“Nonsense,” replied the two dreadful men. “He has cheated us; he owed
us money which he could not pay, and now he is dead we shall not get a
penny; so we mean to have our revenge, and let him lie like a dog outside
the church door.”
“I have only fifty dollars,” said Jean, “it is all I possess in the world, but I
will give it to you if you will promise me faithfully to leave the dead man in
peace. I shall be able to get on without the money; I have strong and healthy
limbs, and God will always help me.”
“Why, of course,” said the horrid men, “if you will pay his debt we will
both promise not to touch him. You may depend upon that;” and then they
took the money he offered them, laughed at him for his good nature, and
went their way.
Then he laid the dead body back in the coffin, folded the hands, and took
leave of it; and went away contentedly through the great forest. All around
him he could see the prettiest little elves dancing in the moonlight, which
shone through the trees. They were not disturbed by his appearance, for
they knew he was good and harmless among men. They are wicked people
only who can never obtain a glimpse of fairies. Some of them were not
taller than the breadth of a finger, and they wore golden combs in their long,
yellow hair. They were rocking themselves two together on the large dew-
drops with which the leaves and the high grass were sprinkled. Sometimes
the dew-drops would roll away, and then they fell down between the stems
of the long grass, and caused a great deal of laughing and noise among the
other little people. It was quite charming to watch them at play. Then they
sang songs, and Jean remembered that he had learnt those pretty songs
when he was a little boy. Large speckled spiders, with silver crowns on their
heads, were employed to spin suspension bridges and palaces from one
hedge to another, and when the tiny drops fell upon them, they glittered in
the moonlight like shining glass. This continued till sunrise. Then the little
elves crept into the flower-buds, and the wind seized the bridges and
palaces, and fluttered them in the air like cobwebs.
