WHAT THE BROWN BEETLE SAW. 15

produced, but the brown beetle gradually be-
came more cheerful, and before long he was
himself again. Sitting basking on a dry leaf
on which the sun was shining, the beetle pon-
dered over the annoyances the mischievous
gnomes constantly inflicted on his friends, the
giants. Suddenly, he heard a slight crackling
of dry branches and leaves that he knew must
be caused by the feet of either human beings
or animals, which, he could not tell. Anxious-
ly straining his eyes in the direction of the
sounds, in a moment there appeared, around
the bend in the path, the little man in gray.

Not from the footsteps of the little gray man
did the crackling sounds proceed,—never a
twig or leaf bent under his light tread. As he
came into view around the bend of the path,
he turned and, looking back over the steep
road over which he had just come, beckoned
authoritatively with his hand.

Then to the astonished gaze of the brown
beetle, appeared a troop of gnomes, each bear-
ing on his sturdy shoulders a pack. On they
came, in single file, by the thousand it seemed
to the bewildered beetle, each one an exact
counterpart of the other, and each small figure