'll be
everywhere and do all of the work in your house, so that you will not
have to give so much as a groat for wages to cook, scullion, or serving
wench!"

[Illustration: Farmer Griggs and the Boggart.]

Then Farmer Griggs listened a little longer without shutting the door,
and so did Dame Griggs. "What's thy name, boggart?" said he.

"Hardfist," said the boggart; and he came a little farther in at the
door, for he saw that Farmer Griggs had a mind to let him in all of the
way.

"I don't know," said Georgie Griggs, scratching his head doubtfully;
"it's an ill thing, lettin' mischief intull the house! Thee's better
outside, I doubt."

"Shut the door, Georgie!" called out Dame Griggs; "thou'rt lettin' th'
cold air intull th' room."

Then Farmer Griggs shut the door, but the boggart was on the inside.

This is the way in which the boggart came into Farmer Griggs's house,
and there he was to stay, for it is no such easy matter getting rid of
the likes of him when we once let him in, I can tell you.

The boggart came straightway over to the warm fire, and the dog
growled--"chur-r-r-r!"--and showed his teeth, and the cat spit anger and
jumped up on the dresser, with her back arched and her tail on end. But
the boggart cared never a whit for this, but laid himself comfortably
down among the warm ashes.

Now imps, like this boggart, can only be seen as the frost is seen--when
it is cold. So as he grew warmer and warmer, he grew thin, like a
jelly-fish, and at last, when he had become thoroughly warmed through,
Farmer Griggs and the dame could see him no more than though he was thin
air. But he was in the house, and he stayed there, I can tell you. For a
time everything went as smooth as cream; all of the work of the house
was done as though by magic, for the boggart did all that he had
promised; he made the fires, he baked the bread, he washed the dishes,
he scoured the pans, he scrubbed the floors, he brewed the beer, he
roasted the meat, he stuffed the sausages, he skimmed the milk, he made
the butter, he pressed the cheese, he plucked the geese, he spun the
thread, he knit the stockings, he mended the clothes, he patched the
shoes--he was everywhere and did all of the work of the house. When
Farmer Griggs saw these things done, and so deftly, he rubbed his hands
and chuckled to himself. He sent cook and scullion and serving maid
a-packing, there being nothing for them to do, for, as I said, all of
these things