mpse of me it
bobbed--took wing--and was out of sight. Then back it came again, as if
angry. It looked like an alderman lecturing the poor, but meaning really
to--_unlock the cage!_ I mean--to try to fool me. See! How high it
flies. Clear up to the tip-top of the tree. Look at its large bright
eye! There! There! See how it bobs--makes a quick bow, just as I am
doing--points down its tail and up its nose--and off it goes!"

And out and off went the Elf!

"Run, Tiny, run! Oh, Kitty! Twig! The little rascal is gone! Run, Toody,
run! Ah, I caught you; you are the one who loosened the cage-door. Run,
Tiny! Oh, Kitty, Twig, and Crocus, that robin redbreast story was only
meant to fool us!" Thus cried Grandmother Grey, till she was breathless.

"Off they all ran trooping,
And hallooing and whooping,
Beneath the low boughs stooping,
Right through the wood,
For Grandmama Grey,
Like an old duck, led the way,
When a string of ducks trudge to a flood.
Then came Kitty, side by side
With Toody, who oft cried;
'Oh, Kitty dear, was ever such rare fun, fun, fun!'
And Crocus close to Twig,
Both scampered in a jig,
For they knew the Elf his freedom-race had won, won, won!
As for him, the roguish Elf,
He took good care of himself;
His mites of legs they twinkled as he fled, fled, fled.
He was scarcely seen, indeed,
He so glistened with his speed,
And his hair streamed out like silver grass behind his head."

So Dame Grey and the children chased the Elf till they were hot and
tired, and till the sun went down; and by and by they gave up, and all
went home to let Martha wash their soiled hands and faces.

It was a warm and pleasant night, and before very long all the children
were fast asleep.

"Within a very little nook,
Toody always slept alone,
Its strip of window stole a look
Over the lawn and hayrick-cone.

Within the open lattice crept
Some jasmine from the cottage wall,
And to the breathing of her sleep,
Softly swayed, with rise and fall.

But something else comes creeping in,
As softly, from the starry night--
The Elf!--'tis he!--first peeping in,
Now like a moth doth he alight.

He trips up to the little bed,
And near it hangs a full-blown rose;
Then in the middle of the flower