The fact is, that those persons who wished to be on good terms with the
old gnome never guessed his riddles. They knew that they would please
him better by giving them up.
He took such a pleasure in telling the answers to his riddles, that no
truly kind-hearted person would deprive him of it, by trying to solve
them.
"You see," as Old Riddler used to say, when talked to on the subject,
"if I take all the trouble to make up these riddles, it's no more than
fair that I should be allowed to give the answers."
So, the old gnome, who was not much higher than a two-year-old child,
though he had quite a venerable head and face, was very much encouraged
by the way the people treated him, and when a person happened to be
very kind and appreciative, and gave a good deal of attention to one of
his conundrums, that person would be pretty sure, before long, to feel
glad that he had met Old Riddler.
[Illustration: "'DON'T YOU SEE?' ASKED THE OLD FELLOW."]
There were thousands of ways in which the gnomes could benefit the
country-folks, especially those who had little farms or gardens.
Sometimes Old Riddler, who was a person of great influence in his
tribe, would take a company of gnomes, under the garden of some one to
whom he wished to do a favor, and they would put their little hands up
through the earth and pull down all the weeds, root-foremost, so that
when the owner went out in the morning, he would find his garden as
clear of weeds as the bottom of a dinner-plate.
Pages:
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117