at might be gathered from the four quarters of heaven.

They were both old, but kings came from all sides to their wedding,
and offered themselves as god-parents to the first-born of the new
race that was to be. But, to the grief of his parents, the child, when
he arrived, proved to be a simpleton; and no second child ever came to
repair the mistake of the first.

That he was a simpleton was evident; his head was small and his
limbs were large, and he could run long before he could talk or do
arithmetic. In the bitterness of their hearts his father and mother
named him Noodle, without the aid of any royal god-parents; and from
that moment, for any care they took in his bringing-up, they washed
their wise hands of him.

Noodle grew and prospered, and enjoyed life in his own foolish way.
When his father and mother died within a short time of each other,
they left him alone without any friend in the world.

For a good while Noodle lived on just what he could find in the house,
in a hand-to-mouth sort of way, till at last only the furniture and
the four bare walls were left to him.

One cold winter's night he sat brooding over the fire, wondering where
he should get food for the morrow, when he heard feet coming up to the
door, and a knock striking low down upon the panel. Outside there was
a faint chirping and crackling sound, and a whispering as of fire
licking against the woodwork without.

He opened the door and peered forth into the night. There, just before
him, stood seven little men huddled up together; three feet high they
were, with bright yellow faces all shrivelled and sharp, and eyes
whose light leaped and sank like candle flame before a gust.

When they saw him, they shut their eyes and opened famished mouths at
him, pointing inwards with flickering finger-tips, and shivering from
head to foot with cold, although it seemed to the youth as if the
warmth of a slow fire came from them. 'Alas!' said Noodle, in reply to
these signs of hunger, 'I have not left even a crust of bread in the
house to give you! But at least come in and make yourselves warm!' He
touched the foremost, making signs for them all to enter. 'Ah,' he
cried, 'what is this, and what are you, that the mere touch of you
burns my finger?'

Without answer they huddled tremblingly across the threshold; but
so soon as they saw the fire burning on the hearth, they yelped all
together like a pack of hounds, and, throwing themselves face forward