownie. "Why," he said, "if I am one,
Johnnie must be another; then there are two of us. I'll go home and
tell Johnnie all about it."

Off he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, and just as he was
calling, "Johnnie, Johnnie! We are brownies! The old owl told me!" he
found himself wide awake, sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes, while
Johnnie lay fast asleep by his side. The first faint rays of morning
light were just creeping in at their chamber window. "Johnnie,
Johnnie, wake up! I have something to tell you!"

After telling his broth