58 The Catskill Fazirves.

that day. They smoothed the rough, sharply pointed rocks
into slender pillars draped in vines; a fountain gushed in spark-
ling jets of spray, and a carpet of velvet moss sloped from the
brink of the fountain, fit for the dainty feet about to trip over
it. A grotto of pure crystal reflected the light in a thousand
glittering pendants, so that it resembled transparent ice. In
this grotto was spread a feast of delicious fruits—golden or-
anges, ruddy apples and pears in silver vases, crimson peach-
es, and pyramids of amber honey.

“«T hope everything is in order, said the Elf King. He was
very small, but he wore a red smoking-cap on his head, and
slippers on his feet, crochetted by the Queen out of milkweed
flax. He wished to appear at his ease before the great Rapp,
yet he was terribly flustered for fear of a blunder being made
in the entertainment. The Queen was pretty and delicate; her
apron had for pockets two wings of the lady-bug.

“¢ Tet us dance, cried the young elves.

“<Not yet, piped the King. ‘Rapp will be here very soon,
and you must be ready to make your best bow or courtesy.’

“ The little Elf ladies spread their gauzy skirts, and bowed
low as Rapp and his Gnomes appeared. Lapp, being in a very
good-humor, winked at them, and one cannot expect more no-
tice than that from a prince.

“Tt was droll to see the Elf King and Queen seated opposite
to him at table, he was so much larger than they were. The
Elf waiters were obliged to climb silk ladders, which they did
as nimbly as spiders.

Rapp was full of his jokes; he told stories at which the

,merry elves laughed, like the tinkle of bells, and then he rolled