"'If it is quite allowable, gentlemen!' said Klaus, taking off his hat-- a politeness which was immediately responded to by every dwarf--'I should be glad to have a minute's chat with you; and to ask, first and foremost, for whom all this tremendous stock is that you are finishing off so busily and magnificently?' "One of the cordwainers fastened the shoe that he had just finished, close before the young boor's eyes, upon the cobweb; then he folded his arms in imitation of Klaus, stared at him roguishly, and answered, "'They are dancing-pumps for thy wedding, Klaus!' "'For my what?' exclaimed the youth. "'Thy wedding, Klaus!' "'Ah, my pretty shoemakers, that's a long way off, I fear. Annie has no great longing to milk the spiders in my stalls, and who can blame her? But who gave you the order? Who took the measures? I guess our Marthas and Marys will want a considerable shoe-horn to get the pumps on, if the greater number don't prove misfits!' "The Dwarfs laughed and clapped their hands for joy, nodding to one another with such vivacity, that the glow-worms upon their bonnets flew one amongst another. "'Don't believe it, gossip--don't believe it,' rejoined the spokesman. 'We work for ourselves only. We mean to dance at thy wedding--every one of us, regularly one after the other, with thy virtuous bride." "'What! all of you?' asked Nicholas, hurriedly. "'All, all! as many of us as there are pairs of shoes!' "'Thank you for nothing!' returned Klaus. 'Why, you would make me a widower before my wedding was over. Annie is a good strapping girl I know, and she carries her bushel of winter wheat, in defiance of Geordie, the miller's man, up three flights without stop or sigh; and that, from old time, has always been with us a sign of sound lungs: but a man can't drink, my little cobblers, beyond his thirst. You understand? Now would it not be better--mind you I am much obliged to you for the honour, all the same--if you sent a few delegates, say two or three; wouldn't that be more considerate to the lady, and show your politeness just as well?' "'Not a bit of it, not a bit of it!' screamed the broad-bonnets. 'We must all eat, and all dance!' "'Just like all the world!' muttered Klaus to himself. 'If you invite one of the townsfolk to a church ale he'll take three cakes for one, and stuff himself till the steps groan as he goes down again. I say, gentlemen,' he continued, turning to the Dwarfs, 'are you aware that I am your king's godson, and on the most intimate terms with him?' "'And that thy father made him fiddle himself to death?' answered the little one resentfully; 'and that thou hast grown a good-for-nought, ready to bung up our whole gracious kingdom in a mouse-hole, had'st thou thy will? Eh, Master Nicholas?" 'Ah, don't be too hard now! Recollect what your king did to my father, and all that I have suffered for the last six months. Look at me! Hasn't Gossip Crookleg stripped me of money, field, and house?'