tried to stop, but somehow got
entangled with Jack's feet, and fell headlong too.

All the while the lightning was flashing and the thunder roaring
overhead, and then, splash! splash! great drops of rain came pouring
down upon them.

How it rained! It splashed down in torrents! Streams and streams of
it! Drop after drop, shower after shower, storm after storm.

"I must have opened all the casks at once," said Jill.

Jack lay still where he was, he did not heed his broken head or his
drenched clothes.

"Oh, how good the rain is," was all _he_ said.

* * * * * *

When, at last, the rain did leave off, those who went to see, found
that the old Witch's cottage had been quite washed away. Nothing
remained to show where once it had been but one or two rotting casks,
and a worn-out elastic bag. The old Witch herself was never seen or
heard of in the village again, but she is probably still wandering
about somewhere. So don't be too anxious for the rain to leave off, in
case she should hear you, and come and steal all _your_ water!

LITTLE MISS MUFFET

_"Cowards are cruel_
_But the brave_
_Have mercy, and delight to save"_

Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
There came a big spider,
And sat down beside her,
Which frightened Miss Muffet away.

Of course if Miss Muffet had been just an ordinary little girl, she
would not have been afraid of spiders! But she wasn't an ordinary
little girl at all, she was a little fairy girl, which just makes all
the difference. That is why she is always known as "little" Miss
Muffet, because she was so very small, and spiders did seem to her so
very large; and that is why she is always called "Miss" Muffet, because
fairy girls only have sur-names, just as if they were grown-ups!

It was really extremely awkward that Miss Muffet was so afraid of
spiders, and of _the_ Spider in particular, because, you see, the one
thing a fairy cannot be is a coward. If a fairy once does a cowardly
act, unless he or she immediately makes it right by doing a brave one,
he or she will become a mortal at once. And think how dull it would be
to become a mere mortal, when you have been used to flying, or dancing,
or appearing in dreams, or granting wishes, or doing one of the hundred
and one exciting things that fairies do!

Miss Muffet lived under a gooseberry bush just outside the farm-house
door, and t