.

"Thank you," said Jack, "but I am not a beggar-boy; I have got a
half-crown, a shilling, a sixpence, and two pence; so I can buy this
breakfast of you, if you like. You look very poor."

"Do I?" said the little woman, softly; and she went on knitting, and
Jack began to eat the breakfast.

"I wonder what has become of my stockings," said Jack.

"You will never see them any more," said the old woman. "I threw them
into the river, and they floated away."

"Why did you?" asked Jack.

The little woman took no notice; but presently she had finished a
beautiful pair of stockings, and she handed them to Jack, and said,--

"Is that like the pair you lost?"

"Oh no," said Jack; "these are much more beautiful stockings than
mine."

"Do you like them as well?" asked the fairy woman.

"I like them much better," said Jack, putting them on. "How clever you
are!"

"Would you like to wear these," said the woman, "instead of yours?"

She gave Jack such a strange look when she said this, that he was
afraid to take them, and answered,--

"I shouldn't like to wear them if you think I had better not."

"Well," she answered, "I am very honest, as I told you; and therefore
I am obliged to say that if I were you I would not wear those
stockings on any account."

"Why not?" said Jack; for she looked so sweet-tempered that he could
not help trusting her.

"Why not?" repeated the fairy; "why, because when you have those
stockings on, your feet belong to me."

"Oh!" said Jack. "Well, if you think that matters, I'll take them off
again. Do you think it matters?"

"Yes," said the fairy woman; "it matters, because I am a slave, and my
master can make me do whatever he pleases, for I am completely in his
power. So, if he found out that I had knitted these stockings for you,
he would make me order you to walk into his mill,--the mill which
grinds the corn for the town; and there you would have to grind and
grind till I got free again."

When Jack heard this, he pulled off the beautiful stockings, and laid
them on the old woman's lap. Upon this she burst out crying, as if
her heart would break.

"If my fairies that I have in my pocket would only wake," said Jack,
"I would fight your master; for if he is no bigger than you are,
perhaps I could beat him, and get you away."

"No, Jack," said the little woman; "that would be of no use. The only
thing you could do would be to buy me; for my cruel master has said
that if ever I