"That depends upon wind and weather," said the elf king; "they

travel economically. They will come when there is the chance of a

ship. I wanted them to come over to Sweden, but the old man was not

inclined to take my advice. He does not go forward with the times, and

that I do not like."

Two will-o'-the-wisps came jumping in, one quicker than the other,

so of course, one arrived first. "They are coming! they are coming!"

he cried.

"Give me my crown," said the elf king, "and let me stand in the

moonshine."

The daughters drew on their shawls and bowed down to the ground.

There stood the old goblin from the Dovre mountains, with his crown of

hardened ice and polished fir-cones. Besides this, he wore a

bear-skin, and great, warm boots, while his sons went with their

throats bare and wore no braces, for they were strong men.

"Is that a hill?" said the youngest of the boys, pointing to the

elf hill, "we should call it a hole in Norway."

"Boys," said the old man, "a hole goes in, and a hill stands

out; have you no eyes in your heads?"

Another thing they wondered at was, that they were able without

trouble to understand the language.

"Take care," said the old man, "or people will think you have

not been well brought up."

Then they entered the elfin hill, where the select and grand

company were assembled, and so quickly had they appeared that they

seemed to have been blown together. But for each guest the neatest and

pleasantest arrangement had been made. The sea folks sat at table in

great water-tubs, and they said it was just like being at home. All

behaved themselves properly excepting the two young northern goblins;

they put their legs on the table and thought they were all right.