d after her.

The gnome brought her down to his home under the hill upon which stood
the town. Everywhere round her were gold and precious stones; the very
air was full of gold dust, so that when she remained still it settled on
her hands and her hair, and a soft golden down began to show itself over
her skin. So there in the house of the gnome sat Jasome', and cried;
and, far away overhead, she heard the days come and go, by the sound of
people walking and the rolling of wheels.

The gnome was very kind to her; nothing did he spare of underground
commodities that might afford her pleasure. He taught her the legends of
all the heroes that have gone down into earth, and been forgotten, and
the lost songs of the old poets, and the buried languages that once gave
wisdom to the world: down there all these things are remembered.

She became the most curiously accomplished and wise maiden that ever was
hidden from the light of day. "I have to train you," said the gnome, "to
be fit for a king's bride!" But Jasome', though she thanked him, only
cried to be let out.

In front of the rat-catcher's house rose a little spring of salt water
with gold dust in it, that gilded the basin where it sprang. When he saw
it, he began rubbing his hands with delight, for he guessed well enough
that his daughter's tears had made it; and the dust in it told him how
surely now she was being turned into gold.

And now the rat-catcher was the richest man in the world: all his traps
were made of gold, and when he went rat-hunting he rode in a gilded
coach drawn by twelve hundred of the finest and largest rats. This was
for an advertisement of the business. He now caught rats for the fun of
it, and the show of it, but also to get money by it; for, though he was
so rich, ratting and money-grubbing had become a second nature to him:
unless he were at one or the other, he could not be happy.

Far below, in the house of the gnome, Jasome' sat and cried. When the
sound of the great bells ringing for Easter came down to her, the gnome
said: "To-day I cannot bind you; it is the great rising day for all
Christians. If you wish, you may go up, and ask your father now to
release you."

So Jasome' kissed the gnome, and went up the track of her own tears,
that brought her to her father's door. When she came to the light of
day, she felt quite blind; a soft yellow tint was all over her, and
already her hair was quite golden.

The rat-catcher was furious