‘She opened wide her pinafore so that the tiny Brown Man could take them out.’
‘Did you? You are a nice little girl’ (she was a giantess compared with him) ‘to want the Small People’s gold, and I hope one of the purses has some. May I look into them for you and see?’
‘Iss, if you like,’ cried Gerna; and, sitting down on the sand, she opened wide her pinafore, so that the tiny Brown Man could take them out, which, however, he did not do.
‘The Small People never put anything of value into these common brown things,’ he said disdainfully, just glancing at the purses in her lap. ‘The bags into which we put our golden money are much prettier, and are painted all over with golden rings, with dashes of white, like this,’ making tiny strokes with his finger on the sand. ‘If you ever find such a purse you will indeed be a lucky little maid—that is, if you take it into Piskey Goog and put it on a shelf of rock there, which is what I want you to do. We value these ring-marked purses more than I can tell you,’ he continued, as Gerna did not speak, ‘and are greatly troubled when we lose one of them; we have done so now, and shall never be happy any more until we find it.’
‘My dear life!’ ejaculated the child.
‘In return for your kindness, if you find the bag we have lost and bring it to Piskey Goog, we will give you another something like it, full of gold, and you will be quite rich, and be able to buy anything you want.’
‘My dear soul and body!’ ejaculated Gerna again.
‘I mean what I say,’ continued the man, looking up into the little maid’s open face with a glitter in his twinkling black eyes, which were no bigger than a robin’s eyes, and not nearly so soft. ‘But I warn you that if you do find this purse, you must not tell anybody of your great find, but bring it straight to Piskey Goog.’