n this place, on
the very first night, I should be initiated into the manner of its
preparation!

"It was the height of summer, which the mice told me was the reason that
the forest smelt so strong, and that the herbs were so fragrant, and
that the lakes with the white, swimming swans were so dark and yet so
clear.

"On the margin of the wood, near several houses, a pole as large as the
mainmast of a ship had been erected, and from the summit hung wreaths of
flowers and fluttering ribbons. It was the Maypole. Lads and lasses
danced round it and tried to outdo the violins of the musicians with
their singing. They were as gay as ever at sunset and in the moonlight,
but I took no part in the merrymaking. What has a little mouse to do
with a Maypole dance? I sat in the soft moss and held my sausage skewer
tight. The moon shone particularly bright on one spot where stood a
tree covered with very fine moss. I may almost venture to say that it
was as fine and soft as the fur of the mouse-king, but it was green,
which is a color very agreeable to the eye.

"All at once I saw the most charming little people marching towards me.
They did not reach higher than my knee, although they looked like human
beings but were better proportioned. They called themselves elves, and
wore clothes that were very delicate and fine, for they were made of the
leaves of flowers, trimmed with the wings of flies and gnats. The effect
was by no means bad.

"They seemed to be seeking something--I knew not what, till at last one
of them espied me. They came towards me, and the foremost pointed to my
sausage skewer, saying: 'There, that is just what we want. See, it is
pointed at the top; is it not capital?' The longer he looked at my
pilgrim's staff the more delighted he became.

"'I will lend it to you,' said I, 'but not to keep.'

"'Oh, no, we won't keep it!' they all cried. Then they seized the
skewer, which I gave up to them, and dancing with it to the tree
covered with delicate moss, set it up in the middle of the green. They
wanted a Maypole, and the one they now had seemed made especially for
them. This they decorated so beautifully that it was quite dazzling to
look at. Little spiders spun golden threads around it, and it was hung
with fluttering veils and flags, as delicately white as snow glittering
in the moonlight. Then they took colors from the butterfly's wing,
sprinkling them over the white drapery until it gleamed as if covered
wi