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Page 33
As she hurried on, the shadows grew deeper. The night was coming fast
when she saw before her a very small house, which was a welcome sight.
She made haste to reach it, and to knock at the door.
Nobody came in answer to her knock. When she had tried again and again,
she thought that nobody lived there; and she opened the door and walked
in, thinking that she would stay all night.
As soon as she stepped into the house, she started back in surprise; for
there before her she saw twelve little beds with the bed-clothes all
tumbled, twelve little dirty plates on a very dusty table, and the floor
of the room so dusty that I am sure you could have drawn a picture on
it.
"Dear me!" said the little girl, "this will never do!" And as soon as
she had warmed her hands, she set to work to make the room tidy.
She washed the plates, she made up the beds, she swept the floor, she
straightened the great rug in front of the fireplace, and set the twelve
little chairs in a half circle around the fire; and, just as she
finished, the door opened and in walked twelve of the queerest little
people she had ever seen. They were just about as tall as a carpenter's
rule, and all wore yellow clothes; and when Minnie saw this, she knew
that they must be the dwarfs who kept the gold in the heart of the
mountain.
"Well!" said the dwarfs all together, for they always spoke together and
in rhyme,
"_Now isn't this a sweet surprise?
We really can't believe our eyes_!"
Then they spied Minnie, and cried in great astonishment:--
"_Who can this be, so fair and mild?
Our helper is a stranger child_."
Now when Minnie saw the dwarfs, she came to meet them. "If you please,"
she said, "I'm little Minnie Grey; and I'm looking for work because my
dear mother is sick. I came in here when the night drew near, and--"
here all the dwarfs laughed, and called out merrily:--
"_You found our room a sorry sight,
But you have made it clean and bright_."
They were such dear funny little dwarfs! After they had thanked Minnie
for her trouble, they took white bread and honey from the closet and
asked her to sup with them.
While they sat at supper, they told her that their fairy housekeeper had
taken a holiday, and their house was not well kept, because she was
away.
They sighed when they said this; and after supper, when Minnie washed
the dishes and set them carefully away, they looked at her often and
talked among themselves. When the last plate was in its place they
called Minnie to them and said:--
"_Dear mortal maiden will you stay
All through our fairy's holiday?
And if you faithful prove, and good,
We will reward you as we should_."
Now Minnie was much pleased, for she liked the kind dwarfs, and wanted
to help them, so she thanked them, and went to bed to dream happy
dreams.
Next morning she was awake with the chickens, and cooked a nice
breakfast; and after the dwarfs left, she cleaned up the room and mended
the dwarfs' clothes. In the evening when the dwarfs came home, they
found a bright fire and a warm supper waiting for them; and every day
Minnie worked faithfully until the last day of the fairy housekeeper's
holiday.
That morning, as Minnie looked out of the window to watch the dwarfs go
to their work, she saw on one of the window panes the most beautiful
picture she had ever seen.
A picture of fairy palaces with towers of silver and frosted pinnacles,
so wonderful and beautiful that as she looked at it she forgot that
there was work to be done, until the cuckoo clock on the mantel struck
twelve.
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