ck; and then they were very sad.
It was Winter, and there were many things to buy. Minnie and her little
sister sat by the fire and talked it over, and at last Minnie said:--

"Dear sister, I must go out to find work, before the food gives out." So
she kissed her mother, and, wrapping herself up, started from home.
There was a narrow path leading through the forest, and she determined
to follow it until she reached some place where she might find the work
she wanted.

As she hurried on, the shadows grew deeper. The night was coming fast
when she saw before her a very small house, which was a welcome sight.
She made haste to reach it, and to knock at the door.

Nobody came in answer to her knock. When she had tried again and again,
she thought that nobody lived there; and she opened the door and walked
in, thinking that she would stay all night.

As soon as she stepped into the house, she started back in surprise; for
there before her she saw twelve little beds with the bed-clothes all
tumbled, twelve little dirty plates on a very dusty table, and the floor
of the room so dusty that I am sure you could have drawn a picture on
it.

"Dear me!" said the little girl, "this will never do!" And as soon as
she had warmed her hands, she set to work to make the room tidy.

She washed the plates, she made up the beds, she swept the floor, she
straightened the great rug in front of the fireplace, and set the twelve
little chairs in a half circle around the fire; and, just as she
finished, the door opened and in walked twelve of the queerest little
people she had ever seen. They were just about as tall as a carpenter's
rule, and all wore yellow clothes; and when Minnie saw this, she knew
that they must be the dwarfs who kept the gold in the heart of the
mountain.

"Well!" said the dwarfs all together, for they always spoke together and
in rhyme,

"_Now isn't this a sweet surprise?
We really can't believe our eyes_!"

Then they spied Minnie, and cried in great astonishment:--

"_Who can this be, so fair and mild?
Our helper is a stranger child_."

Now when Minnie saw the dwarfs, she came to meet them. "If you please,"
she said, "I'm little Minnie Grey; and I'm looking for work because my
dear mother is sick. I came in here when the night drew near, and--"
here all the dwarfs laughed, and called out merrily:--

"_You found our room a sorry sight,
But you have made it clean and bright_."

They