I am within
And want to get out.”
The door in the rock opened, and they stepped out into the open air.
“We’re safe now,” said the elf, and he slammed the door shut, just as the foremost of the pursuing soldiers began to mount the stairs. “Now, please give me my hat!” he added imploringly.
“Not yet,” said Harry. “You must go home with me; I’m not going to walk the streets bareheaded and visible.”
When they reached the house Harry bade the elf wait a minute, and removing the elfin hat from his head, he went up to his mother’s room, and took an old hat-pin from a closet. Stopping on his way back at the sitting-room door, he obtained his mother’s permission to keep it, and then ran out to the elf.
“You have been a good servant,” said he, “and here is your reward.”
The elf’s little black eyes sparkled with pleasure as he took it, and he drew himself up proudly, saying: “Now I shall become a member of the royal family. And here,” he continued, drawing a pin from his coat, and handing it to Harry, “is a token of my gratitude. If you ever want to see me, go to that rock in the Park; in the centre of the top you will find a small hole; stick this pin in the hole, and while you press upon it thrice, repeat these words:
“Pin, pin, let me in.
Needles are banished,