THE MISCHIEVOUS PRANK OF THE GNOMES. 5

some time, he lay down in the shade and
dreamed away the afternoon.

As the sun slowly settled into the west-
ern woods, the giant remembered that it was
time for him to begin his cooking, so he
rubbed two smooth sticks briskly together
until a spark appeared, and in a minute
more the smoke curled up over the trees,
and the oatmeal porridge was bubbling away
merrily.

It is not very exciting work making oatmeal
porridge, and the fire was quite hot, too, for it
required a very large pot to hold enough por-
ridge for all the giants, and consequently a
large fire was needed, a fire, in fact, as large as
the great Boston fire of 1872. So the giant
thought he might as well make himself com-
fortable and seated himself with his back rest-
ing against Blue Hill, and his feet comfortably
immersed in the cool waters of “ Lily Pond.”
Seated thus, the soothing effect of the foot-
bath, together with the crackling of the fire
and the bubbling of the porridge, brought
about a sleepy condition of the giant cook’s
great brain, and without knowing it, he fell
fast asleep.