"There's a buttercup behind you," groaned the Goblin, and Davy, turning, saw a buttercup growing on a stem almost as tall as he was himself. He picked it, and hurried away across the meadow to look for water, the buttercup, meanwhile, growing in his hand in a surprising manner, until it became a full-sized teacup, with a handle conveniently growing on one side. Davy, however, had become so accustomed to this sort of thing that he would not have been greatly surprised if a saucer had also made its appearance. Presently he came upon a sparkling little spring, gently bubbling up in a marshy place, with high, sedgy grass growing about it, and being a very neat little boy he took off his shoes and stockings, and carefully picked his way over the oozy ground to the edge of the spring itself. He was just bending over to dip the cup into the spring, when the ground under his feet began trembling like jelly, and then, giving itself a convulsive shake, threw him head-foremost into the water. For a moment Davy had a very curious sensation, as though his head and his arms and his legs were all trying to get inside of his jacket, and then he came sputtering to the top of the water and scrambled ashore. To his astonishment he saw that the spring had spread itself out into a little lake, and that the sedge-grass had grown to an enormous height, and was waving far above his head. Then he was startled by a tremendous roar of laughter, and, looking around, he saw the Goblin, who was now apparently at least twenty feet high, standing beside the spring. [Illustration: DAVY FALLS INTO THE ELASTIC SPRING.] "Oh, lor! Oh, lor!" cried the Goblin, in an uncontrollable fit of merriment. "Another minute and you wouldn't have been bigger than a peanut!" "What's the matter with me?" said Davy, not knowing what to make of it all. "Matter?" cried the Goblin. "Why, you've been and gone and fallen into an Elastic Spring, that's all. If you'd got in at stretch tide, early in the morning, you'd have been a perfect giraffe; but you got in at shrink tide and--oh, my! oh, my!" and here he went off into another fit of laughter. "I don't think it's anything to laugh at," cried Davy, with the tears starting to his eyes, "and I'm sure I don't know what I'm going to do." "Oh! don't worry," said the Goblin, good-naturedly. "I'll take a dip myself, just to be companionable, and tomorrow morning we can get back to any size you like." "I wish you'd take these things in with you," said Davy, pointing to his shoes and stockings. "They're big enough now for Badorful." "All right!" cried the Goblin. "Here we go;" and, taking the shoes and stockings in his hand, he plunged into the spring, and a moment afterward scrambled out exactly Davy's size. "Now, that's what I call a nice, tidy size," said the Goblin, complacently, while Davy was squeezing his feet into his wet shoes. "What do you say to a ride on a field-mouse?" "That will be glorious!" said Davy.