They had known Elsie and worshipped her for her goodness, and now the time had come when they might show their appreciation, and while the lovers talked they had gathered silently around them. Then the Queen of the Brownies spoke, “Good and lovely maiden, and noble youth,” said she, “we know of your troubles and we want to help you. Listen to what I tell you, and you shall have riches in abundance. Go, when I have finished talking, enter the Briarly woods. There in the hollow tree you will find a casket filled with bright and shining gold, take it, spend it wisely and take with it the blessings and good will of the Brownies.” It was a wonderful wedding present, and filled the lovers hearts with gratitude.
THE BROWNIES AND THE FARMER.
The Brownies were sorrowful, more sorrowful than they had ever been in their lives before, and that is saying a great deal, for Brownies you know, live such a long, long while, and the saddest part of all was that there seemed no way out of their trouble. The Brownies who lived in the apple orchard saw it first and when they told their friends, all with one voice, cried out, “The wrong must be righted!”
Now this was the trouble. Farmer Grump had bought the Old Clover Farm where the Brownies had lived happily for years, and now each day was full of trials and discomforts, for this cruel farmer seemed always to be finding a way to make the life of his stock miserable. The cows had great boards tied over their eyes—so large that they could not see and so heavy that when the poor creatures went to crop the grass, Bang! Bang! went the board against their noses.
The pigs suffered too. Into their noses had been driven rings that almost made them bleed when rooting in the ground. And what happiness do you suppose life holds for a pig if he cannot root?
The Brownies liked the donkey for he seemed such a patient, long suffering animal but the farmer’s children made his life wretched—they beat him, they stoned him, they even took their naughty little feet and kicked him.
The sheep suffered, and the horses as they dragged the plough through the hard earth or hauled heavy loads along the sandy roads felt constantly the slash, slash of the farmer’s cow-hide whip.
Everything on the place suffered, so do you wonder the Brownies looked sorrowful?