Page:Fairy tales (3).pdf/23

 Hand in hand we'll dance around, For this place is fairy ground.

WheuWhen [sic] mortals are at rest, And snoring in their nest, Unheard and unespied Thro' key holes we do glide; Over tables, stools, and shelves, We trip it with our fairy elves.

And if the house be foul, With platter, dish, or bowl, Up stairs we nimbly creep, And find the sluts asleep; Then we pinch their arms and thighs, None us hears, and none us spies.

But if the house be swept, And from uncleanness kept, We praise the household maid, And surely she is paid: Every night before we go, We drop a tester in her shoe,

Then o'er a mushroom's head, Our table cloth we spread; A grain of rye or wheat, The diet that we eat; drops of dew we drink corn cups filled to the brink.

The baains of nightingales, With unctous fat of snails,