A Wonderful Gift. gI

“*Can any poor soul be out such a night?’ exclaimed the
mother.

“She unbarred the door, and a gust of hail rushed into the
room, but on the threshold stood a little old woman shivering
with cold. The widow led her to the fire, and at once began
to prepare some hot porridge.

“In the meanwhile the children stared at the stranger with
eager curiosity. She wore a cloak made of squirrel fur, tied
about her throat by the fore-paws; her face was like a puck-
ered lemon, and her eyes two diamonds, so rapidly did they
flash and glitter about the place.

“ Peter advanced to her side fearlessly.

“* Your slippers are dry, he said.

“«That is because my shoemaker fits me with pure ice, my
dear,’ replied the old lady; then she patted him on the head.
‘You are clever because you are a seventh child,’ she added ;
but Peter did not understand one word of such talk.

“The good mother offered the stranger her own bed, the
best she had, and the old woman declared that her fur cloak
was a famous couch as she spread it down in one corner, and
soon the whole family were asleep. In the morning the old
lady had vanished away, and little Peter lay snugly wrapped
in the soft fur, with a green belt beside him. Of course, this
green belt must be a wonderful gift, and the old lady a fairy ;
the family at once decided that to be a fact, yet the belt was
so dingy and faded as to seem useless and only fit to hang on
a peg behind the door, where it was speedily forgotten. The
fur cloak did not vanish away, as they feared it would, and it

was afterwards used by Peter for a bed.