rn in the meadow, full of pale
lights, dancing about, sometimes forming a wide circle, now dispersing
in all directions, then mingling confusedly together."

And the latter said, "These can be nothing but jack-o-lanterns, or
wandering Willies. They come out of the boggy ground, and are driven
about by the winds. Wo to the unlucky traveller who takes them for a
guide!" After looking at the meadow awhile, they all went to bed.

Next day the men obeyed the master's orders, and mowed the grass. The
weather was so fine that the hay was made in a few days, and brought
safely into the barn. No sooner, however, had the cattle begun to eat of
it, than they were all seized with a mortal sickness. In a few weeks the
stalls were empty; and even the sheep and pigs, which had been turned
out to graze in the meadow, shared the same fate. The miller stormed and
raved, and accused his servants of neglect, and was so ill-humored that
his wife and son dared not say a word to him. He set out for the city to
find the old miller, to complain to him of his losses. The good old man
told him at once that he must have forgotten the warning he gave him at
parting, and have disobliged or have been unfriendly in some way
towards his little neighbors; advised him to burn his hay, and to
beware in future of showing ill-nature or a disobliging spirit towards
the little shadowy people.

The miller went home and followed this advice, and burned his hay. Then
he borrowed money to buy more cattle, which thrived well and were very
profitable; he worked diligently at the mill, and bade his wife be more
economical in the kitchen; but to no poor man or child who ventured to
knock at his gate did he open his hand or heart in charity.

One day a very diminutive man, dressed in brown clothes, with skin of
the same color, knocked at the door of the mill and asked for a little
fine meal. The miller looked black, and bade him be gone.

"I ask only for a little, a very little; you see my bag will not hold
more than a handful or two."

More angry as the brown man continued his entreaty, the miller replied--

"I will not give you one atom."

"Do have a little pity," implored the little man; "I _must_ have some
meal, and I _must_ have it as a gift, or I would pay for it a
thousand-fold."

The iron-hearted miller became furious, notwithstanding the little man's
earnest begging, and he loosed the great dog, and sent him to drive him
away.

As the little man w