“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.