ne bit.

So Wee-Wun went on his way, and when he had made a platter of porridge
for his breakfast, the Hop-about Man said:

"Ah, that is my breakfast, I see," and he ate it up in a twink. So
Wee-Wun had to make another platterful, and alack, he was careless,
and let that porridge burn, and he could not eat it, though he tried
hard. Afterwards he went out to fetch wood for his fire, and when he
had fetched it, he threw it into a corner, and he left the door wide
open, so that a draught fell upon the Hop-about Man. But the Hop-about
Man said nothing.

Then Wee-Wun went out to dig in his garden, and he dug there the whole
day long, and when he came in in the evening, there was the Hop-about
Man sitting in his chair. When Wee-Wun looked at his blue smock and
his feather cap he saw that the Hop-about Man looked just like a blue
blow-away growing in the chair at Wee-Wun's fireside. But when Wee-Wun
the gnome came in the Hop-about Man flew out of his chair, and he flew
all around the room, singing this song:

"Ring-a-ding-dill, ring-a-ding-dill,
Let all careless things hop about if they will."

Alack! he had no sooner sung this song than the door which Wee-Wun had
left open jumped off its hinges and ran about the floor, and the wood
which he had thrown into the corner flew out and rushed about too. The
Hop-about Man's platter, which Wee-Wun had forgotten to wash, flew up
to the ceiling, and the wooden spoon spun round like a top on the
floor, and all the chairs and tables Wee-Wun had left awry began to
dance.

"Certainly my fine house will come down about my ears," cried poor
Wee-Wun.

Then he felt a tug at his hair, and that was his cap, which he had put
on inside out, and which was anxious to be off and join in the fun.
And his spade, which he had left lying on the ground outside, came
running in at the place where the door had been, stirring everything
as it came. That was a muddle, and Wee-Wun began to weep.

"Oh, dear Hop-about Man," he cried, "do tell everything to be quiet
again, please, for I can hear the walls of my fine house shaking!"

But the Hop-about Man, who was again sitting in his chair, replied:

"Things will be quiet again when you have put all careless things
straight."

So Wee-Wun set to work, and he wept ever so fast. You see it is
difficult to put careless things straight when they are running about
all the time, and you have to catch them first. But at last Wee-Wun
set the door on