arcoal burner
doesn't get ahead any, and as I am still young I thought that perhaps
something better might be made out of me. When I look at others, I see
how they have progressed in a short time--the stout Ezekiel for
instance, and the King of the Ball; they have money like hay."

"Peter," said the little man, gravely blowing the smoke from his pipe
to a great distance, "do not talk to me in that way. How much would you
be benefitted by being apparently happy for a few years, only to be
still more unhappy afterwards? You must not despise your calling; your
father and grandfather were honorable people, and followed the same
pursuit. Peter Munk! I will not think that it is laziness that brings
you to me."

Peter shrank back before the earnestness of the little man, and
reddened. "Idleness, Herr Schatzhauser im Tannenwald, is, I well know,
the beginning of all burdens; but you should not think poorly of me for
desiring to better my condition, A charcoal burner is of very little
account in the world, while the glass-makers and raftsmen and
watchmakers are all respectable."

"Pride often comes before a fall," replied the master of the pine wood,
in a more friendly manner. "You mortals are a strange race. Seldom is
one of you contented with the lot to which he was born and brought up.
And what would be the result of your becoming a glass-maker? You would
then want to be a timber merchant; and if you were a timber merchant,
the life of the ranger or the magistrate's dwelling would seem more
attractive still. But it shall be as you wish, provided you promise to
work hard. I am accustomed to grant every Sunday child who knows how to
find me three wishes; the first two are free, the third I can set aside
if it is a foolish one. So announce your wishes, Peter, but let them be
something good and useful."

"Hurrah! You are an excellent Little Glass-Man, and you are rightly
called Schatzhauser, for with you the treasures are always at home.
Well, if I am at liberty to wish for what my heart longs, my first wish
shall be that I could dance better than the King of the Ball, and that
I had as much money in my pocket as the Stout Ezekiel."

[Illustration]

"You fool!" exclaimed the little man scornfully; "What a pitiful wish
is that, to dance well and have money to gamble with! Are you not
ashamed, stupid Peter, to fool away your chance in such a fashion? Of
what use will your dancing be to you and your poor mother? Of what use