trewing the ground with dry acorns.

Right at the foot of this tree was an upright gray stone, apparently
part of a rock deeply sunk in the hillside. Beside this stone the
jackdaw paused, and, turning to nod reassuringly at Ned, picked up a
pebble about the size of an acorn and dropped it into the well, at the
same time knocking gently on the flat stone with his bill.

In a moment the rock opened in the middle, and there stood a little old
woman, as withered as a spring apple and as bright as a butterfly,
dressed in a scarlet bodice covered with spangles and a black petticoat
worked in square characters with all the colors of the rainbow.

Ned thought she was not nearly as attractive as the fairies whom he had
but lately left, although she had on more colors than even the Queen
Fairy.

On seeing the jackdaw she made a low bow, and in a shrill eager voice
invited them in. Ned hesitated, but the little old woman snatched his
hand and pulled him in, asking in a whisper, "Dost thou fear for thyself
when visiting the King of the Gnomes?"

Then, opening a low door in the side of the cavern, she beckoned them to
follow. In the middle of a still larger vault stood an arm chair
fashioned from beryl and jasper, with knobs of amethyst and topaz, in
which sat Ned's friend, the Gnome.

He was dressed in a robe of velvet, green and soft as forest moss, and a
ring of gold lay on his grizzled hair. His little eyes shone keen and
fiery, and his hands, withered and brown, were now covered with
glittering jewels.

About the cave a hundred little men, smaller than he, were busy in a
hundred ways. Some stirred kettles of smoking broth; others sliced fresh
vegetables for crisp salads. Some spread a table, with golden plates
and crystal goblets; three turned huge pieces of meat on a spit before a
fire at the end of the cavern, while a dozen more watched the simmering
pots.

The jackdaw hopped gravely past all this toward the chair of the Gnome
King, who stretched out his sceptre, a tall bulrush of gold, and touched
the jackdaw, who at once turned into a dwarf.

Making a low bow to the Gnome King, he turned to Ned and said:

"I was forced to take the form of a jackdaw for twenty years because I
once said that gold was not as yellow as buttercups nor so bright as
sunshine. This made the Gnomes angry, because their belief is that gold
is the most beautiful thing in the world. My punishment is now over and
I need never return to the e