ly.

With the earliest gleams of light, the boy was off with his sheep to the
elfin meadow, and at the first notes of his flute the maidens appeared
before him and danced and danced and danced till evening came. Then the
boy let the flute slip through his fingers, and trod on it, as if by
accident.

If you had heard the noise he made, and how he wrung his hands and wept
and cried that he had lost his only companion, you would have been sorry
for him. The hearts of the elves were quite melted, and they did all
they could to comfort him.

'I shall never find another flute like that, moaned he. 'I have never
heard one whose tone was as sweet as mine! It was cut from the centre of
a seven-year-old cherry tree!'

'There is a cherry tree in our garden that is exactly seven years old,'
said they. 'Come with us, and you shall make yourself another flute.'

So they all went to the cherry tree, and when they were standing round
it the youth explained that if he tried to cut it down with an axe he
might very likely split open the heart of the tree, which was needed for
the flute. In order to prevent this, he would make a little cut in the
bark, just large enough for them to put their fingers in, and with this
help he could manage to tear the tree in two, so that the heart should
run no risk of damage. The elves did as he told them without a thought;
then he quickly drew out the axe, which had been sticking into the
cleft, and behold! all their fingers were imprisoned tight in the tree.

It was in vain that they shrieked with pain and tried to free
themselves. They could do nothing, and the young man remained cold as
marble to all their entreaties.

Then he demanded of them Mogarzea's soul.

'Oh, well, if you must have it, it is in a bottle on the window sill,'
said they, hoping that they might obtain their freedom at once. But they
were mistaken.

'You have made so many men suffer,' answered he sternly, 'that it is but
just you should suffer yourselves, but to-morrow I will let you go.' And
he turned towards home, taking his sheep and the soul of Mogarzea with
him.

Mogarzea was waiting at the door, and as the boy drew near he began
scolding him for being so late. But at the first word of explanation the
man became beside himself with joy, and he sprang so high into the air
that the false soul which the elves had given him flew out of his mouth,
and his own, which had been shut tightly into the flask of water, took
it