There was nothing extraordinary within the house on the Granite Cliff. If Dame Growl had any suspicions with reference to the visit of our hero, she kept them to herself. Bob was provided with a good supper, and a bed afterwards, where he slept as sound as a cockroach until the morning. The sun had hardly begun to peep over the top of the mountain, however, when the old woman shook him roughly by the arm. “Get up, you sluggard!” she cried. “You don’t remain here and eat idle bread; you must work—work!”
“All right, dame,” responded Bob cheerfully. “I’m not afraid of work in any shape.”
The witch laughed grimly, thereby disclosing her black, ugly teeth. “Oh, you are a wonderful fellow, but we can match you here; we’ll make you work—work!”
She hobbled off into an adjoining room, and returned with an old battered thimble, which she held out on her skinny forefinger. “Here, take this,” she cried. “Now go, and empty the water-hole out there.”
“What! with a thimble?” cried Bob.
“Yes; and you must finish your task before evening; also take out all the small fish, and range them according to their species on the bank. Do you hear?”
“Of course, good dame. Anything besides?” asked the hunter with bitter irony.
Mother Growl disclosed her teeth at him in answer, and left him to his toil.
Poor Bob stared at the water-hole for a good half-hour, without seeing what his gaze rested on. He had expected some reasonable work, but here he was set to do an impossibility. The hole was a very large one; almost as wide as the mouth of a river. How then was he to bale it out with a thimble? It appeared very absurd; nevertheless, our hero was determined to try. He began his work, but he found it labour in vain. When noonday came he stopped, and sat down to rest. “It’s quite hopeless for me to try and empty out all this water to-day. Why, it would take me a thousand years to do it at this rate,” he cried, raising his voice. “Indeed, I don’t see the use of making a fuss about it; it will be the same whether I work or not. I wonder where the witch has hid that lady that came to my hut?” And with this new turn to his thoughts Bob sat by the water-hole and made circles in the water with the pebbles at his feet.
As he sat there and shied the stones into the water-hole, he heard some one cry out as if in sudden pain! Bob stared around and about him, but he could see no one.
“Oh dear! you have struck me on the head!” exclaimed a voice.
The hunter rose quickly to his feet “Who and what are you?” he cried.
“Can’t you see who I am? Look here, on the water,” repeated the voice.
Our hero turned his gaze in the direction indicated, and beheld a large frog swimming towards him.
“Pray who are you, sir?” inquired Bob, filled with amazement.
“I’ll tell you that presently,” responded the frog, as he crawled up the embankment. He was a fine, speckled fellow with a big head, long arms and legs, and a considerable paunch, which showed that he was fond of his food.
“I was just taking my usual mid-day bath when my ears caught your reproaches with respect to emptying this lake,” said the frog, at the same time bowing very politely to Bob. “May I ask if you seriously intend to attempt the task?”
The young hunter briefly explained the whole circumstances of the case.
Froggy listened quietly, and then replied, “Be content. I will help you.”
“How can a frog help any one?” cried Bob contemptuously.
“Wait and see. I am not a frog as you suppose. This skin is a bathing dress, nothing more. They are very fashionable in Elfland at present. Of course the robe is not elegant, but it is comfortable. How do you like it?”
“Are you a fairy?” inquired Bob, not heeding the last remark.
“I am that. Everybody round here knows Quiz the Sprite. I’m Quiz.”
“Ah! I’m sorry that stone hit you on the head.”
“Never mind. It didn’t hurt me much,” answered Quiz. “Now allow me to help you with your task.”
“Can you really help me?”
“Certainly. Old Dame Growl is no friend of mine; and I have those with me who can execute any tasks she may find for you to do, no matter how difficult they may be.”
As Quiz spoke, he opened his speckled covering, and out stepped three little men, no bigger than one’s thumb. The first was slim and slender, with a very resolute face, the other two were strong and robust.
“These creatures may appear to you quite insignificant,” continued the sprite, “but they are not so. Stand aside and watch what this, the smallest of them, can do.” Saying which Quiz made a sign for Bob to retire a few paces; which he did.
“Now, Resolute, give us a taste of your quality, by emptying out that water-hole,” cried Quiz.
Ere the words had left the elfin’s mouth the wee man advanced, and said, “Out, water—out, fishes,” and immediately the water rose in the air like a white vapour, and rolled away with the other clouds; while the fish all jumped out and arranged themselves on the bank according to their size and species.
“Well done, Resolute!” shouted Bob, in ecstasy.
“Dame Growl will set you harder tasks to-morrow than this one,” resumed the sprite. “Yet keep good heart, and I will help you to accomplish them and to rescue the chief’s lovely daughter from her hands. To-morrow I shall see you again.”
And with another polite bow, Quiz gathered the wee little men beneath his skin, and hopped away to a deep crevice in the cliff, where he vanished from sight.
When evening fell the Witch came forth from the house leaning on her staff.
“Ah, sluggard!” she cried, “if you have not done the work I gave you I will have you thrown head-foremost from the cliff.”
Bob laughed, and pointed with his finger to the lines of fishes and the wide, empty water-hole.
Dame Growl held her skinny arms aloft in amazement.
“Who has done this task for you?” she shouted in unbridled passion. “Tell me who it was, and I’ll have them boiled, roasted, and baked for my husband’s dinner.”
“I sha’n’t tell you anything, dame,” answered Bob. “You gave me a job to do; there it is done, according to order, and now I want my supper, please.”
The old woman looked silently and maliciously at him for several minutes, and then replied, “Very well, very well; doubtless you are a wonderful fellow; but I have a task in store for you to-morrow which will tax all your cleverness to accomplish. You got off too easily to-day. Wait till to-morrow.”
Bob followed her as she went towards the hut, muttering under her breath and shaking her staff at some imaginary foe. He ate his supper, like a man who was hungry, and then retired to rest for the night.