oth.

And the noise they made was like to make her head run round. "Splash!
splash! Whirr! whirr! Clack! clack!" The water in the pot bubbled over.
The spinning-wheel whirred. The shuttle in the loom flew backwards and
forwards.

And the worst of it was that all the Fairies cried out for something
to eat, and although the good housewife put on her griddle and baked
bannocks as fast as she could, the bannocks were eaten up the moment
they were taken off the fire, and yet the Fairies shouted for more.

At last the poor woman was so troubled that she went into the next room
to wake her husband. But although she shook him with all her might, she
could not wake him. It was very plain to see that he was bewitched.

Frightened almost out of her senses, and leaving the Fairies eating her
last batch of bannocks, she stole out of the house and ran as fast as
she could to the cottage of the Wise Man who lived a mile away.

She knocked at his door till he got up and put his head out of the
window, to see who was there; then she told him the whole story.

"Thou foolish woman," said he, "let this be a lesson to thee never to
pray for things thou dost not need! Before thy husband can be loosed
from the spell the Fairies must be got out of the house and the
fulling-water, which they have boiled, must be thrown over him. Hurry
to the little hill that lies behind thy cottage, climb to the top of
it, and set the bushes on fire; then thou must shout three times: 'BURG
HILL'S ON FIRE!' Then will all the little Fairies run out to see if
this be true, for they live under the hill. When they are all out of the
cottage, do thou slip in as quickly as thou canst, and turn the kitchen
upside down. Upset everything the Fairies have worked with, else the
things their fingers have touched will open the door to them, and let
them in, in spite of thee."

So the good housewife hurried away. She climbed to the top of the little
hill back of her cottage, set the bushes on fire, and cried out three
times as loud as she was able: "BURG HILL'S ON FIRE!"

And sure enough, the door of the cottage was flung wide open, and all
the little Fairies came running out, knocking each other over in their
eagerness to be first at the hill.

In the confusion the good housewife slipped away, and ran as fast as she
could to her cottage; and when she was once inside, it did not take her
long to bar the door, and turn everything upside down.

She took the band off