When they are all out of the
cottage, do thou slip in as quickly as thou canst,
and turn the kitchen upside down. Upset everything
the Fairies have worked with, else the things
their fingers have touched will open the door to
them, and let them in, in spite of thee.''
So the good housewife hurried away. She
climbed to the top of the little hill back of her
cottage, set the bushes on fire, and cried out three
times as loud as she was able: ``BURG HILL'S ON FIRE!''
And sure enough, the door of the cottage was
flung wide open, and all the little Fairies came
running out, knocking each other over in their
eagerness to be first at the hill.
In the confusion the good housewife slipped
away, and ran as fast as she could to her cottage;
and when she was once inside, it did not take her
long to bar the door, and turn everything upside
down.
She took the band off the spinning-wheel, and
twisted the head of the distaff the wrong way. She
lifted the pot of fulling-water off the fire, and
turned the room topsy-turvy, and threw down the
carding-combs.
Scarcely had she done so, when the Fairies
returned, and knocked at the door.
``Good housewife! let us in,'' they cried.
``The door is shut and bolted, and I will not
open it,'' answered she.
``Good spinning-wheel, get up and open the
door,'' they cried.
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