“I am a good dancer myself,” said the little man, “Do you know the ‘Hop, Skip, and Jump’ dance?”
“I do not think I do,” said Amelia.
“It is much admired,” said the dwarf, “when I dance it;” and he thereupon tucked up the little leathern apron in which he worked, and performed some curious antics on one leg.
“That is the Hop,” he observed, pausing for a moment.
“The Skip is thus. You throw out your left leg as high and as far as you can, and as you drop on the toe of your left foot you fling out the right leg in the same manner, and so on. This is the Jump,” with which he turned a somersault and disappeared from view. When Amelia next saw him he was sitting cross-legged on his boulder.
“Good, wasn’t it?” he said.
“Wonderful!” Amelia replied.
“Now it’s your turn again,” said the dwarf.
But Amelia cunningly replied—“I’m afraid I must go on with my work.”
“Pshaw!” said the little tinker. “Give me your work. I can do more in a minute than you in a month, and better to boot. Now dance again.”