256 THE GOLD OF FAIRNILEE.

 

He never did anyone any harm, but he sat and
warmed himself at the kitchen fire. If any
work was unfinished he did it, and made every-
thing tidy that was left out of order. It is a
pity there are no such bogles now! If any-
body offered the Brownie any payment, even if
it was only a silver penny or a new coat, he
would take offence and go away.

Other stories the old nurse had, about hidden
treasures and buried gold. If you believed
her, there was hardly an old stone on the hill-
side but had gold under it. The very sheep
that fed upon the Eildon Hills, which Randal
knew well, had yellow teeth because there was
so much gold under the grass. Randal had
taken two scones, or rolls, in his pocket for
dinner, and ridden over to the Eildon Hills.
He had seen:a rainbow touch one of them,
and there he hoped he would find the treasure
that always lies at the tail of the rainbow.
But he got very soon tired of digging for it
with his little dirk, or dagger. It blunted the
dagger, and he found nothing. Perhaps he
had not marked quite the right place, he
thought. But he looked at the teeth of the
sheep, and they were yellow; so he had no
doubt that there was a gold-mine under the
grass, if he could find it.

The old nurse knew that it was very difficult
to dig up fairy gold. Generally something
happened just when people heard their pick-