on the
table because their coats were white, and squirrels were to do the
cooking in a little hollow. The table cloth was spun by a spider and
was so beautiful that the Queen, when she saw it, thought it was a
shame to cover it with dishes, so she had the rabbits put the food on a
rock behind a tree and leave the beautiful cloth so the Goblins could
see it.

But when the Goblins arrived they looked at the table with dismay.
"Are not they going to have anything to eat?" they asked one another,
seating themselves at the table and looking with anxious eye.

Not a word did they say to the Queen about the beautiful cloth, and she
found that it was quite wasted on the greedy little Goblins.

There were so many Goblins that the Fairies were obliged to spread a
table on the ground for themselves, and when the rabbits appeared with
the food the Goblins jumped up and helped themselves before the rabbits
could serve them.

At last the Queen, seeing that it was of no use to have waiters for the
Goblins, told the rabbits to put the ice cream and cake and lemonade
and all the nice things on the table and let the Goblins help
themselves.

The bad Goblins spoiled the beautiful cloth the spider had taken so
much trouble to weave; they spilled the lemonade and they crumbled the
cake and the poor Queen was in despair.

The Goblins, not getting the food quick enough to suit them, had
climbed on the table, which, you remember, was spread on a rock. Now,
this rock did not have any moss on it, and it happened that it was one
of the doors to the home of the Gnomes.

The Gnomes are little brown men and they hide under the leaves and
sticks that are so near the color of themselves that they cannot be
seen, so they had been watching all that went on at the party, and,
when they saw the Goblins on top of one of their rocks, part of their
number hurried into the earth and opened the stone where the Goblins
were.

Some of the Goblins were quick enough to escape, but most of them went
into the ground, and all the cake and candy and ice cream with them.

The Queen and her Fairies jumped up and looked around. Everything was
changed and the Fairies shivered as they looked.

The trees were brown and the bushes and the leaves were falling from
the trees, making the ground look as though it had a brown carpet over
it.

The air was frosty and the poor little Fairies looked about in
amazement at the dreary scene before them. The Goblins t