Chapter 8

The moon had risen above the lake, and only the broken fragments of its orb were reflected in the water. Bee still slept. The dwarf who had examined her came back on his crow. This time he was followed by a troop of little men. They were very little men. They had white beards reaching down to their knees. They were the size of children, but they had old faces. The leather aprons and the hammers which they carried hanging at their belts made it evident they were metal-workers. They moved in a strange way by jumping to a great height and turning wonderful somersaults; this incredible nimbleness made them less like men than spirits. But in their wildest antics their faces remained unalterably grave, so that it was impossible to make out their real character.

They placed themselves in a circle round the sleeper.
"Well," said the smallest of the dwarfs from the height of his feathered mount; "well, I did not deceive you when I warned you that the prettiest of princesses was sleeping on the edge of the lake, and do you not thank me for having shown her to you?”
“We thank you, Bob," answered one of the dwarfs, who looked like an old poet; " truly, there is nothing in the world as pretty as this maiden. Her complexion is rosier than the dawn upon the mountains, and the gold of our smithies is not as bright as that of her tresses."
“It is true, Pic; Pic, nothing could be more true!" answered the dwarfs; “but what shall we do with this pretty maid?"
Pic, who resembled an old poet, did not answer this question of the dwarfs, because he did not know more than they did what to do with the pretty maid.
A dwarf, named Rug, said to them:
"Let us build a large cage and we will shut her in it."
Another dwarf, named Dig, opposed this suggestion of Rug. According to Dig, only wild beasts were put in cages, and as yet there was nothing to indicate that the pretty maiden was one of them.
But Rug was taken with his own idea, for want of another to put in its place. He ingeniously defended it:
“If this person," he said "is not wild, she will doubtlessly become so by being shut in the cage, which will consequently become useful, and even indispensable."
This argument displeased the dwarfs, and one of them, named Tad, denounced it indignantly. He was a dwarf of utmost goodness. He proposed taking back the beautiful girl to her parents, whom he thought to be powerful lords.
This view of the good Tad was rejected as contrary to the custom of the dwarfs.
"Justice should prevail," Tad went on to say, “and not custom."
He was no longer listened to; the crowd had fallen into disorder and tumult, when a dwarf, called Paw, who was simple, but sensible, gave his views as follows:
“We must first wake the maiden, as she does not wake of herself. If she spends the night like this, tomorrow her eyelids will be swollen and her beauty will be less, for it is very unhealthy to sleep in a wood on the edge of a lake."
This opinion met with general approval, because it was not opposed to any other.
Pic, who resembled an old poet overwhelmed with misfortune, went near to the little maid and gazed on her gravely, with the idea that a single one of his looks would suffice to rouse the sleeper from the deepest sleep. But Pic over-estimated the power of his eyes, and Bee continued to sleep with her hands clasped.
Seeing this, the good Tad gently pulled her sleeve. Then she opened her eyes and raised herself on her elbow. Seeing herself on a moss-couch, surrounded by dwarfs, she thought that what she saw was a dream, and she rubbed her eyes to open them and to let in, instead of this fantastic vision, the bright early morning light streaming into her blue room, where she imagined herself to be. For her mind, numb with sleep, did not recall the adventure of the lake. But rub her eyes as she might, the dwarfs stayed there; she had to believe they were real. Then, looking round anxiously, she saw the forest, her memory returned, she cried in agony
“George! My brother George!"
The dwarfs pressed round her, and, for fear of seeing them, she hid her face in her hands.
“George! George! Where is my brother George?" she cried sobbing.
The dwarfs did not tell her, and for this reason, that they did not know. So she wept bitterly, calling on her mother and her brother.
Paw felt inclined to cry like her; but anxious to console her, he spoke a few vague words.
"Do not alarm yourself," he said. "It would be a pity if such a beautiful lady spoilt her eyes by crying. But rather tell us your history; it is certain to be interesting. It would give us the very greatest pleasure."
She was not listening. She rose and tried to run away. But her swollen, naked feet gave her such sharp pain that she fell on her knee and burst into still more violent sobs. Tad held her up in his arms, and Paw gently kissed her hand. This is why she dared to look and saw that their faces were compassionate. Pic seemed to be an inspired but innocent creature, and noticing that all the little men looked upon her with kindliness, she said to them:
"Little men, it is a pity you are so ugly; but I will like you all the same if you will give me something to eat, for I am hungry."
“Bob!” all the dwarfs cried at the same time, “fetch some supper."
And Bob went off on his crow. Still the dwarfs felt that this little girl had been guilty of an injustice in considering them ugly. Rug was extremely angry. Pic said to himself, “She is only a child, and does not see the fire of genius burning in my looks so as to give them alternately masterful strength and fascinating grace." Paw thought, “Perhaps it would have been better not to wake this young lady who considers us ugly.” But Tad said, smiling:
“You will consider us less ugly, Miss, when you like us better."
At these words Bob reappeared on his crow. He brought a roast partridge on a gold dish, with a loaf of meal bread and a bottle of red wine. He placed this supper at the feet of Bee, turning an endless number of somersaults.
Bee ate and said:
" Little men, your supper is very good. My name is Bee; let us look for my brother, and go together to the Clarides, where Mama is waiting for us in a state of great anxiety.”
But Dig, who was a good dwarf, urged on Bee that she was incapable of walking; that her brother was old enough to find himself; that no accident could happen to him in this country, where all wild beasts had been destroyed. He added:
"We will make a stretcher, we will cover it with a litter of leaves and moss, we will place you on it, we will carry you thus into the mountain, to introduce you to the King of the dwarfs, as the custom of our people requires.”
All the dwarfs applauded. Bee looked at her sore feet and was silent.
She was relieved to hear there were no wild beasts in the country. In all other matters she relied on the friendship of the dwarfs.
Already they were constructing the stretcher. Those who had axes were hacking away at the stems of two young pines.
This revived his idea in the head of Rug.
“If, instead of a stretcher,” he said, “we built a cage?”
But he raised unanimous protest. Tad, looking at him with contempt, exclaimed:
“Rug, you are more like a man than a dwarf. But this, at least, is to the credit of our race that the wickedest of the dwarfs is also the stupidest.”
Meanwhile, the work went on. The dwarfs leapt in the air to reach branches which the cut in thief light, and out of which they neatly built a lattice chair. Having covered it in moss and dry leaves, they made Bee sit there; then, all together, they seized the two poles, up! Hoisted is on their shoulders, and swung off to the mountain.

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