cat made an attempt to escape, but it was caught in the
wire as a fly is caught in a spider's web, and it hung helpless by the
water-shelf.

"And then a very wonderful thing happened. The silver wire seemed to
become so heavy that the roof of the house couldn't bear its weight.
The cabin swayed, and finally the roof fell in with a crash. Out of
the dust and wreck walked the father of Three Wits, leading his horse,
and, following him, came a dozen or more elegantly dressed gentlemen
whom Three Wits had never seen before. They shook hands with the boy
and thanked him for coming to their rescue, and each gave him a large
sum of gold, so that when they started on their way home, Three Wits
found that he was very rich. As for the father, he seized Three Wits
in his arms and embraced him again and again, and declared that even a
king might be proud to have such a brave son.

"While they were talking, the little old man came out of the wood. He
went straight to Three Wits, placed his hand on the boy's head, and
seemed to be blessing him. Then he lifted Three Wits from the Stag's
back, mounted in his place, waved his hand twice, and, in a twinkling,
had disappeared in the wood. That was the end of the witch, and this
is the end of the story."

"Well, I think it is a very good story," said Buster John.

"I think so, too," remarked Sweetest Susan; "but I'm sorry there was
no little girl in it."

XVII.

"KEEN-POINT," "COB-HANDLE," AND "BUTCH."

"The three bobbins," said Mrs. Meadows, "remind me of a
circumstance--"

"Is a circumstance a story?" interrupted Sweetest Susan.

"Oh, you mustn't mind my country talk," replied Mrs. Meadows,
laughing. "It was a trick of my tongue. I didn't want to say 'story'
because you might be disappointed. But I reckon I may as well call it
a story. Well, as I was saying, the three bobbins remind me of a story
that was partly about a little girl."

"I know it must be a nice story," cried Sweetest Susan
enthusiastically.

But Mrs. Meadows shook her head. "From all I can hear," she said,
"matters and things in general are a great deal nicer in books than
they are outside of books. Folks are folks, anyway you can fix them, I
don't care what the books say. But I'll not deny that in my day and
time I have seen folks mighty near as nice and as pretty as those you
read about in the books, and one of these was the little girl I am
going to tell you about.

"Once upon a time, in the co