102 The Catskill Fatries. bons in her hair. How surprised she was when she opened her eyes five minutes later to find the work neatly finished, herself gayly dressed, and a donkey standing before the door, with a saddle of red leather trimmed with bells on his back, ready to carry her to the fair! “This donkey was our friend Peter; and when the poor girl had mounted his back, away he trotted as fast as his four little legs would carry him. He did not allow himself to show any ugly donkey tricks, such as lying down to roll in the dust, or shying at a stream of water. When they reached the borders of the town, he left the girl to go on alone, and became a boy, as he did not like the donkey character much, « After that Peter became a madcap, if ever there was one. He blew out the farmers’ pipes, overturned the hay-mounds, tied the dairymaids to the cows’ tails, and set all the dogs crazy. Then he went to a city, where he was one day a chimney-sweep, scram- bling through the flues and sprinkling soot down to make peo- ple sneeze, and an organ-grinder the next. He pretended to be a beggar with one leg; he pulled door-bells and ran away; he laid traps for thieves, so that the police seized them. All this Peter called seeing life; yet he soon grew weary of it. He went back to the forest to see the squirrel fairy; and when he entered the familiar path she ran to meet him gladly. Although Peter had been gone many years, the squirrel was as young as ever, with the sparkling diamond eyes. “