he looked up and saw something coming from
behind his wood-pile.

At first, he thought it was a dog, for it was about the right size for a
small dog, but in a moment he saw it was a little man. He was a little
man indeed, for he was not more than two feet high. He was dressed in
brown clothes and wore a peaked cap, and he must have been pretty old,
for he had a full white beard. Although otherwise warmly clad, he wore
on his feet only shoes and no stockings and came hopping along through
the deep snow as if his feet were very cold.

When he saw this little old man, Jules said never a word. He merely
thought to himself: "This is some sort of a fairy-man."

But the little old person came close to Jules, and drawing up one foot,
as if it was so cold that he could stand on it no longer, he said:

"Please, sir, my feet are almost frozen."

"Oh, ho!" thought Jules, "I know all about that. This is one of the
fairy-folks who come in distress to a person, and if that person is kind
to them, he is made rich and happy; but if he turns them away, he soon
finds himself in all sorts of misery. I shall be very careful." And then
he said aloud: "Well, sir, what can I do for you?"

[Illustration: JULES AND THE LITTLE MAN.]

"That is a strange question," said the dwarf. "If you were to walk by
the side of a deep stream, and were to see a man sinking in the water,
would you stop and ask him what you could do for him?"

"Would you like my stockings?" said Jules, putting down his knife and
sausage, and preparing to pull off one of his boots. "I will let you
have them."

"No, no!" said the other. "They are miles too big for me."

"Will you have my cap or my scarf in which to wrap your feet and warm
them?"

"No, no!" said the dwarf. "I don't put my feet in caps and scarfs."

"Well, tell me what you would like," said Jules. "Shall I make a fire?"

"No, I will not tell you," said the fairy-man. "You have kept me
standing here long enough."

Jules could not see what this had to do with it. He was getting very
anxious. If he were only a quick-witted fellow, so as to think of
exactly the right thing to do, he might make his fortune. But he could
think of nothing more.

"I wish, sir, that you would tell me just what you would like for your
cold feet," said Jules, in an entreating tone, "for I shall be very glad
to give it to you, if it is at all possible."

"If your ax were half as dull as your brain," said the dwarf, "you would