i4 THE FAIRY-FOLK OF THE BLUE HILI.

CleAvess bean
WHAT THE BROWN BEETLE SAW.

The little brown beetle, seated under a leaf,
had seen the mischievous gnomes at work and
had heard the quarrel of the giants, and when
he saw them so dejected at the reproof of the
little man in gray, he felt very sorry for them,
for they had never done him any harm, and he
had seen so much of them that he felt quite
well acquainted with them, and was sure that
they were not bad at heart.

The brown beetle thought the little gray
man had been unnecessarily severe with the
giants, and he trembled as he thought how
soon the foolish fellows might do the same
thing over again, and how lonesome it would
be not to see their great forms moving about,
nor to hear the hill reverberating with the
echo of their deep voices, nor the crackling of
the underbrush beneath their huge feet.

Very depressing was the mood these thoughts